Five Star Songs: Ballad of Easy Rider

It was only a matter of time before one of The Byrds' songs appeared here. I just didn't know which. Many of the band's songs hold the five star rating in my library, and it's too difficult to pick only one. Well, at least it was before I stumbled across the wiki page of the song Ballad of Easy Rider, featured prominently in the film Easy Rider, and set my eyes on the following paragraph.

The star and script writer of Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, had initially intended to use Bob Dylan's song "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the film but after failing to license the track, Fonda asked Roger McGuinn of The Byrds to record a cover version of the song instead. Fonda also wanted Dylan to write the film's theme song but Dylan declined, quickly scribbling the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow" - on to a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give this to McGuinn. He'll know what to do with it." The lyric fragment was dutifully passed on to McGuinn, who took the lines and expanded upon them with his own lyrical and musical contributions to produce the finished song.

I think it's an interesting fact from making one of the quintessential films of the New Hollywood era, and it gives an idea about the relationship between Dylan and The Byrds.

I've been listening to the band all day. All twelve studio albums arranged chronologically, played front to back. It makes up for over seven hours of incredible listening experience. Right now, I think I like The Byrds a little bit more then every other band, including the Fab four.

The Very Best Of The Byrds

Although I've been a huge fan of The Byrds for over a year, it wasn't until recently, that I have finally "acquired" all of the band's studio albums. This whole time, I was spinning their 1997 best of compilation almost constantly, and it gradually became one of my all time favourite CDs.

Notice the trademark glasses of the frontman Roger McGuinn :)

I haven't grown tired of the band's versions of the Dylan's classics, for which they became famous in the first place, such as their first single ever Mr. Tambourine Man, or Pete Seeger's adaptation of the Book of Ecclesiastes Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) featured prominently on the Forrest Gump soundtrack. The Byrds crafted some of the best covers in the history of rock music. With richer intrumentation and Roger McGuinn's distinctive vocals, they had the ability to take those already brilliant songs to a whole new level. Not to speak about their originals, such as I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, Chestnut Mare or perhaps the first proper psychedelic rock anthem Eight Miles High.

Not unlike The Beatles, The Byrds introduced a unique amount of talent in each of its members. Most of whom found new success in their subsequent careers and inspired countless musicians of the generations that followed. Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) or Gram Parsons were all highly influential personas in the genres of psychedelic rock, country rock and folk.

The band's unmistakable sound owed a lot to Roger McGuinn's jangly guitar, the twelve-string Rickenbacker. The main reason I was hooked instantly, though, were the ethereal melodies. The Byrds were masters at crafting them, and were true equals to their contemporaries, The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

The CD is a selection of 27 songs from the first five years of the band's career (1965 to 1970) and really doesn't miss anything essential. Although the band's style changed significantly over the course of the years, from blending the folk revival and Beatlesque rock to psychedelia and country, the whole compilation still feels like a cohesive album. I'd even go as far and say that The Very Best of The Byrds is what "1" was to The Beatles. The ultimate collection. I'd strongly recommend it to anyone with at least a vague interest in the '60s music. (Or anyone, who still thinks today's indie folk rock bands do something special.)

Well, I had to get this out of my system. Since the first time I heard Turn! Turn! Turn! to this day, my love and respect for The Byrds have been only growing. They are one of the reasons why the music of the '60s was the best. And that's not an opinion, it's a fact.