ON SONGWRITING
‘ What we need is four of him .’ That ’ s when I knew I had something that would work .”
In 1964 , after a solo gig at the Troubadour in L . A ., McGuinn was approached by another folkie , Gene Clark , and the incipient Byrds had their wings . When David Crosby later joined The Byrds gained a beak . Mike Clarke perched himself on the drums and Chris Hillman pecked at the bass . But at that early point they called themselves the Beefeaters . Their manager Jim Dickson had free access to a recording studio at night , and so the five holed up there through most of 1964 with a four track tape machine . Finally , their demo was good enough to land a contract at Columbia Records ; but no one at the label knew quite what to make of them .
“ They just wanted to get some kind of young thing going on ,” said McGuinn . “ Terry Melcher was the only young producer Columbia had on staff , so they just sort of stuck us with him .” In 1964 and 1965 , groups still had to prove themselves with singles before any parent company would be persuaded to shell out large sums necessary to produce an entire album . If the single bombed , there would be no album . That was the problem for The Byrds back in 1965 . Columbia wouldn ’ t release their single – it just sat in the can for five months .
That moldering single was a cover of Bob Dylan ’ s “ Mr . Tambourine Man ” – Jim Dickson ’ s idea . McGuinn recalls , “ He had the vision to hear ‘ Mr . Tambourine Man .’ It didn ’ t sound like a hit to me .”
While waiting for Columbia Records to spring into action , McGuinn was approached by Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service to start a band . He considered it until he heard voices again – this time it was his voice on “ Mr . Tambourine Man ” playing all over the radio .
The name Beefeaters changed to The Byrds and they quickly became America ’ s rock ‘ n ’ roll answer to the Beatles . At Ciro ’ s , a dilapidated nightclub on the Strip , they were a fixture bent on ripping down the frothy scenery of the California myth , which was propagated by the Beach Boys , and Jan & Dean – a myth
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“ Mr . Tambourine Man ,” was strictly ( producer ) Jim Dickson ’ s idea . “ It didn ’ t sound like a hit to me .”
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full of sand and sun , cars and girls , and most especially , the holy surfboard . McGuinn – with his imposing 12-string guitar , his Ben Franklin glasses , and intellectual smirk – had surfed but once in his life .
He confesses , “ I didn ’ t have much rock and roll savvy at that point . I had my folk chops together ; but my sense of rhythm wasn ’ t too highly developed because in folk music the emphasis on keeping a solid beat isn ’ t that strong . That was the thing that frightened us the most . When we played Ciro ’ s , people were actually dancing in front of us and if you messed up the beat they ’ d fall down . Also , single string picking was something I didn ’ t do much of with a flat pick in the folk field . I did fingerpicking and Travis picking and that kind of thing . So I had to learn to how pick out individual notes . I started practicing scales to get my technique together . I practiced hours and hours every day . With my first Rickenbacker I used to just sit there on my bed and play all morning every day . Unfortunately , after we had a couple of hits , I got lazy and there were times when I didn ’ t pick up a guitar for a few days or a week and I kind of lost my chops .”
JUNE / JULY DIGITAL EDITION 49