1001 Albums: #27 - The Everly Brothers - A Date with the Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers - A Date with the Everly Brothers
Warner Bros, 1960

When I first listened to this album, I thought, man, this would never fly today. But then I remembered there's a Kidz Bop version of Pitbull's "Timber" which boasts the line "Let's make a night you won't remember/ I'll be the one you won't forget." It's amazing how many date rapey lines are littered throughout the Kidz Bop canon. And so, the Everly Brothers version of Pure Patriarchal Romance is kind of quaint. That is, unless you adjust for romantic inflation. Check out the second verse:

One day soon you'll have a date

And you'll take her home that night

You'll wonder as you look at her

Would a kiss be right

The more you look, the more you'll find

Those doubts will fill your head

But think real hard and you might recall

The things your old dad said

Girls, girls, girls were made to love

Girls, girls, girls were made to love

Maybe dear old dad should have taught these brothers a thing or two about consent! I'd say you adjust for inflation, that's as bad or worse than Pitbull. Girls weren't made to have their own fulfilling lives with their own dreams and goals, they were MADE TO LOVE, DAMNIT! Another problem with this song is that it's damn catchy. This album also has the first recorded version of "Love Hurts," which I love not because of the hair metal cover by Nazareth, but Bob Pollard and Kim Deal's rendition. It also has "Cathy's Clown," which is one of my all time favorite oldies. Sonically you can hear the influence they're going to have on countless pop-rock bands going forward into the 60s, but lyrically you can...also hear the influence they are going to have on countless pop-rock bands going forward (particularly the early Beatles which I sense are coming soon).