Song #149: "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season" by The Byrds

Date: Dec 4, 1965
Weeks: 3

As I mentioned before, when a movie wants to establish the 1960s, they only have to play the first 4 seconds of this song. This is an indisputable classic.

The lyrics famously come straight from the Book of Ecclesiastes. The only additions to the song are the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and the ending line "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." That end line has turned it into a rather famous peace anthem from the Vietnam War era, which goes right back to explain why this song is so synonymous with the 60s. I'm not entirely clear on the meaning of "turn," but perhaps it's supposed to express the passage of time, the turning of the Earth, that sort of thing. Anyway, setting existing poetry to music is a pretty good trick, so the lyrics certainly get a pass from me.

As for the music, it's classic. The bass is excellent. The vocals are well-performed and harmonized. The guitars sound downright pretty. But the subtle standout is the percussion. During the verses, the percussion is mostly light cymbal-taps and tambourines. But when the chorus comes up, the percussion adds more drums. I have to say, I think the percussion is the main reason this song works so well. The drums modulate the intensity in a way that lets the nice, gentle verse build into a relatively intense chorus.

My verdict: Like it. Even without the historical context, this is just plain a great-sounding song.

Song #139: "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds

Date: June 26, 1965
Weeks: 1

The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is kind of a forgotten song.

1) The culture at large seems to remember "Mr. Tambourine Man" as a Bob Dylan song. A YouTube search for the title lists a ton of amateurs showing off their own covers, and they uniformly identify Bob Dylan as the originator. And that's fair; he did write it.

2) William Shatner's version of this song is an infamous goofy spectacle.

3) It's not even the song the Byrds are best remembered for. That would be "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (#149). The opening chords of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are practically movie shorthand for "This is the 1960s."

With all respect to Mr. Dylan, the lyrics are nonsense. "Waiting only for my boot heels to be wanderin’." You're waiting for your own feet to start walking? Don't you control that? I guess not if your brain is  drug-addled, as much speculation seems to suggest with regard to this song's lyrics. Drugs or not, the meaning is poorly conveyed.

Nonsense lyrics aren't a problem for me. I've always thought that if pop music is catchy, it's okay if the lyrics are indecipherable. Fortunately, the Byrds make the music catchy. Unlike Dylan and Shatner, they field a full 1960s rock band, with 3 guitars, drums, and, yes, a tambourine. The result is a nicely full sound. The bass line is particularly compelling. The video I've chosen to link is a performance that has a lot of energy and is the most fun version I can find, but I've also been listening to a crisp remastered version of what I presume is the recording that was on the charts.

It's too bad those first 3 points I made have caused this song to be forgotten. It's really very enjoyable.

My verdict: Like it. The Byrds perform a piece of music solid enough to overcome silly lyrics and competing performances by more famous people.