ManicRobThrill

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Crying in the rain

There's a reason for the title of this post; it's raining in New York City, as a tropical storm is approaching.  However, it's far more poignant than that - it's the title to (one of many) songs by The Everly Brothers, who I loved and consider myself a student of.  Their seamless harmonies made me work hard at mastering the craft.

I woke up this morning to the heartbreaking news that Don Everly died at 84.  He and his brother, Phil, who died in 2014, are now reunited.  The sweet sounds that those voices brought us are now singing together again in Heaven.

A year before The Punch Line took shape, in 1986, I was doing an acoustic-based duo set with Carl, who would go on to join the band as bass player.  We'd begun with covering The Beatles, The Hollies, Chad & Jeremy and started to add songs that required tight harmonies.

Towards the end of 1985, a woman (and classmate) I was smitten with, encouraged me to enter our college's talent show; if memory serves, it was called "Le Cafe".  I talked about it with Carl, and he agreed.  We auditioned with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", but it really didn't give us a chance to show off what we had started to perfect.  I was still working in the record store and found/brought home a copy of "The Everly Brothers' Greatest Hits".  It was then Carl and I decided to do "Wake Up Little Susie" and "All I Have To Do Is Dream" for our performance.  We did the show - the songs sounded like a (proverbial) dream and I think we won 2nd place.  It was a magical moment and night (hearing the sound of "ahhhhh" from the audience when we started "...Dream" is something I'll never forget).  And it heightened my love and appreciation for Phil and Don even more.  And at the end of the night, Carl said he would join the new band his brother and I were planning, after the demise of Two Minutes Hate. (*note:  we also did the talent show in 1986, where we did "Bye, Bye Love".)

Some months later, during the same weekend in May, 1986, The Punch Line was officially born and I met and began dating a woman I would spend the next 7-plus years with.  About a year after we started dating, as the band was preparing to record its first single, she and I were discussing marriage.  Once again, because of Carl buying a 2-album anthology by The Everly Brothers, my knowledge of their musical canon grew exponentially.  And we naturally started working those songs through, with ease and pride.  As we started hitting stride, our acoustic set added "Take A Message To Mary", "Poor Jenny" and the impossibly gorgeous and intricate "Sleepless Nights".  Susan and I, in our plans for a wedding, decided on "Let It Be Me" as our wedding song, which seemed apt.

It never happened; Susan and I parted company in 1994; the band had broken up twice before then - in '88 and again in '92.  Time and decades go by and we get to the here and now.

Susan is gone; she passed away in 2015; Phil Everly died in 2014 and now Brother Don has joined him.  I tried desperately to listen to the music of The Everly Brothers this morning, but I couldn't.  Every song made me cry. 

I'm not prone to emotion, but today I'm grieving the loss of Susan, Phil and Don.  I thank the three of them for giving me so much that can never be put into words.

Love hurts.