The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man / I Knew I'd Want You

All Praise Unto To The Wrecking Crew ...

I’ve always contended that the Byrds were a single’s band, where no single proves my point more that their electrified jangling cover of the Bob Dylan song “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

Released in April of 1965 the song was released to the world, where the effect was resounding, instantly assuring the Byrds a place in musical history, though truth be told, that mind blowing 60’s bit of psychedelia was created mostly by the session band known as the Wrecking Crew, a group of well heeled well versed much older musicians who were able to bring greater depth to this number. Oddly enough, as the Byrds laid down only the vocals for this endeavor, rumors quickly began circulating that the Wrecking Crew was responsible for all of the music on the soon to be released album, though that was not the case. The misconception was almost laughingly brought to life when Chris Hillman blurted out, “the contrast between the more polished sound of the two tracks feature on the single (“Mr. Tambourine Man” / “I Knew I Wanted You”) and the sound found on the rest of the album are quiet noticeable.”

When Dylan recorded that original version, Jim Dickson got ahold of an acetate version of the single. Dickson was then the manager of a new Los Angeles band that hadn’t managed to settle on a name yet (The Jet Set, The Beefeaters, to The Byrds). Truth be told, the Byrds were not at all enamored with “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Dickson was forced to shake them by their collective collars in order to get them to record the track, which they eventually did. Nevertheless, the song was entirely overhauled, the tempo was change along with the time signature, not to mention tossing out most of Dylan’s lyrics. It’s said that when Dylan heard an early version of the band’s cover he loved it, saying, “Wow, you can dance to that!”.

The song is simply explorative, those jangling guitars hit one’s ears like tiny bursts of euphoria. The bass line feathers in at just the right time and with just the right attitude, sliding in right under the central rolling riff … through we are talking about the Wrecking Crew here, and they were simply the best band in the world at the time. The nearly angelic harmonized vocals go down so easily, it almost sounds like musical sleight of hand, creating a lush and infectious groove that stood in stark juxtaposition to anything that was being played on the radio at that time.

*** Of all the cover versions of the cover song, while many are fascinatingly wonderful, you might just want to avoid the William Shatner take, as it’s simply tragic.

Review by Jenell Kesler

This is the Danish isue.

This release pretty much jump-started the whole folk-rock movement. Maybe I'm just a purist, or maybe this tune has been overplayed, but I much prefer Dylan's version after all of these years.

Still, the ringing of McGuinn's twelve-string Rickenbacker remains glorious.