About The Song
Problems by The Everly Brothers slipped into the world on October 27, 1958, as a Cadence Records single with “Love of My Life” tucked on the B-side. Recorded just two weeks earlier on October 13, it was the follow-up to their equally unlucky-at-the-top “Bird Dog,” and it followed the same path: 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 2 in mid-December, blocked from the summit by The Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him Is to Love Him.” It also climbed to No. 17 on the country chart and No. 6 in the UK, proving once again that the brothers’ close harmonies could turn everyday teenage gripes into something radio couldn’t resist.
The song came straight from the reliable hands of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the husband-and-wife songwriting team that had already handed the Everlys “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” and “Bird Dog.” By 1958 the Bryants had figured out exactly what worked for Don and Phil: short, snappy stories about the small dramas of being young. “Problems” was another one of those—girlfriend troubles, school headaches, car issues, the whole laundry list of things that feel like the end of the world when you’re seventeen. The brothers delivered it with their trademark energy, turning what could have been a moan into something bouncy and oddly cheerful.
That year the Everlys and the Bryants were on a tear. Hits kept coming, tours never stopped, and the duo’s sound defined late-’50s teen pop. “Problems” fit perfectly into that streak. It wasn’t a ballad or a pure novelty number; it was somewhere in between, light on its feet and full of the kind of relatable complaints kids could sing along to while cruising in their cars or dancing at sock hops. The single’s quick turnaround—cut and out in stores in under three weeks—showed how smoothly the partnership was running at Cadence.
Though it never quite reached No. 1, “Problems” became a steady presence on the brothers’ early compilations, including the 1959 collection The Everly Brothers’ Best. Years later it still turned up in live sets as a reminder of the era when everything seemed to click. The Bryants would go on writing for the duo until a management dispute eventually cut off that pipeline, but “Problems” remains one of the lighter, brighter snapshots from their golden run: two minutes of harmony that captured exactly how it felt when life handed you one small crisis after another and all you could do was shrug and keep singing.
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Lyric
Problems, problems, problems all day long
Will my problems work out right or wrong?
My baby don’t like anything I do
My teacher seems to feel the same way too
Worries, worries pile up on my head
Woe is me, I should have stayed in bed
Can’t get the car, my marks ain’t been so good
My love life just ain’t swinging like it should
Problems, problems, problems
They’re all on account of my loving you like I do
Problems, problems, problems
They won’t be solved until I’m sure of you
You can solve my problems with a love that’s true
Problems, problems, problems all day long
Problems, problems, problems all day long