The Byrds Part 2

By Hunter60

Part 1



During their first rehearsals, McGuinn, Crosby and Clark were playing 12 string acoustics, Hillman was struggling on a cheap Japanese bass guitar and Clarke, who didn't have a drum kit, was learning how to play the drums on a set of cardboard boxes with a tambourine taped to the top.

As one would expect, it was a disaster. One of Dicksons first moves as a manager was to take out a loan so that the band could buy real instruments. After watching The Beatles "A Hard Days Night", the band opted to purchase a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar, a Gretsch 6 string, a Gibson bass and a set of Ludwig drums and even went as far as dressing themselves in black suits with velvet collars to complete The Beatles look.

But looking like The Beatles was as far as it went.

With a little help in the way of a recommendation from jazz legend Miles Davis, The Byrds were signed to a contract with Columbia Records to record one single. Their manager, Dickson, happened to be friends with folk hero Bob Dylan. In early 1965, Dylan was in L.A. and was visiting with Dickson at the studio where he was introduced to the band. Dylan had recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man" for an upcoming album but had decided not to use the track.

He allowed The Byrds record the track and was so impressed with their treatment, that he agreed to let them have the recording for their single. According to McGuinn, the track that Dylan had recorded was in 2/4 time and had far too many verses of lyrics for it to have been a hit on U.S. radio. McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark reworked the song into 4/4 time, lopped off several verses of the lyrics and instilled their own 12 string electric guitar into a lead break as well as adding the harmony that the song lacked.

It worked. "Mr. Tambourine Man" was released in March of 1965 and by June 26th, it was number #1 in the United States. (Many rock critics consider it one of the finest rock and roll songs of all time.) Interestingly enough however was that Columbia felt that the single was too important to trust the band to do it well enough on record and enlisted studio musicians to play the instruments on the record. McGuinn was the only member of The Byrds to actually play on the recording. However, the entire band is credited for the multi-layered harmonies.

The band made their public debut in March 1965 playing at Ciro's on the Sunset Strip. The initial gigs were a disaster; bad sound, an ambivalent audience and bad nerves amongst the band all conspired against them. But once "Mr. Tambourine Man" hit the charts, the bands fortunes changed. They returned to Ciro's in April of that same year to find every show sold out with lines around the block waiting for tickets. In May, The Rolling Stones hit L.A. for seven shows throughout southern California and The Byrds opened each show.

The Byrds debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, was released on the Columbia label on June 21st, 1965 (produced by famed producer Terry Melcher, the son of Doris Day) and peaked at #6 on the U.S. Billboard charts. The mid-60's were a very productive and profitable time for the band as all of their albums sold well and vaulted the band into immense popularity. A stream of singles from Bob Dylan's charmed pen kept them on the charts almost continually. Songs like "All I Really Want To Do," "Spanish Harlem Incident," and "Chimes Of Freedom" all did very well, catching steady rotation on radio.

By the time of their second album, The Byrds were being noticed in a very large way. Writers, music critics, the listening public and fellow artists were lining up to lay accolades on the band. When Turn, Turn, Turn, was released, The Byrds were stars. The title track from the album was also a cover (folk hero Pete Seeger had taken a biblical passage and turned it into the now famous song) but done in The Byrds unique style that had by that point become known as folk rock.

Writer Bud Scoppa wrote in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll that "The Byrds pioneered a new approach to rock. It all had to do with the sound … with its 12-string symphony and massive chorale was new in rock … as diamond-sharp cascading guitar notes intertwined with the Byrds' gothic vocal harmonies."

David Crosby discovered the sitar work of Ravi Shankar and the jazz saxophone of John Coltrane and played tapes of his discoveries to his band mates nearly constantly. By the time the band made back to the studio for their third release, The Fifth Dimension, they again nudged the direction of popular music.

There are some critics who maintain that The Byrds' are the band that should be credited with the creation of psychedelic rock. The single Eight Miles High soared into the popular consciousness as arguably the first psychedelic rock song; with no chorus or real lyrical hook and its surreal lyrics, it cemented the bands reputation as true innovators in rock and roll. Eight Miles High was banned by several radio stations when the program directors incorrectly interpreted the lyrics as being those of a "drug song" although The Byrds maintained that the song was actually about their first, disastrous tour to England.

Despite their being on the leading edge of rock at the time and their incredible popularity and influence on music, tensions were beginning to show within the band. Stories of fistfights and loud, verbal assaults between band mates both on and off stage began to circulate.

Gene Clark was the first to leave. His own arguments with both McGuinn, and Crosby were bad enough but it was his fear of flying that led to his leaving. According to McGuinn,, "One day we were going in New York [from L.A.] to do a Murray The K special and Gene was on the airplane. I got there late, just as things were closing up, as I always do. Gene was already freaked out and they were holding his arms. He got off the plane and decided to quit the group."

This made touring near impossible for the band and they returned to the studio as a foursome. They began working on their next album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, but Crosby and McGuinn disagreed loudly on the approach to the album. Crosby left and went onto to become a founding member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

McGuinn regrouped by bringing in Gram Parsons and once again, the band changed directions. Parsons, as noted by McGuinn, "added a whole hunk of country" to the band and with the release Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, the band again created a new genre of music, setting the stage for the country rock phase of the late '60s and early to mid-'70s. Although a critical success, Sweetheart, never really made a major splash with the public at that time. However it is often cited now as being a seminal work not only in The Byrds' catalogue but a must own for any serious rock and roll music collector.

Again, McGuinn flexed his muscle and obsessive control over the band and declined Parsons suggestion that they continue on in the country-rock area with their next release. It was McGuinn's thought that the country-rock sound was simply a diversion, a momentary change in direction for the band, and wanted to move back towards their original sound.

Parsons opted to quit the band when he refused to tour racially segregated South Africa with the band and formed The Flying Burrito Brothers. Chris Hillman left The Byrds shortly thereafter and joined up with The Flying Burrito Brothers as well leaving McGuinn as the only original Byrd left in the band.

Using various sidemen, the reconstituted Byrds managed to continue for a few more albums and a few more years but never managed to re-create that early magic.

There have been various legal entanglements and often uncomfortable attempts at re-unions for the surviving band members but it is clear that despite the band's soaring and storied success, these Byrds will not be rising from the ashes any time soon.