Eight miles high david crosby full#

Since Clark's death, however, McGuinn has contended that it was he who conceived the initial idea of writing a song about an airplane ride and that he and Crosby both contributed lyrics to Clark's unfinished draft. Clark then showed the song to McGuinn and Crosby, with the former suggesting that the song be arranged to incorporate Coltrane's influence.

Eight miles high david crosby full#

Over the following days, Clark expanded this fragment into a full poem, eventually setting the words to music and giving them a melody. Ĭlark began writing the song's lyrics on November 24, 1965, when he scribbled down some rough ideas for later development, following a discussion with guitarist Brian Jones, before the Byrds made a concert appearance supporting the Rolling Stones. The influence of these recordings on the band would manifest itself in the music of 'Eight Miles High' and its B-side 'Why'. To alleviate the boredom of traveling from show to show during the tour, Crosby had brought along cassette recordings of Ravi Shankar's music and the John Coltrane albums Impressions and Africa/Brass, which were on constant rotation on the tour bus. Īlthough the basic idea for the song had been discussed during the band's flight to England, it didn't actually begin to take shape until the Byrds' November 1965 tour of the U.S. In addition, 'Round the squares, huddled in storms / Some laughing, some just shapeless forms' describes fans waiting for the band outside hotels, while the line 'Sidewalk scenes and black limousines' refers to the excited crowds that jostled the band as they exited their chauffeur-driven cars. Other lyrics in the song that explicitly refer to the Byrds' stay in England include the couplet: 'Nowhere is there warmth to be found/Among those afraid of losing their ground', which is a reference to the hostile reaction of the UK music press and to the English group the Birds serving the band with a copyright infringement writ, due to the similarities in name. Īccording to Clark, the lyrics were primarily his creation, with a minor contribution being David Crosby's line, 'Rain grey town, known for its sound', a reference to London as home to the British Invasion, which was then dominating U.S. The song's lyrics are, for the most part, about the group's flight to London in August 1965 and their accompanying English tour, as hinted at by the opening couplet: 'Eight miles high and when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known.' Although commercial airliners fly at an altitude of six to seven miles, it was felt that 'eight miles high' sounded more poetic than six and also recalled the title of the Beatles' song ' Eight Days a Week'. Top 20 hit, and was also their last release before the departure of Gene Clark, the band's principal songwriter at the time. 'Eight Miles High' became the Byrds' third and final U.S. The song was also included on the band's third album, Fifth Dimension, which was released on July 18, 1966. 'Eight Miles High' reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 24 in the UK Singles Chart. The failure of 'Eight Miles High' to reach the Billboard Top 10 is usually attributed to the broadcasting ban, but some commentators have suggested that the song's complexity and uncommercial nature were greater factors. The band strenuously denied these allegations at the time, but in later years both Clark and Crosby admitted that the song was at least partly inspired by their own drug use. radio ban shortly after its release, following allegations published in the broadcasting trade journal the Gavin Report regarding perceived drug connotations in its lyrics.

Accordingly, critics often cite 'Eight Miles High' as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song, as well as a classic of the counterculture era.

Musically influenced by Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane, 'Eight Miles High', along with its McGuinn and Crosby-penned B-side ' Why', was influential in developing the musical styles of psychedelic rock, raga rock, and psychedelic pop. Roger McGuinn), and David Crosby and first released as a single on Ma( see 1966 in music). ' Eight Miles High' is a song by the American rock band the Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn (a.k.a. Psychedelic rock, raga rock, psychedelic pop January 24 and 25, 1966, Columbia Studios, Hollywood, CA