RiffDraft

A few years ago, I bought a 4 disc Byrds boxed set.  Being a mild fan, I figured that the boxed set would suffice.  But a few of their early singles, like She Has A Way, I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better, and She Don’t Care About Time, caught my attention.  They all had one thing in common: they were written by one of the early-Byrds, Gene Clark. Wanting to explore some of his other songs, I recently purchased The Byrds’ second album, Mr. Tamborine Man.   I initially wanted to comment on the overabundance of stickers on the cover:

but, after listening to it over and over again, I realized that this is one of the greatest rock’n'roll albums of all time.  I put it in my top 30.  You hear the beginnings of the California sound so often emulated by other artists.  The hypnotic drone of the Rickenbacker 12 string over tamborines and 3 part harmonies, crystallized into something completely new for 1965.  The Beatles, Stones, a young Tom Petty, and eventually, bands like Big Star and REM all took notice. It is no secret that The Byrds most famous songs were written by Bob Dylan.  4 out of the 12 songs on this album were Dylan’s.   However, a closer listen to The Byrds yields a recognition of the magnificent 2 1/2 minute pop song sensibilities of Gene Clark.  Clark’s choruses always pack a powerful and concise punch–all the emotion of the song being summed up in that one line.  In the song below, You Won’t Have To Cry, notice how the whole song builds up gradually, ending with an Orbison-like crescendo.   There is a beauty in the economy of words used in this song.   Listen for the harmonies (I think that’s David Crosby adding the high harmonies in the second verse “there’s no reason to feel blue, because of what he says to you”), the tamborine, and, if you’re listening for the Rickenbacker, it’s in the left speaker. You Won’t Have to Cry – The Byrds