Byrds and Beach Boys

leep · Post by **leep** » Fri Aug 16, 2002 2:34 am

The Byrds and the Beach Boys have more in common than a lot of people might know. Gary Usher and Brian Wilson wrote some Beach Boys songs together, including the classic "In My Room". Gary Usher also produced three Byrds albums: "Younger Than Yesterday", "Notorious Byrd Brothers", and "Sweetheart of the Rodeo". Van Dyke Parks plays keyboards on the Byrds "5D", and he later wrote some songs with Brian Wilson. Roger McGuinn cowrote "Ding Dang" with Brian Wilson, and Roger also played 12-string on the Beach Boys' remake of "California Dreamin'", and played and sang on an "alternate" version of "Summer In Paradise."

These, and other fun facts regarding the "Beach Byrds" can be found at the following site:
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/543/byrdboys.html

Also, I want to say that I really enjoy this forum, and hope to continue to help make it the best place to go for Byrds discussion on the net. It seems totally appropriate that fine Byrd discussion can be found at a site also dedicated to quality Rickenbacker instruments! Many good bands from the 60s used Rickenbacker instruments: Paul K from the Jefferson Airplane played one, Carl W from the Beach Boys, and Pete T from the Who, and so many others. But, the Byrds are the ones that definitely helped put the sound of the Rickenbacker 12-string on the map, and it's great that this place has a cool forum just for them.

A few friends and I have a forum on Bravenet where we discuss music from the 60s / 70s and beyond, and I would like to invite all the cool people who hang out here to stop by and feel free to visit anytime and talk openly about music and such. We try to change the picture and feature different artists to discuss every week or so. This week's featured artist is Joni Mitchell. It's pretty Funky! Here's the address:
http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3566943549

admin · Post by **admin** » Thu Aug 22, 2002 12:43 am

Leep: Thanks for these comments. It is fascinating to consider the role of the Rickenbacker 12 string in the music of both of these fine groups. What a thoroughly enjoy about this forum is the lession I get in music history every day.

leep · Post by **leep** » Thu Aug 22, 2002 1:02 pm

Pete: Lesion or Lesson? Haha! No, I'm just kiddin'. These forums are a great place. Everyone messes up sometimes with their linguistic styles. Even on Dauber's "Beach Byrds" site that I mentioned above, number 8 on his list states that Skip played drums for the Byrds when, in fact, he played bass. I wrote to Dauber, so hopefully he will correct it someday.

Also, I believe the percussionist Hal Blaine worked with both the Beach Boys and the Byrds. I don't remember seeing that one on his list.

wmthor · Post by **wmthor** » Thu Aug 22, 2002 4:55 pm

Roger's work on The Beach Boys' cover of "California Dreamin" has to be my favorite song in which a RIC 12 string was used. The video isn't bad either.

leep · Post by **leep** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 3:51 am

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" is personally my favourite example of the sound of a Rick 12 string. Either way, the sound of the Rick is like heavenly bells chiming.