A few jazz musicians, including Coltrane, had discovered Shankar as early as the late 50s. He got McGuinn hooked as well, and would later enthuse George Harrison about Shankar too. He'd been introduced to Coltrane and Ravi Shankar recordings by a record producer in Los Angeles in 1964 and was blown away. The unlikely musical connections start with Crosby. Writing credits go to Clark, McGuinn and rhythm guitarist David Crosby. From left: Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, Michael Clarke, Jim McGuinn, David Crosby, publicist Derek Taylor, and, notably, two possibly concupiscent stewardesses. The Byrds touch down at Heathrow in August 1965. Clark's lyrics say of England, 'nowhere is there warmth to be found'. The Beatles befriended them, but the British critics were cool, and an English combo, The Birds (Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood's first band), served a writ about the name. The 'rain gray town, known for its sound' was London, and 'sidewalk scenes and black limousines' was what they experienced - the fans, 'some laughing, some just shapeless forms', screamed from the streets Beatlemania-style as they were shepharded around in Austin Princess cars. That was the subject of the lyrics that Byrds tambourine-player Gene Clark wrote for 'Eight Miles High' - the height of their flight there, but reaching 13km with two miles added to sound better. But they made their name with covers of Bob Dylan songs, scoring hits by transforming his acoustic folk songs into jangly, electric pop, driven by Jim (later known as Roger) McGuinn's 12-string guitar and chiming vocal harmonies. At first, the Byrds even dressed like them and had mop-top hair. Their name comes from changed spelling, just like the Beatles (it's not a reference to bebop trumpeter Donald Byrd). The Byrds came together in Los Angeles in 1964, inspired, like many American groups of the time, by the Beatles.
But they all came together in 'Eight Miles High'. As for Indian music, it was literally a world away. Psychedelic was rock'n'roll, white and electric, modern jazz was mainly the reserve of black virtuoso acoustic instrumentalists.
LYRICS EIGHT MILES HIGH THE BYRDS FREE
Psychedelic and jazz were both free in spirit, both drew on different musical sources to chart new territory - but they may well have come from different planets. The music sank in deep, and provided the key to moving them on from jangly folk-rock. The greatest jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane, became driven by spirituality, and absorbed influences including the sitar legend Ravi Shankar, a master of Indian classical music and its mood-inducing mode-based patterns of notes called ragas. They were sometimes jaunty, sometimes moody, always sophisticated and increasingly experimental. Meanwhile, jazz had been enjoying a renaissance for a couple of decades, breaking out into the new genres like bebop, hard bop and free jazz. Many say 'Eight Miles High' was the first psychedelic rock song* (another contender, 'You're Gonna Miss Me' by Texas band The 13th Floor Elevators, was recorded later but released first). And it belonged to a just-emerging genre of music - psychedelic - which within a year would turn on a generation. In 1966, a group called The Byrds released a single called 'Eight Miles High.' The song was weird, electric, experimental and overtly druggy, starting with the title. Watch The Byrds perform “Eight Miles High” in 1970 at the legendary Fillmore East venue.LONDON - Fifty-two years ago a slender bridge reached across musical, racial and cultural divides. I’m not denying that the Byrds did drugs at that point – we smoked marijuana – but it wasn’t really about that.” And what would the song be without the Rickenbacker 12-string breaks?”Īccording to McGuinn after being asked if it was about drugs, he replied: “Well, it was done on an airplane ride to England and back. I came up with the line, ‘Six miles high and when you touch down.’ We later changed that to Eight because of the Beatles song ‘Eight Days a Week.’ I came up with several other lines as well. Roger McGuinn argues, “Not true! The whole theme was my idea… Gene would never have written a song about flying. The melody and lyrics I wrote myself in a hotel room with Brian Jones in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” Claims about who really wrote the songs are quite confusing, as Gene Clark says he was the main author of the lyrics, saying, “I wrote the song and presented it to McGuinn and Crosby on tour – we were on a bus tour at the time, and we were listening to a lot of John Coltrane, a lot of Ravi Shankar, and they helped me finish the song.
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