5 Everly Brothers Covers That Show the Duo's Eerie, Enduring Influence | Pitchfork

About the Song

The Everly Brothers were one of the most influential and popular rock and roll duos of all time. Their close harmonies and infectious energy helped to define the sound of early rock and roll, and their songs have been covered by countless artists.

“This Little Girl of Mine” is one of The Everly Brothers’ most beloved songs. It was written by Ray Charles and released in 1958. The song is a sweet and tender ballad about a young man’s love for his girlfriend. The Everly Brothers’ harmonies are simply beautiful, and their vocals are full of emotion.

The song was a commercial success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It has also been covered by many other artists, including Roy Orbison, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys.

“This Little Girl of Mine” is a classic example of the Everly Brothers’ sound. It is a beautiful and timeless song that will continue to be enjoyed by music lovers for generations to come.

Here are some interesting facts about the song:

  • The song was originally written by Ray Charles for his daughter, Ray Charles Jr.
  • The Everly Brothers’ version of the song was produced by Archie Bleyer.
  • The song was featured in the 1964 film “The Beatles Come to America”.
  • The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

The Everly Brothers: Rolling Stone Interview

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Lyrics: This Little Girl Of Mine

This little girl of mine,
I want you people to know
This little girl of mine,
I take her everywhere I goOne day I looked at my suit, my suit was new
I looked at my shoes and they were too
And that’s why, why, why, why I oh yeah,
Love that little girl of mineThis little girl of mine,
Makes me happy when I’m sad
This little girl of mine,
Love’s me even when I’m badShe knows how to love me right down to her teeth
If she does any wrong, you know she keeps it from me
And that’s why, why, why, why I, oh yeah,
Love that little girl of mineAnd that’s why, why, why, why I, oh yeah,
Love that little girl of mine

This little girl of mine,
Called me last night about eight
This little girl of mine,
Told me that we had a date

She said that she’d meet me at a-quarter to nine,
Believe or not but she was right on time
And that’s why, why, why, why I, oh yeah,
Love that little girl of mine

This little girl of mine,
Knows how to dress so neat
This little girl of mine,
Stops the traffic on the street

And when a fella starts a-whistlin’, I don’t mind
I can’t blame him, ’cause she is fine
And that’s why, why, why, why I, oh yeah,
Love that little girl of mine

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Thousands of fans filled the Nashville arena, restless after waiting two years to see Loretta Lynn again. She sat in the shadows beside the stage, weakened by the stroke that had taken her mobility in 2017 and the broken hip she suffered the following year. When the house band started the familiar rhythm of ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter,’ the room seemed to hold its breath. Her sister, Crystal Gayle, leaned over and encouraged her to sing. Loretta waved her off at first, looking down, apparently content to stay quietly in the wings. Then something changed. As the crowd pressed forward, humming the song that told her own story, their response seemed to reach her through the exhaustion. She reached out suddenly and firmly, closing her hand around the microphone’s cool metal. ‘Let me have that damn mic,’ she muttered. Her voice carried through the sound system with unmistakable authority. She was taking back the place she had held for more than fifty years, brushing aside every doctor and therapist who had told her to slow down. The crowd’s roar hit the stage and seemed to shake the rafters. For a moment, the frailty of the past two years faded from view. The audience saw the Kentucky girl who had lived through hardship and made music out of it. Loretta leaned into the song, her voice cracking a little but still carrying the grit that had defined her career. As the last note lingered, everyone in the room understood: she was giving them more than a performance. She was reminding them who was still in charge.

RCA’s doors stayed closed to Dottie West, enough to shake any performer’s confidence in Nashville. Her stints with Starday and Atlantic had left her with little beyond empty pockets and unpaid bills. By 1961, she and her husband, steel guitarist Bill West, were living in a small house in West Nashville. It felt less like a home than a place to make one last, desperate attempt. For years, they had driven back and forth from Cleveland, spending time and money on trips that brought them no closer to getting through the industry’s doors. At that house, Dottie began taking a different approach. Instead of chasing executives, she fed hungry songwriters. Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, and Red Lane started coming over, finding something at her kitchen table that the labels hadn’t offered: someone willing to listen. Auditions gave way to suppers, with Dottie hearing unfinished verses as her guests unpacked their battered guitar cases. If she couldn’t get into the business, she would bring it into her home. Each meal was a deliberate investment in the songwriting Nashville claimed to value but had yet to recognize in her. Things changed the night Jim Reeves heard her song, ‘Is This Me?’ and took it to Chet Atkins. One straightforward exchange over a melody opened a path that had been blocked for years. It wasn’t simply a lucky break. It grew out of her decision to stop asking for a place and create one herself. When she became the first woman to win a country Grammy, the award meant more than recognition. It confirmed that those lean years in the West Nashville house had produced some of the most important work of her life.

Tucked away in a private drawer, far from the polished sets of her television show, lay a bundle of 341 letters. These were not press clippings or scripts; they were brittle, handwritten testimonies from servicemen stationed in remote barracks, deep in war-torn tunnels, and across desolate battlefields. During the long years of the Second World War, as Hollywood presented a glossy, curated image of American life, Donna Reed spent her nights reading these letters and, more remarkably, personally answering them. This was the quiet, invisible work that defined her, long before the public labeled her the quintessential television mother. Behind the camera during her production years, Reed was a different person entirely. She was rarely seen holding a script for a scene; she was more likely to be found hunched over lighting diagrams or studying the intricacies of cinematography. She possessed an uncredited producer’s mind, constantly analyzing how the frame could better reflect the reality of the family she was trying to depict. The studio environment was frequently cold and high-pressured, but she moved through it with a meticulous attention to detail that frustrated those who wanted to treat her as merely another pretty face in the cast. These tactile remnants—the stacks of ink-stained paper and the forgotten notes on camera angles—tell the story of a woman who never truly fit the box Hollywood built for her. While the world remembers the steady, comforting image of a television home, she lived a life carved out of hard labor and deep empathy. She carried the weight of those soldiers’ stories and the technical burdens of the studio floor until her final days, forever balancing the fragility of her public image against the demanding, gritty reality of her actual life.