Today in Music (1965): The Byrds Mr. Tambourine Man released

Mr. Tambourine Man The Byrds

Released: June 21, 1965 Peak: 6 US, 7 UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: folk rock

Tracks: Mr. Tambourine Man [2:29] I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better [2:32] Spanish Harlem Incident (Dylan) [1:57] You Won’t Have to Cry (Clark / McGuinn) [2:08] Here without You (Clark) [2:36] The Bells of Rhymney [3:30] All I Really Want to Do [2:04] I Knew I’d Want You (Clark) [2:14] It’s No Use (Clark / McGuinn) [2:23] Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe (DeShannon) [2:54] Chimes of Freedom [3:51] We’ll Meet Again (Charles / Parker) [2:07] Total Running Time: 35:38 The Players: Roger McGuinn (vocals, guitar) Gene Clark (percussion, harmonica, guitar, vocals) David Crosby (guitar, vocals) Chris Hillman (bass) Michael Clarke (drums, percussion)

Rating: 4.372 out of 5.00 (average of 32 ratings) Quotable: “One of the greatest debuts in the history of rock” – Richie Unterberger, AllMusic.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Birth of the Byrds The Byrds started in 1964 in Los Angeles. They consisted of singer/guitarist Roger McGuinn (then known as Jim), singer/guitarist David Crosby, bassist Chris Hillman, drummer Michael Clarke, and singer/guitarist/percussionist Gene Clark. They “added a number of traditional folk instruments such as banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and appropriately, tambourine.” CS “Most of the band’s members had been doing traditional folk material until hearing the Beatles made them want to form a band and experiment with pop noise. McGuinn even created a signature sound for the band with his twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar, which he bough after seeing George Harrison play one in the film A Hard Day’s Night.” CS “Much of the creative force in 1960s rock came about through Bob Dylan and the Beatles…Dylan showed the Fab Four that folk could be exciting, while the Beatles showed the Village folkie that rock and roll could be intelligent. Between them they revolutionized the way people thought about rock music, and it was the Byrds that first stood at this crossroad of folk tradition and pop sounds.” CS “When the Byrds fused the Beatles’ pop sensibilities with Dylan’s meaningful lyrics, they got the best of both worlds.” CS “The Byrds joined the company of Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, and Elvis Presley as among the most important American musical acts of the 20th century.” CS Jump Starting the Folk-Rock Genre…and More The band’s first album, Mr. Tambourine Man, is “one of the greatest debuts in the history of rock.” AM “Lurking inside Mr. Tambourine Man are DNA maps for…an entire genre of music.” TM It was “the album that was most responsible for establishing folk-rock as a popular phenomenon.” AM “Bits of its twang would define the group’s 1968 Nashville foray Sweetheart of the Rodeo – which would later become a key text for the alt-country movement. It’s got hints of the psychedelia that erupted on the single ‘Eight Miles High’ the following year. Its chiming guitars and dusty vocal harmonies form the blueprint for the California folk-rock of the early 1970s. The ‘jangle’ that came to define Tom Petty and later R.E.M. in the ‘80s first reared its head here.” TM “The Beatles paid attention, by the way – and were soon writing their own Byrds and Bob Dylan-influenced material. So, a wonderful record.” AD The Byrds even inspired Bob Dylan to go electric with their cover of his song “Mr. Tambourine Man.” RD The Byrds’ Sound The album “was nothing less than a significant step in the evolution of rock & roll itself, demonstrating that intelligent lyrical content could be wedded to compelling electric guitar riffs and a solid backbeat.” AM “The band applied their warm, jangly pop and sweet California harmonies to a diverse section of tunes.” CS When the album dropped, “it was embraced primarily for its novel vocal approach, the way it grafted Dylan’s message onto Beatles-buoyant refrains.” TM “Its most alluring traits…[are] Roger McGuinn’s immediately distinctive 12-string Rickenbacker jangle and the band’s beautiful harmonies” AM which “are pretty much unsurpassed by anyone apart from The Beach Boys.” AD The Covers “The material was uniformly strong.” AM “The Byrds mix their own original songs with well-chosen covers,” AD “whether they were interpreting Bob Dylan, …Pete Seeger (The Bells of Rhymney), or Jackie DeShannon (Don’t Doubt Yourself, Babe).” AM They also deliver “the quirky Vera Lynn cover We’ll Meet Again.” AD The Originals “The originals were lyrically less challenging, but equally powerful musically, especially Gene Clark’s I Knew I’d Want You, I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better, and Here Without You.” AM The latter and You Won’t Have to Cry are “both wonderfully beautiful haunting songs.” AD “It’s No Use showed a tougher, harder-rocking side and a guitar solo with hints of psychedelia.” AM Notes A CD reissue added “She Has a Way,” the instrumental “You and Me,” and alternate versions of “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,” “It’s No Use,” “You Won’t Have to Cry,” and “All I Really Want to Do.” The Songs Here are more details about some of the songs on this album.

Mr. Tambourine Man The Byrds

Writer(s): Bob Dylan (see lyrics here) Recorded: 1/20/1965 at Columbia Records in Hollywood, California Released: 4/12/1965 (single), Mr. Tambourine Man (1965), Greatest Hits (compilation, 1967), History of the Byrds (compilation, 1973), The Byrds Play Dylan (compilation, 1979), The Byrds (box set, 1990), 20 Essential Tracks from the Boxed Set (compilation, 1992), The Very Best of (compilation, 1997), The Essential (compilation, 2003), There is a Season (box set, 2006) B-Side: “I Knew I’d Want You” First Charted: 5/8/1965 Peak: 11 BB, 11 CB, 11 GR, 11 HR, 1 CL, 12 UK, 2 CN, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.20 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 28.92 video, 138.20 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Mr. Tambourine Man” “elevated [Bob] Dylan from folk hero to bona fide star.” RS500 He pecked “out the lyrics on a typewriter in the back of a station wagon” BR “during a drug-fueled cross-country trek in 1964,” RS500 which included “wild scenes they had witnessed at Mardi Gras” SS and incorporated the influence of the Federico Fellin film La Strada. SS Some people interpreted “Tambourine” as being about a drug pusher, but Dylan said the song was inspired by Bruce Langhorne, a guitarist who brought a tambourine to the recording session which he said was “as big as a wagon wheel.” SJ Dylan recorded the “hallucinatory ramble” BR during sessions for Another Side of Bob Dylan but left it off the album. He re-recorded it and released it on Bringing It All Back Home, the album which began his transition from acoustic to electric. SS In the meantime, however, a Columbia Records promotions man gave a recording to Jim Dickson, the Byrds’ manager. BR The band was “resistant to a song with such abstract imagery,” SS but eventually gave it a shot. After an attempt with Gene Clark singing lead, they recorded a version with Roger McGuinn assuming vocal duties. SS He said he was trying to sound like a mix of Dylan and John Lennon. BR They recorded their own version five days after Dylan. RS500 The original “was a multi-versed acoustic meander through typically elliptical wordplay,” TB but the Byrds whittled it down to a one-verse, more conventional three-minute single. HL “If nobody sings Dylan like Dylan, the Byrds at least came close.” DM Dylan said of their recording, “Wow, man. You can even dance to that!” RS500 Roger McGuinn said, “I just rearranged it into a Beatles song.” TC Not only did the recording tap into the Beatles harmonies, but a Beach Boys’ beat, and a bit of Bach in the guitar intro. RP Terry Melcher, who’d also worked with the Beach Boys, gets credit for the “influence on the harmonies, tempo, and overall sound.” PW He also decided that, other than McGuinn, the Byrds “were too rough and unpolished to play on their own single” BR and tapped session musicians instead. The Byrds’ David Crosby and Gene Clark contributed backing harmonies but only McGuinn played on the hit. Inspired by George Harrison’s electric twelve-string on the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” BR McGuinn’s played the “chiming twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar [which] became folk rock’s defining sound.” RS500 “The Tambourine Man was the Pied Piper for others to follow.” HL It was “the first widespread folk-rock crossover, one of the most important singles in rock history.” CS It “started the folk-rock movement” SJ “and the whole singer/songwriter tradition.” TC McGuinn said, however, that “We weren’t really thinking about the folk background. In fact, we were trying to subdue it and become legitimate rock & roll people. Fortunately, we weren’t able to shake it, and the residue is what made us sound interesting.” TC Related Links:

I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better The Byrds

Writer(s): Gene Clark Recorded: 4/14/1965 at Columbia Records in Hollywood, California Released: 6/14/1965 (B-side of “All I Really Want to Do”), Mr. Tambourine Man (1965), Greatest Hits (compilation, 1967), The Byrds (box set, 1990), 20 Essential Tracks from the Boxed Set (compilation, 1992), The Very Best of (compilation, 1997), The Essential (compilation, 2003), There is a Season (box set, 2006) First Charted: 7/24/1965 Peak: 93 HR, 26 CL, 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 9.33 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The Byrds followed up their #1 debut single “Mr. Tambourine Man” with “All I Really Want to Do,” another Bob Dylan cover. The single’s B-side, “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,” was written by the Byrds’ Gene Clark and became one of their best-known songs. This is “a wonderful perfect piece of rock/pop music,” AD “the quintessential Byrds rocker.” RD The band “never got quite so down and dirty as it does here.” DM “The bitter ‘I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better’ endures not just for its crystalline harmonies but for the wandering guitar lines that provide counterpoint underneath.” TM “Swimming in echo and phasing, with a guitar sound (and solo) out of Jackie DeShannon via Love, high Beach Boys harmonies, and some of the hottest, trebliest percussion of its day, ‘Feel a Whole Lot Better’ is the one early Byrds record on which their L.A. roots showed more clearly than their genuflections in the direction of Dylan and/or the Beatles.” DM

The Bells of Rhymney The Byrds

Writer(s): Pete Seeger, Idris Davies Recorded: 4/14/1965 at Columbia Records in Hollywood, California Released: Mr. Tambourine Man (1965), Greatest Hits (compilation, 1967), The Byrds (box set, 1990), There is a Season (box set, 2006) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.29 streaming About the Song Pete Seeger recorded this song in 1957, putting music to words from the 1938 Gwalia Deserta, written by Welsh poet Idris Davies. WK-BR In 1965, the Byrds recorded it for their 1965 debut album Mr. Tambourine Man. Roger McGuinn brought the song to the band after being an arranger for Judy Collins’ third album, which featured it. WK-BR “The Byrds’ version was another example of them standing at the crossroads of folk and pop, with layers of 12-strings and ghostly medieval harmonies.” MC-23 “The track incorporates blaring guitar chords, a humming bass, and a bombastic rock-bottom drum rhythm.” MC-24 The guitar solo halfway through “includes gorgeous banjo-like picking.” MC-24 “This version was monumentally important in the progression of their sound. This is where psych folk begins.” MC-24 “The wordless, blissed-out coda became one of the key motifs of psychedelia. The Byrds invented it on this track.” MC-24 The Beatles’ George Harrison used the guitar riff from the Byrds’ version to create his song “If I Needed Someone.” WK-BR

All I Really Want to Do The Byrds

Writer(s): Bob Dylan Recorded: 3/8/65 and 4/14/65 at Columbia Records in Hollywood, California Released: 6/14/1965 (single), Mr. Tambourine Man (1965), Greatest Hits (compilation, 1967), The Byrds Play Dylan (compilation, 1979), The Byrds (box set, 1990), 20 Essential Tracks from the Boxed Set (compilation, 1992), The Very Best of (compilation, 1997), The Essential (compilation, 2003), There is a Season (box set, 2006) B-Side: “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” Peak: 40 BB, 9 CB, 22 HR, 16 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.60 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The Byrds exploded out of the gate with their #1 cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” They followed it up with another recording of a Dylan song – “All I Really Want to Do.” “The band were worried about releasing another Dylan song as a single, not wanting to be formulaic.” MC However, the record company was convinced it would be another hit and rush-released it while “Mr. Tambourine Man” was still on the charts and in hopes of stalling another version of “All I Really Want to Do” by Cher. MC Both were top-40 hits but Cher’s was much bigger, reaching #15 in the U.S. and #9 in the UK. “It’s amazing that anyone was inventive enough to transform the song and see a possible hit in it, especially given Dylan’s awkward version on Another Side of Bob Dylan a year before.” MC “The Byrds version of Dylan’s slightly dreary song became euphoric.” MC Their version “also has a different structure, where they made the bridge sound more Beatles-like.” MC

Chimes of Freedom The Byrds

Writer(s): Bob Dylan Recorded: 4/22/1965 at Columbia Records in Hollywood, California Released: Mr. Tambourine Man (1965), Greatest Hits (compilation, 1967), The Byrds Play Dylan (compilation, 1979), The Byrds (box set, 1990), The Very Best of (compilation, 1997), The Essential (compilation, 2003), There is a Season (box set, 2006) Peak: 38 CL, 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.41 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: This was one of four Bob Dylan covers featured on the Byrds’ debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man. “As with all of the Byrds’ recordings of Dylan songs, it features a rich and inventive arrangement, Roger McGuinn’s emotionally searching lead vocal and riveting twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar solos, and the lush, shimmering harmonies of David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke. The original Dylan version was featured on 1964’s Another Side of Bob Dylan. “The song depicts the thoughts and feelings of the singer and his companion as they shelter from a lightning storm under a doorway after sunset. The singer expresses his solidarity with the downtrodden and oppressed, believing that the thunder is tolling in sympathy for them.” WK-CF It has been suggested that Dylan wrote the song as a response to President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. WK-CF “Some commentators and Dylan biographers have assessed the song as one of Dylan’s most significant compositions.” WK-CF Critic Paul Williams went so far as to call it Dylan’s “Sermon on the Mount.” WK-CF The song became the centerpiece of the 1988 Amnesty International tour promoting human rights. The tour featured Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N’Dour. The song was “used as the climax of each show with all the performers coming together and trading verses…A more perfect ode to freedom cannot be imagined.” SS

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Richie Unterberger BR Tom Breihan (2022). The Number Ones. Hachete Books: New York, NY. Pages 67-81. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 59. AD Adrian Denning (3/30/2007). “Adrian’s Top 100 Albums, So Far” RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 80. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Blandford Books: London, UK. Page 92. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 145-6, 619-20. MC Andy McArthur (2023). On Track…Every Album, Every Song. Sonicbond Publishing: United Kingdom. TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Pages 135-6. RP Robert Palmer (1995). Rock & Roll: An Unruly History. New York, NY; Harmony Books. Page 106. RS500 Rolling Stone (4/7/2011). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Brothers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 78. CS Chris Smith (2009). 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music. Oxford University Press. Pages 32-4. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 219-20, 552. TB Thunder Bay Press. (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 74. WK-CF Wikipedia page for “Chimes of Freedom” WK-BR Wikipedia page for “The Bells of Rhymney” PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY Pages 83-4. Related DMDB Pages: First posted 4/7/2008; last updated 10/23/2026.