Paul McCartney’s favourite band of all-time: “The biggest influence on John and me”
The Beatles were a breath of fresh air that changed the musical landscape on an annual basis throughout the 1960s, but they still had their influences, which were especially prevalent during their earlier days.
As much as there were elements of the musical forebearers to the Fab Four that were evident, if you listened closely enough, it was packaged in a wholly original way. On the one hand, there was the ferocious energy of Little Richard that they incorporated into their sound, which sat side-by-side with luscious harmonies that were straight out of the Everly Brothers’ playbook.
For McCartney, nobody harmonised quite like Don and Phil Everly, who created a blueprint that he and John Lennon would build upon as they strived for musical greatness.
From very early on, their knack for melody and harmonies made The Beatles stand out from their peers in rock ‘n’ roll circles, who simply didn’t have two singers in their band that could touch them in this area. While this was also down to talent, having the Everly Brothers as a reference point was key for the duo to fulfil their potential.
The Everly Brothers established themselves during the late 1950s, quickly having a global impact and becoming one of the defining acts of the era. Thousands of miles away from their Tennessee beginnings, they landed themselves in the hearts of two young dreamers in Liverpool, who had never previously heard quite like them.
It wasn’t just McCartney who found the unique blend of rock, country, and pop, as well as their harmonies, to be delectable, but the Everly Brothers also laid the foundations for The Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel to carry the torch later.
“The biggest influence on John and me was The Everly Brothers,” he once said of the legendary duo.
He then explained precisely why they were so revolutionary, adding, “To this day, I just think they’re the greatest. And they were different. You’d heard barbershop quartets, you’d heard the Beverley Sisters – three girls – you’d all heard that. But just two guys, two good-looking guys? So we idolised them. We wanted to be them.”
Listening to The Everly Brothers was a wake-up call for McCartney, shifting his whole perception of what pop music could be. For the first time in his life, he realised that harmonising wasn’t gender-specific, and it was an attribute that he could interpolate into his own work. From that moment on, McCartney just wanted to be the third Everly brother, who walked on water in his mind.
Unsurprisingly, once McCartney became one of the most famous musicians to ever walk the earth, he managed to build up a personal bond with the Everly Brothers, which meant more to him than any Grammy win or number one single.
“Phil Everly was one of my great heroes,” McCartney wrote after Phil died in 2014 in an emotional letter. “With his brother Don, they were one of the major influences on the Beatles. When John and I first started to write songs, I was Phil and he was Don,” he wistfully remembered, before explaining, “Years later, when I finally met Phil, I was completely star-struck and at the same time extremely impressed by his humility and gentleness of soul. I will always love him for giving me some of the sweetest musical memories of my life.”
McCartney lived out his childhood dream in 1984 when the Everly Brothers returned, following an 11-year hiatus, and asked him to get involved. He didn’t have to think twice, ultimately writing and composing the opening track on their comeback album, EB 84, giving the duo their most successful single since 1970.
It was among the biggest privileges of McCartney’s life to give back to the group that he partially owed his entire career to. Without the influence of the Everly Brothers, who knows what the future would have had in store for The Beatles and whether they’d even become known as the Fab Four.
