The Searchers/The Byrds
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 3:29 am
Hello Secondhand Dealers and Spacemen,
Issue August(!) 2003 of magazine UNCUT is headlined with a long article on the Byrds. It also offers a "free" CD: "Eight miles high" : "19 tracks inspired by the Byrds". The song selection is a mix of cover versions of Byrds songs, and other material more or less in the Byrds landscape (which is wide)! Amongst the included songs is When you walk in the room by the Searchers. This is a relevant inclusion, although you may call it doubtful whether it is "inspired by the Byrds". In the introduction to the track, UNCUT writes thar their (The Searchers') style "was clearly an influence on bands such as the Byrds". They also write that this 1964 cover of Jackie DeShannon's song "is further evidence of the connection".
It is often mentioned that the Byrds borrowed the guitar intro from Needles and pins for such songs as Feel a whole lot better and You won't have to cry, from their first LP. I taste that this pattern is quite obvious and not very pregnant, and even the Searchers repeated it on other songs later.
But here's another finding: In 1964, the Byrds rehearsed in the World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. A lot of songs were taped, but never intended for publishing. A few of the songs from this year later appeared (re-dressed) on their 1965 albums. These sessions are a.k.a. the Preflyte sessions, and have eventually appeared on CD in later years. I recently bought a 2CD: Sundaced SC 11116 with this material on it. My attention is drawn to a song by the great, late Gene Clark: She has a way. There are 4 different takes of this song, named versions I-IV. The song never appeared on any Byrds album, but vers. II has been published before in another context. Nothing extraordinary happens on vers. I and II, although the Beatles influence is obvious and openly admitted. But what I find very interesting, is that the two later versions features a guitar pattern very nearly copied from When you walk in the room! This makes sense, since the Byrds were introduced to Jackie deShannon during 1964, and they also recorded her song Don't doubt yourself, babe on their debut album in 1965. I can't remember what Jackie's own version (if there was one) of WYWITR sounded like, and if it introduced the wellknown guitar pattern used by the Searchers. But it seems obvious that the development of She has a way is clearly inspired by this deShannon song, and my favourite theory is that they had heard or had been introduced to the Searchers' version during the autumn of '64 (probably through deShannon) and that the Byrds then used the guitar pattern in developing this particular song.
Although I love both the Searchers and the Byrds, and the Searchers are nearest to my heart, I gladly confess that I place the Byrds above in the "rock importance hierarchy tree". But, if any of the two groups was ever influenced by the other, it has to be the Byrds.
Summer vacating Einar.
Issue August(!) 2003 of magazine UNCUT is headlined with a long article on the Byrds. It also offers a "free" CD: "Eight miles high" : "19 tracks inspired by the Byrds". The song selection is a mix of cover versions of Byrds songs, and other material more or less in the Byrds landscape (which is wide)! Amongst the included songs is When you walk in the room by the Searchers. This is a relevant inclusion, although you may call it doubtful whether it is "inspired by the Byrds". In the introduction to the track, UNCUT writes thar their (The Searchers') style "was clearly an influence on bands such as the Byrds". They also write that this 1964 cover of Jackie DeShannon's song "is further evidence of the connection".
It is often mentioned that the Byrds borrowed the guitar intro from Needles and pins for such songs as Feel a whole lot better and You won't have to cry, from their first LP. I taste that this pattern is quite obvious and not very pregnant, and even the Searchers repeated it on other songs later.
But here's another finding: In 1964, the Byrds rehearsed in the World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles. A lot of songs were taped, but never intended for publishing. A few of the songs from this year later appeared (re-dressed) on their 1965 albums. These sessions are a.k.a. the Preflyte sessions, and have eventually appeared on CD in later years. I recently bought a 2CD: Sundaced SC 11116 with this material on it. My attention is drawn to a song by the great, late Gene Clark: She has a way. There are 4 different takes of this song, named versions I-IV. The song never appeared on any Byrds album, but vers. II has been published before in another context. Nothing extraordinary happens on vers. I and II, although the Beatles influence is obvious and openly admitted. But what I find very interesting, is that the two later versions features a guitar pattern very nearly copied from When you walk in the room! This makes sense, since the Byrds were introduced to Jackie deShannon during 1964, and they also recorded her song Don't doubt yourself, babe on their debut album in 1965. I can't remember what Jackie's own version (if there was one) of WYWITR sounded like, and if it introduced the wellknown guitar pattern used by the Searchers. But it seems obvious that the development of She has a way is clearly inspired by this deShannon song, and my favourite theory is that they had heard or had been introduced to the Searchers' version during the autumn of '64 (probably through deShannon) and that the Byrds then used the guitar pattern in developing this particular song.
Although I love both the Searchers and the Byrds, and the Searchers are nearest to my heart, I gladly confess that I place the Byrds above in the "rock importance hierarchy tree". But, if any of the two groups was ever influenced by the other, it has to be the Byrds.
Summer vacating Einar.