“Turn! Turn! Turn!” has been done by Pete Seeger on his banjo, the man who wrote it and put it together, and it’s been done by Judy Collins, with – irony of ironies – a young Jim McGuinn on guitar. Third, there’s a saying we used to have with the guys from Green On Red: if a song’s good you really can’t screw it up. Second, if it dates from The Bible, it’s arguably the oldest lyric in the history of rock’n’roll. I don’t know whether that’s true, but I like the fact that this was a band playing more or less live in the studio to get the song to perfection. The legend is that they went through something like 77 takes over a few days. One, it’s a great song and great performance. SID GRIFFIN, The Coal Porters: Never mind my favourite Byrds song, I actually think that “Turn! Turn! Turn!” may be my favourite song, period. Pete Seeger’s evergreen folk tune, itself adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes, recast as a stirring anthem for the bright new ’60s counterculture. It’s all those elements sewn together.įrom Turn! Turn! Turn! (December 1965). The way they did it created this whole different world. The 12-string guitar, the harmonies and the production elements of The Byrds have all fed into my own songs. It’s just one of those tunes that’s always been a classic Byrds song. Yeah! I do, I do!” I’d pick up my guitar and try to play it. And I remember hearing “So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star” as a little kid and going: “Yeah. I’m not the biggest folk music guy, but the reason my ear went towards psychedelia was because it was a form of escapism. The best kind of music is the kind that puts you in a different place to your everyday life. I guess the older I get the more I understand people who have success and how there’s always a flipside to the positivity of it all. The one that always stood out for me was “So You Want To Be A Rock’n’Roll Star”. It seemed like The Byrds were always around with that song, then you start to discover just how great they were as the years go by and you start hearing them properly. It was only later when I understood the importance of that cover and what they were trying to do with it. When I was a little kid I think I heard their version of “Mr Tambourine Man” before I’d even heard Dylan’s. TY SEGALL: I grew up in Southern California and The Byrds were one of those bands who were always on the oldies radio station. Their first album accomplished that and solidified Southern California as a hotbed of alternatives to the Brits, in their obsession to sell us the Delta Blues. They had the potential to be the great American defenders in the onslaught of the British Invasion. I’d passed up on a hustle to be a Byrd, yet I admired them so. It also brought me local renown as a studio player and helped me make ends meet. Yet playing on the date was a benchmark in my life. Terry asked me if I could play Hammond B3. Terry Melcher and the fellows knew I could play keyboard. That spoke to the author’s non-commercial intent, which was something I could admire. The 3/4 format was a squaresville retro-recall to the waltz, so out of place post-twist, or any other dance step of the era. It reveals a spiritual awakening unburdened by any religious dogma. When I first heard them, having been invited to the studio recording, I remember feeling fortunate to sit in on a session that would reveal that quest, and The Byrds’ sober social role in it. VAN DYKE PARKS: These illuminated and self-examined lyrics to “5D” codified, in a capsule, the spiritual quest of ‘The ’60s’. US chart: 44Īfter Gene Clark’s departure, McGuinn’s musing on the infinite beyond was augmented by a young Van Dyke Parks on organ, instructed to “think Bach”.
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