The Everly Brothers - Oh My Papa [O Mein Papa]

Details

Description

Following Phil Everly's death in 2014, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph described his and elder brother, Don's vocals as "Two voices in seamless harmony whose musical influence was immeasurable". I cannot think of a finer way to describe my appreciation of the Everly Brothers. From the moment I first heard their 1957 début hit "Bye Bye Love", I was hooked. For me, they set the bar so high that it really came as no surprise to later learn that The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees, The Hollies, Simon & Garfunkel and The Marmalade all admitted being influenced by them.
Although the passing of time can make one more sentimental and easily moved, it was rarely that any recording artist — let alone male performers — could bring a lump to my teenage throat. The Everlys' no frills recording of "Oh My Papa" was one to achieve that. The song had been written by Swiss composer Paul Burkhard in 1939 for the musical 'Der Schwarze Hecht' ('The Black Pike'), reproduced in 1950 as 'Das Feuerwerk' ('The Firework'). In 1954 that production was turned into the film 'Fireworks', starring Lilli Palmer, whose interpretation led to Eddie Fisher recording his multi million-selling #1 hit version that year. The truly seamless harmony vocals by Don and Phil on their no frills heartfelt 1962 recording are outstanding!