Ballad of Easy Rider
Encyclopedia
Ballad of Easy Rider is the eighth album
by the American rock
band
The Byrds
and was released in November 1969 on Columbia Records
(see 1969 in music
). The album was named after the song "Ballad of Easy Rider
", which had been penned by The Byrds' guitarist
and singer
, Roger McGuinn
(with help from Bob Dylan
), as the theme song
for the 1969 film, Easy Rider
. The title was also chosen in an attempt to capitalize on the commercial success of the film, although the majority of the music on the album had no connection with it. Nonetheless, the association with Easy Rider heightened The Byrds' public profile and resulted in Ballad of Easy Rider becoming the band's highest charting album for two years in the U.S.
The album peaked at #36 on the Billboard Top LPs
chart and #41 on the UK Albums Chart
. The title track was released as a preceding single
in October 1969, achieving moderate success on the Billboard Hot 100
chart. A second single taken from the album, "Jesus Is Just Alright
", was released in December 1969 but only managed to reach #97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was the second to be recorded by the Roger McGuinn, Clarence White
, Gene Parsons
, and John York
line-up of The Byrds, although York would be fired shortly after its completion. Upon release, Ballad of Easy Rider was met with mixed reviews but is today regarded as one of the band's stronger albums from the latter half of their career.
for Ballad of Easy Rider were produced
by Terry Melcher
, who had also worked as The Byrds' producer during 1965, on their Mr. Tambourine Man
and Turn! Turn! Turn!
albums. The band decided to work with Melcher again as a result of their dissatisfaction with Bob Johnston
's production on their previous album, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
, and on their recent single, "Lay Lady Lay
". Melcher was happy to accept the band's invitation to produce the album but his one stipulation was that he would also take on management
duties for The Byrds, not wishing for a repeat of the conflict he had experienced with Jim Dickson, the group's original manager, in 1965. Melcher's return to the producer's chair began an association with the band that would last until Byrdmaniax
in 1971, much longer than his first tenure as The Byrds' producer.
In early 1969, the script writer
and leading actor
of Easy Rider
, Peter Fonda
, asked Bob Dylan to compose a theme song for the film. Dylan declined but as a consolation he offered the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow" - which he hurriedly scribbled onto a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give that to McGuinn." The fragment was dutifully passed on to The Byrds' guitarist, Roger McGuinn, who added his own lyrical
and musical contributions to fashion a completed song, which he titled "Ballad of Easy Rider". After seeing a private screening of Easy Rider and realizing that he had been named as co-writer of the film's theme song, Dylan demanded that his writing credit be removed, leading McGuinn to theorize in later years that Dylan had disliked the film's ending and anti-hero motif. In 2000 McGuinn recounted to Jud Cost the story of how Dylan disowned credit for the song: "I got a call from Dylan at three o'clock in the morning going 'What's this? I don't want this credit. Take it off.'" Another possible reason for Dylan insisting that his name be removed from the song's credits may have been a suspicion that his name was being exploited to boost the film's credibility.
Two versions of the song "Ballad of Easy Rider" were released. The first was the version included on the Easy Rider soundtrack album, which was listed as a solo performance by Roger McGuinn, although it also featured fellow Byrd Gene Parsons on harmonica
. The second was the recording by The Byrds, which was included on the Ballad of Easy Rider album and released as a single. The version of the song found on the soundtrack album and used in the film is a completely different take
to the version released by The Byrds.
As recording sessions for the Ballad of Easy Rider album continued throughout July and August 1969, public interest in the band mounted as a result of their involvement with the Easy Rider film. This prompted McGuinn to announce that the title of The Byrds' forthcoming album would be Captain America, named after Peter Fonda's character in Easy Rider. Ultimately, this working title
would not be used and the album was instead named after the film's theme song in an attempt to emphasize the connection with Easy Rider.
Following completion of the album, The Byrds' bass player
, John York, was asked to leave the band in September 1969. York had become increasingly disenchanted with his position in The Byrds and had been vocal about his reluctance to perform material that had been written and recorded before he had joined the band. York felt that it was spurious of him to perform songs that had been made popular by musicians who had since left the band. The rest of The Byrds had begun to doubt York's commitment and so a consensus was reached among the other three members that York should be fired. He was replaced, at the suggestion of drummer
Gene Parsons and lead guitar
ist Clarence White, by Skip Battin
, a freelance session musician
and one-time member of the duo Skip & Flip
.
than the Roger McGuinn solo version included on the Easy Rider soundtrack. The Byrds' version of the song also features the addition of an orchestra
, which had been added by producer Terry Melcher in an attempt to emulate the recent hit single
s "Gentle on My Mind" by Glen Campbell
and "Everybody's Talkin'
" by Harry Nilsson
. "Ballad of Easy Rider" was McGuinn's only songwriting
contribution to the Ballad of Easy Rider album, due to his being preoccupied with composing the music for a country rock
adaptation of Henrik Ibsen
's Peer Gynt
, anagrammatically re-titled as Gene Tryp. The musical was never completed and six of the songs that McGuinn and Broadway
impresario
Jacques Levy
had written for the project would instead see release on The Byrds' next two albums.
The remaining ten tracks on the Ballad of Easy Rider album mostly consisted of cover version
s and interpretations of traditional
material. Among these non-original songs was a cover of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
", which the band had attempted to record twice before in June and August 1965, during the sessions for their second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!. These earlier recordings had gone unreleased at the time and McGuinn decided to revisit the composition in 1969, slowing down the tempo
and radically altering the arrangement to fashion a more somber and serious version than those recorded in 1965. The Byrds' 1969 rendition of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" was also released as the B-side
of the "Jesus Is Just Alright" single.
Other covers on the album included Woody Guthrie
's "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
", a poignant account of a plane crash involving migrant farm workers
; the gospel
-styled "Jesus Is Just Alright", which went on to influence The Doobie Brothers
' hit recording of the song; and Pamela Polland
's "Tulsa County Blue", which would later become a moderate country
hit for Anita Carter
in 1971. Although "Tulsa County Blue" had been brought to the album sessions by John York and had also been sung by him in concert
, the album version features McGuinn singing lead vocal
. An outtake
recording of "Tulsa County Blue" with York on lead vocals was finally released as a bonus track
on the 1997 Columbia/Legacy
reissue of Ballad of Easy Rider.
Another cover included on the album was "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)", a song principally written by country singer Vern Gosdin
, after he returned home one evening to find that his wife had left him and taken their children with her. The final track on the album was a meditation on the July 20, 1969 Apollo 11
moon landing
, titled "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins", which continued the tradition of ending Byrds' albums on a quirky, tongue-in-cheek note. The Byrds also recorded a number of traditional songs for the album: the sea shanty
"Jack Tarr the Sailor", which McGuinn sang in an approximation of an English accent; a harmony
-laden arrangement
of the Baptist
hymn
"Oil in My Lamp
"; a rendition of "Way Beyond the Sun", which had been inspired by the song's appearance on the debut album by Pentangle
; and a Moog synthesizer
dominated version of "Fiddler a Dram". Ultimately, "Way Beyond the Sun" and "Fiddler a Dram" would not be included in the album's final track listing and would remain unreleased until the former first appeared on The Byrds box set in 1990 and the latter was included on the 1997 reissue of Ballad of Easy Rider.
The album also featured the John York composition "Fido", a song written about a stray dog that the bass player had encountered in a Kansas City
hotel
room while on tour. The inclusion of the song made Ballad of Easy Rider the second Byrds' album in a row to feature a paean to a canine companion (the first being Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which had included the song "Old Blue"). A third song about a dog, "Bugler", would later appear on the band's 1971 album, Farther Along. "Fido" is notable for featuring a drum solo
, the only example of such a solo on any of The Byrds' studio albums. Drummer Gene Parsons also contributed the song "Gunga Din", which related the story of two separate incidents: the first being The Byrds' appearance at a concert
in Central Park
where Chuck Berry
had been billed to perform but had failed to appear; and the second involving John York and his mother being refused admittance to a restaurant, due to York wearing a leather jacket.
in both the U.S. and the UK, although there is some evidence to suggest that mono
promo copies
of the album were distributed in the United Kingdom. To emphasize the connection between the album and Easy Rider, the back cover of the LP
featured liner notes
written by the film's star, Peter Fonda. Fonda's musings were written in a free-form, stream of consciousness style and optimistically opined (in a manner reminiscent of the chorus
of "Jesus Is Just Alright") that "whoever the Byrds are is just alright. OH YEAH!"
The album peaked at #36 on the Billboard Top LPs
chart, during a chart stay of seventeen weeks, which was a substantial improvement over its predecessor, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. The reverse was true in the United Kingdom, however, where the album reached #41 on the UK Albums Chart
, while Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde had reached #15. The "Ballad of Easy Rider" single was released ahead of the album on October 1, 1969 (b/w "Oil in My Lamp") and reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although this single was issued in most international territories, it was not released in the United Kingdom. A second single taken from the album, "Jesus Is Just Alright", was released on December 15, 1969 and reached #97 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the UK.
Upon its release, the Ballad of Easy Rider album revived The Byrds' commercial fortunes, giving the band their first U.S. Top 40 album since Younger Than Yesterday
in 1967. This renewed success was, in part, due to the band's public profile having been increased as a result of their involvement with Easy Rider and the inclusion of three Byrds-related songs on the film's soundtrack album. Columbia Records' was eager to capitalize on this new-found popularity and launched an advertising campaign for the Ballad of Easy Rider album, proclaiming "The movie gave you the facts, the Ballad interprets them." However, with the exception of the title track, none the songs on the album had much to do with the film. In fact, the album cover's sepia toned
photograph of Lemuel Parsons (Gene Parsons' father) sitting astride an archaic 1928 Harley-Davidson
could almost be seen as a parody of the film's biker ethos.
The album was met with mixed reviews at the time of its release, with Ed Leimbacher, in the December 1969 issue of Rolling Stone
magazine, criticizing the music on the album as "only intermittently successful" and concluding that "The Byrds are still on the wing, but seem a little woozy and wobbly." Todd Selbert, writing in Jazz & Pop magazine, was more positive, describing the album as "Pretty good Byrds - their best effort since the stunning The Notorious Byrd Brothers
." In more recent years, renowned music critic Robert Christgau
has dismissed Ballad of Easy Rider as "the poorest Byrds album" but also noted that the album "improves with listening." Mark Deming's review for the Allmusic website was more positive: "Ballad of Easy Rider sounds confident and committed where Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde often seemed tentative. The band sounds tight, self-assured, and fully in touch with the music's emotional palette, and Clarence White's guitar work is truly a pleasure to hear."
Ballad of Easy Rider was remastered at 20-bit
resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy
Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997 with seven bonus tracks, including the outtakes, "Way Beyond the Sun", "Fiddler a Dram (Moog Experiment)", and a rendition of "Tulsa County Blue" with John York singing lead vocals. An outtake recording of "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood", a song written by the then little-known Jackson Browne
, was also included.
The Byrds
Additional Personnel
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by the American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and was released in November 1969 on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
(see 1969 in music
1969 in music
-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...
). The album was named after the song "Ballad of Easy Rider
Ballad of Easy Rider
Ballad of Easy Rider is the eighth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in November 1969 on Columbia Records . The album was named after the song "Ballad of Easy Rider", which had been penned by The Byrds' guitarist and singer, Roger McGuinn , as the theme song for the 1969...
", which had been penned by The Byrds' guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
(with help from Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
), as the theme song
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for the 1969 film, Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
. The title was also chosen in an attempt to capitalize on the commercial success of the film, although the majority of the music on the album had no connection with it. Nonetheless, the association with Easy Rider heightened The Byrds' public profile and resulted in Ballad of Easy Rider becoming the band's highest charting album for two years in the U.S.
The album peaked at #36 on the Billboard Top LPs
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and #41 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. The title track was released as a preceding single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in October 1969, achieving moderate success on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart. A second single taken from the album, "Jesus Is Just Alright
Jesus Is Just Alright
"Jesus Is Just Alright" is a gospel song written by Arthur Reid Reynolds and first recorded by Reynolds' own group, The Art Reynolds Singers, on their 1966 album, Tellin' It Like It Is....
", was released in December 1969 but only managed to reach #97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was the second to be recorded by the Roger McGuinn, Clarence White
Clarence White
Clarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
, Gene Parsons
Gene Parsons
Gene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...
, and John York
John York (musician)
John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...
line-up of The Byrds, although York would be fired shortly after its completion. Upon release, Ballad of Easy Rider was met with mixed reviews but is today regarded as one of the band's stronger albums from the latter half of their career.
Background and Easy Rider film
Recording sessionsStudio recording
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.-Studio cast recordings:...
for Ballad of Easy Rider were produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Terry Melcher
Terry Melcher
Terrence P. Melcher was an American musician and record producer, who was instrumental in shaping the sound of American West Coast rock music. His greatest contribution to the culture of the time was producing The Byrds' innovative hits "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and his...
, who had also worked as The Byrds' producer during 1965, on their Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man (album)
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...
and Turn! Turn! Turn!
Turn! Turn! Turn! (album)
Turn! Turn! Turn! is the second album by the folk rock band The Byrds and was released in December 1965 on Columbia Records . Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string...
albums. The band decided to work with Melcher again as a result of their dissatisfaction with Bob Johnston
Bob Johnston
Donald William Robert 'Bob' Johnston is a noted American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and many Nashville recording artists, as well as Simon and Garfunkel.-Early days:Johnston was born into a professional musical family...
's production on their previous album, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is the seventh album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in March 1969 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band juxtaposing simple country rock material with harder-edged psychedelia, giving the album a stylistic split-personality that was alluded to in...
, and on their recent single, "Lay Lady Lay
Lay Lady Lay
"Lay Lady Lay" is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released in 1969 on his Nashville Skyline album. Like many of the tracks on the album, Dylan sings the song in a low croon, rather than in the high nasal singing style associated with his earlier recordings...
". Melcher was happy to accept the band's invitation to produce the album but his one stipulation was that he would also take on management
Talent manager
A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
duties for The Byrds, not wishing for a repeat of the conflict he had experienced with Jim Dickson, the group's original manager, in 1965. Melcher's return to the producer's chair began an association with the band that would last until Byrdmaniax
Byrdmaniax
Byrdmaniax is the tenth album by the American rock band The Byrds. It was released in June 1971 on Columbia Records at a time of renewed commercial and critical success for the band, due to the positive reception that their two previous albums, Ballad of Easy Rider and , had received...
in 1971, much longer than his first tenure as The Byrds' producer.
In early 1969, the script writer
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and leading actor
Leading actor
A leading actor, leading actress, star, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play. The word lead may also refer to the largest role in the piece and leading actor may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work...
of Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Easy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
, Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
, asked Bob Dylan to compose a theme song for the film. Dylan declined but as a consolation he offered the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow" - which he hurriedly scribbled onto a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give that to McGuinn." The fragment was dutifully passed on to The Byrds' guitarist, Roger McGuinn, who added his own lyrical
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
and musical contributions to fashion a completed song, which he titled "Ballad of Easy Rider". After seeing a private screening of Easy Rider and realizing that he had been named as co-writer of the film's theme song, Dylan demanded that his writing credit be removed, leading McGuinn to theorize in later years that Dylan had disliked the film's ending and anti-hero motif. In 2000 McGuinn recounted to Jud Cost the story of how Dylan disowned credit for the song: "I got a call from Dylan at three o'clock in the morning going 'What's this? I don't want this credit. Take it off.'" Another possible reason for Dylan insisting that his name be removed from the song's credits may have been a suspicion that his name was being exploited to boost the film's credibility.
Two versions of the song "Ballad of Easy Rider" were released. The first was the version included on the Easy Rider soundtrack album, which was listed as a solo performance by Roger McGuinn, although it also featured fellow Byrd Gene Parsons on harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. The second was the recording by The Byrds, which was included on the Ballad of Easy Rider album and released as a single. The version of the song found on the soundtrack album and used in the film is a completely different take
Take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.-Film:In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup"...
to the version released by The Byrds.
As recording sessions for the Ballad of Easy Rider album continued throughout July and August 1969, public interest in the band mounted as a result of their involvement with the Easy Rider film. This prompted McGuinn to announce that the title of The Byrds' forthcoming album would be Captain America, named after Peter Fonda's character in Easy Rider. Ultimately, this working title
Working title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
would not be used and the album was instead named after the film's theme song in an attempt to emphasize the connection with Easy Rider.
Following completion of the album, The Byrds' bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, John York, was asked to leave the band in September 1969. York had become increasingly disenchanted with his position in The Byrds and had been vocal about his reluctance to perform material that had been written and recorded before he had joined the band. York felt that it was spurious of him to perform songs that had been made popular by musicians who had since left the band. The rest of The Byrds had begun to doubt York's commitment and so a consensus was reached among the other three members that York should be fired. He was replaced, at the suggestion of drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Gene Parsons and lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist Clarence White, by Skip Battin
Skip Battin
Clyde "Skip" Battin was an American singer–songwriter, performer and recording artist. He is best remembered as a member of The Byrds, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Flying Burrito Brothers...
, a freelance session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
and one-time member of the duo Skip & Flip
Skip & Flip
Skip & Flip was a U.S. pop duo, consisting of Skip Battin and Flip aka Gary S...
.
Music
The album opens with the McGuinn and Dylan penned title track, which is performed at a substantially quicker tempoTempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
than the Roger McGuinn solo version included on the Easy Rider soundtrack. The Byrds' version of the song also features the addition of an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, which had been added by producer Terry Melcher in an attempt to emulate the recent hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s "Gentle on My Mind" by Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
and "Everybody's Talkin'
Everybody's Talkin'
"Everybody's Talkin" is a folk rock song released by Fred Neil in 1966 that became a global success for Harry Nilsson in 1969, reaching #2 and #6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and Pop Singles chart respectively and winning a Grammy after it was featured on the soundtrack for the film...
" by Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
. "Ballad of Easy Rider" was McGuinn's only songwriting
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
contribution to the Ballad of Easy Rider album, due to his being preoccupied with composing the music for a country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
adaptation of Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
, anagrammatically re-titled as Gene Tryp. The musical was never completed and six of the songs that McGuinn and Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy was an American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist.Levy was born in New York City in 1935, and attended its City College. He received a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy was a trained psychoanalyst, certified by the Menninger Institute...
had written for the project would instead see release on The Byrds' next two albums.
The remaining ten tracks on the Ballad of Easy Rider album mostly consisted of cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s and interpretations of traditional
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
material. Among these non-original songs was a cover of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records . The song was originally recorded on January 15, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass...
", which the band had attempted to record twice before in June and August 1965, during the sessions for their second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!. These earlier recordings had gone unreleased at the time and McGuinn decided to revisit the composition in 1969, slowing down the tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
and radically altering the arrangement to fashion a more somber and serious version than those recorded in 1965. The Byrds' 1969 rendition of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" was also released as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of the "Jesus Is Just Alright" single.
Other covers on the album included Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
's "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
"Deportee " is a protest song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie detailing the January 28, 1948 crash of a plane near Los Gatos Canyon, 20 miles west of Coalinga in Fresno County, California, United States. The crash occurred in Los Gatos Canyon and not in the town of Los Gatos itself, which is in Santa...
", a poignant account of a plane crash involving migrant farm workers
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
; the gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
-styled "Jesus Is Just Alright", which went on to influence The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
' hit recording of the song; and Pamela Polland
Pamela Polland
Pamela Polland is an American singer-songwriter who made three albums for Epic and Columbia Records in the 60s and 70s and whose songs have been recorded by a number of popular artists...
's "Tulsa County Blue", which would later become a moderate country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
hit for Anita Carter
Anita Carter
Ina Anita Carter , the youngest daughter of Ezra and Mother Maybelle Carter, was a versatile American singer who experimented with several different types of music and played stand-up bass with her sisters Helen Carter and June Carter Cash as The Carter Sisters...
in 1971. Although "Tulsa County Blue" had been brought to the album sessions by John York and had also been sung by him in concert
Rock concert
The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
, the album version features McGuinn singing lead vocal
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
. An outtake
Outtake
An outtake is a portion of a work that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DVD reissues of many albums and films as bonus tracks or features, in film often, but not...
recording of "Tulsa County Blue" with York on lead vocals was finally released as a bonus track
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...
on the 1997 Columbia/Legacy
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
reissue of Ballad of Easy Rider.
Another cover included on the album was "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)", a song principally written by country singer Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...
, after he returned home one evening to find that his wife had left him and taken their children with her. The final track on the album was a meditation on the July 20, 1969 Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
, titled "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins", which continued the tradition of ending Byrds' albums on a quirky, tongue-in-cheek note. The Byrds also recorded a number of traditional songs for the album: the sea shanty
Sea shanty
A shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...
"Jack Tarr the Sailor", which McGuinn sang in an approximation of an English accent; a harmony
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
-laden arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
of the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
"Oil in My Lamp
Oil in My Lamp
"Oil in My Lamp", also known as "Give Me Oil in My Lamp" and "Sing Hosanna", is a traditional Christian hymn based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins...
"; a rendition of "Way Beyond the Sun", which had been inspired by the song's appearance on the debut album by Pentangle
Pentangle (band)
Pentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
; and a Moog synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer refers to any of a number of monophonic analog modular synthesizers designed by the late electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog and manufactured by R.A Moog Co...
dominated version of "Fiddler a Dram". Ultimately, "Way Beyond the Sun" and "Fiddler a Dram" would not be included in the album's final track listing and would remain unreleased until the former first appeared on The Byrds box set in 1990 and the latter was included on the 1997 reissue of Ballad of Easy Rider.
The album also featured the John York composition "Fido", a song written about a stray dog that the bass player had encountered in a Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
room while on tour. The inclusion of the song made Ballad of Easy Rider the second Byrds' album in a row to feature a paean to a canine companion (the first being Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which had included the song "Old Blue"). A third song about a dog, "Bugler", would later appear on the band's 1971 album, Farther Along. "Fido" is notable for featuring a drum solo
Drum solo
A drum solo is an instrumental solo played on a drum kit. A drum solo may be set or improvised, and of any length, up to being the main performance....
, the only example of such a solo on any of The Byrds' studio albums. Drummer Gene Parsons also contributed the song "Gunga Din", which related the story of two separate incidents: the first being The Byrds' appearance at a concert
Rock concert
The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
where Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
had been billed to perform but had failed to appear; and the second involving John York and his mother being refused admittance to a restaurant, due to York wearing a leather jacket.
Release and reception
Ballad of Easy Rider was released on November 10, 1969 in the United States (catalogue item CS 9942) and January 16, 1970 in the United Kingdom (catalogue item S 63795). The album is notable for being the first Byrds' album to be commercially issued exclusively in stereoStereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
in both the U.S. and the UK, although there is some evidence to suggest that mono
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
promo copies
Promotional recording
A promotional recording, or promo, is an audio or video recording distributed for free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available...
of the album were distributed in the United Kingdom. To emphasize the connection between the album and Easy Rider, the back cover of the LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
featured liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
written by the film's star, Peter Fonda. Fonda's musings were written in a free-form, stream of consciousness style and optimistically opined (in a manner reminiscent of the chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
of "Jesus Is Just Alright") that "whoever the Byrds are is just alright. OH YEAH!"
The album peaked at #36 on the Billboard Top LPs
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, during a chart stay of seventeen weeks, which was a substantial improvement over its predecessor, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. The reverse was true in the United Kingdom, however, where the album reached #41 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, while Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde had reached #15. The "Ballad of Easy Rider" single was released ahead of the album on October 1, 1969 (b/w "Oil in My Lamp") and reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although this single was issued in most international territories, it was not released in the United Kingdom. A second single taken from the album, "Jesus Is Just Alright", was released on December 15, 1969 and reached #97 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the UK.
Upon its release, the Ballad of Easy Rider album revived The Byrds' commercial fortunes, giving the band their first U.S. Top 40 album since Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday
Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in February 1967 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous LP...
in 1967. This renewed success was, in part, due to the band's public profile having been increased as a result of their involvement with Easy Rider and the inclusion of three Byrds-related songs on the film's soundtrack album. Columbia Records' was eager to capitalize on this new-found popularity and launched an advertising campaign for the Ballad of Easy Rider album, proclaiming "The movie gave you the facts, the Ballad interprets them." However, with the exception of the title track, none the songs on the album had much to do with the film. In fact, the album cover's sepia toned
Photographic print toning
In photography, toning is a method of changing the color of black-and-white photographs. In analog photography, toning is a chemical process carried out on silver-based photographic prints. This darkroom process can not be done with a color photograph and although the black-and-white photograph is...
photograph of Lemuel Parsons (Gene Parsons' father) sitting astride an archaic 1928 Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson , often abbreviated H-D or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression...
could almost be seen as a parody of the film's biker ethos.
The album was met with mixed reviews at the time of its release, with Ed Leimbacher, in the December 1969 issue of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine, criticizing the music on the album as "only intermittently successful" and concluding that "The Byrds are still on the wing, but seem a little woozy and wobbly." Todd Selbert, writing in Jazz & Pop magazine, was more positive, describing the album as "Pretty good Byrds - their best effort since the stunning The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records . Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock, psychedelic rock,...
." In more recent years, renowned music critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
has dismissed Ballad of Easy Rider as "the poorest Byrds album" but also noted that the album "improves with listening." Mark Deming's review for the Allmusic website was more positive: "Ballad of Easy Rider sounds confident and committed where Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde often seemed tentative. The band sounds tight, self-assured, and fully in touch with the music's emotional palette, and Clarence White's guitar work is truly a pleasure to hear."
Ballad of Easy Rider was remastered at 20-bit
Bit
A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy
Legacy Recordings
Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated...
Byrds series. It was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997 with seven bonus tracks, including the outtakes, "Way Beyond the Sun", "Fiddler a Dram (Moog Experiment)", and a rendition of "Tulsa County Blue" with John York singing lead vocals. An outtake recording of "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood", a song written by the then little-known Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, was also included.
Side 1
- "Ballad of Easy RiderBallad of Easy RiderBallad of Easy Rider is the eighth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in November 1969 on Columbia Records . The album was named after the song "Ballad of Easy Rider", which had been penned by The Byrds' guitarist and singer, Roger McGuinn , as the theme song for the 1969...
" (Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) – 2:01- NOTE: Bob Dylan is not officially credited as a songwriter on "Ballad of Easy Rider".
- "Fido" (John YorkJohn York (musician)John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...
) – 2:40 - "Oil in My LampOil in My Lamp"Oil in My Lamp", also known as "Give Me Oil in My Lamp" and "Sing Hosanna", is a traditional Christian hymn based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins...
" (traditionalTraditional musicTraditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
, arranged Gene ParsonsGene ParsonsGene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...
, Clarence WhiteClarence WhiteClarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
) – 3:13 - "Tulsa County Blue" [aka "Tulsa County"] (Pamela PollandPamela PollandPamela Polland is an American singer-songwriter who made three albums for Epic and Columbia Records in the 60s and 70s and whose songs have been recorded by a number of popular artists...
) – 2:49 - "Jack Tarr the Sailor" (traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn) – 3:31
Side 2
- "Jesus Is Just AlrightJesus Is Just Alright"Jesus Is Just Alright" is a gospel song written by Arthur Reid Reynolds and first recorded by Reynolds' own group, The Art Reynolds Singers, on their 1966 album, Tellin' It Like It Is....
" (Arthur Reynolds) – 2:10 - "It's All Over Now, Baby BlueIt's All Over Now, Baby Blue"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records . The song was originally recorded on January 15, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass...
" (Bob Dylan) – 4:53 - "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)" (Vern GosdinVern GosdinVern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...
, Cathy Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 3:29 - "Gunga Din" (Gene Parsons) – 3:03
- "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)"Deportee " is a protest song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie detailing the January 28, 1948 crash of a plane near Los Gatos Canyon, 20 miles west of Coalinga in Fresno County, California, United States. The crash occurred in Los Gatos Canyon and not in the town of Los Gatos itself, which is in Santa...
" (Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, Martin Hoffman) – 3:50 - "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins" (Zeke MannersZeke MannersLeo "Zeke" Manners was an American country musician.-Biography:Manners was born in San Francisco but raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Fairfax High School and learned to play fiddle, banjo, and piano. He played in a traveling revue for a time before joining several Western swing groups...
, Scott Seely) – 1:41
1997 reissue bonus tracks
- "Way Beyond the Sun" (traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn) – 2:57
- "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood" (Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
) – 2:44 - "Oil in My Lamp" [Alternate Version] (traditional, arranged Gene Parsons, Clarence White) – 2:02
- "Tulsa County Blue" [Alternate Version] (Pamela Polland) – 3:39
- "Fiddler a Dram (Moog Experiment)" (traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn) – 3:10
- "Ballad of Easy Rider" [Long Version] (Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan) – 2:26
- "Build It Up" [Instrumental] (Clarence White, Gene Parsons) - 5:34
- NOTE: this song ends at 2:35; at 3:35 begins "Radio Spot: Ballad of Easy Rider Album #1", which ends at 4:30; at 4:38 begins "Radio Spot: Ballad of Easy Rider Album #2".
Singles
- "Ballad of Easy Rider" b/w "Oil in My Lamp" ("Wasn't Born to Follow" on some copies) (Columbia 44990) October 1, 1969 (US #65)
- "Jesus Is Just Alright" b/w "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Columbia 45071) December 15, 1969 (US #97)
Personnel
NOTES:- Sources for this section are as follows:
- Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
plays Moog synthesizerMoog modular synthesizerMoog modular synthesizer refers to any of a number of monophonic analog modular synthesizers designed by the late electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog and manufactured by R.A Moog Co...
and banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
on bonus track 16.
The Byrds
- Roger McGuinn - guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Clarence WhiteClarence WhiteClarence White was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were Acadians from New Brunswick, Canada...
- lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, vocals - John YorkJohn York (musician)John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...
- electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Gene ParsonsGene ParsonsGene Victor Parsons is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and innovative engineer, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in bands including Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, guitar, banjo, vocals
Additional Personnel
- Byron BerlineByron BerlineByron Berline is an American fiddle player.-Biography:Berline started playing the fiddle at age five and quickly developed a talent for it. In 1965, he recorded the album Pickin' and Fiddlin with the Dillards...
- fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
on "Tulsa County Blue" (and on bonus track 13) - Glen D. HardinGlen HardinGlen D. Hardin is an American piano player, songwriter and arranger. He has performed and recorded with such notable artists as Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, Ricky Nelson and many others.-Career:...
- organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
on "Gunga Din" - Terry MelcherTerry MelcherTerrence P. Melcher was an American musician and record producer, who was instrumental in shaping the sound of American West Coast rock music. His greatest contribution to the culture of the time was producing The Byrds' innovative hits "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and his...
- backing vocal on "It's All Over Now, Baby BlueIt's All Over Now, Baby Blue"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965 by Columbia Records . The song was originally recorded on January 15, 1965 with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass...
" - string sectionString sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
on "Ballad Of Easy RiderBallad of Easy RiderBallad of Easy Rider is the eighth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in November 1969 on Columbia Records . The album was named after the song "Ballad of Easy Rider", which had been penned by The Byrds' guitarist and singer, Roger McGuinn , as the theme song for the 1969...
" and "Jesus Is Just AlrightJesus Is Just Alright"Jesus Is Just Alright" is a gospel song written by Arthur Reid Reynolds and first recorded by Reynolds' own group, The Art Reynolds Singers, on their 1966 album, Tellin' It Like It Is....
"
Release history
| Date | Label | Format | Country | Catalog | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 10, 1969 | Columbia Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
US | CS 9942 | Original release. |
| January 16, 1970 | CBS Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company... |
LP | UK | S 63795 | Original release. |
| 1982 | Embassy Embassy Records Embassy Records was originally a UK budget record label that produced cover versions of current hit songs that were sold exclusively in Woolworths shops at a cheaper price than the original recordings. As such, Embassy can be seen as the UK equivalent of U.S. labels such as Hit and Bell Records... |
LP | UK | EMB 31956 | |
| 1989 | Columbia | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
US | CK 9942 | Original CD release. |
| March 25, 1997 | Columbia/Legacy Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated... |
CD | US | CK 65114 | Reissue containing seven bonus tracks and the remastered stereo album. |
| UK | COL 486754 | ||||
| 2003 | Sony Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation.... |
CD | Japan | MHCP-102 | Reissue containing seven bonus tracks and the remastered album in a replica LP sleeve. |