Why Does This Exist?: "Fifi the Flea" by the Everly Brothers

Photo of Orson Lowell from the George Grantham Bain Collection, c. 1950

Here's a new semi-regular feature from Wires and Waves - an examination of songs that raise the highly philosophical question, "Why does this exist?"

By 1966, the Everly Brothers were considered washed-up, and neither of them had reached their thirtieth birthday yet. They'd peaked early, with a string of hit singles from 1656 to 1960 that brought harmony to rock and roll and cemented their reputation as part of the first wave of rock pioneers. But times had changed, and the Everlys hadn't really figured out how to change with them. Until they recorded 1966's Two Yanks In England, a bandwagonesque attempt to emulate the success of the British Invasion bands - it was the product of excellent execution of several good ideas. Update their sound by eliminating most of their tamer country influences in favor of loud guitar? Check. Bring in the Hollies to play as backing musicians on most of the album? Check. Get permission from the Hollies to record some of their non-hit tracks that had some unfulfilled potential? Check. Have Jimmy Page come in to provide some lead guitar as a session musician? Check. Record a song about a little flea that falls in love with a flea clown from the flea circus? Check. Wait ... what?

The only real oddball inclusion on the Everlys' Two Yanks In England album is "Fifi the Flea", a song the Hollies had written for their Would You Believe? album. It's a weird little song about two fleas that die of sadness and are buried together, and Don and Phil do everything they can to bring out the story's pathos with their yearning harmonies, but - c'mon - this is a song about flea circus romance! There's no mystery in why the Hollies wrote and recorded it - they were putting out two albums a year at the time and needed some filler songs. A standard practice at the time. But why would the Everly Brothers ever decide to cover this song on their big comeback album?

My guess is that, recording with the Hollies, the Everly Brothers wanted to capture the British Invasion sound by using as many British songs as possible (the album also contains covers of hits by Manfred Mann and the Spencer Davis Group). The Hollies probably didn't give the Everlys permission to cover any of their big hits, preferring to see if they could improve on the Hollies versions of excellent b-sides like "Signs That Will Never Change" and "Have You Ever Loved Somebody". The Everlys rose to the challenge on those tracks, which is why Two Yanks In England is an underappreciated rock classic. But they went to the well one time too many and ended up including a real head-scratcher called "Fifi the Flea". No pun intended.

"Fifi the Flea" by the Everly Brothers