Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by the Byrds | ||||
from the album Fifth Dimension | ||||
B-side | "Why" | |||
Released | March 14, 1966 | |||
Recorded | January 24–25, 1966 | |||
Studio | Columbia, Hollywood | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:33 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Allen Stanton | |||
The Byrds singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Eight Miles High" (audio) on YouTube |
"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band the Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn (a.k.a. Roger McGuinn), and David Crosby. It was first released as a single on March 14, 1966. Musically influenced by sitar player Ravi Shankar and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, the song was influential in developing the musical styles of psychedelia and raga rock. 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.
The song was subject to a U.S.
"Eight Miles High" reached number 14 on the
History
Composition
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
According to Clark, the lyrics were primarily his creation, with a minor contribution being Crosby's line, "Rain grey town, known for its sound"—a reference to London as home to the British Invasion, which was then dominating the U.S. music charts.[1][2][3] 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 writ of copyright infringement because of the similarities in their names.[3][4][5] 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.[3]
Although the basic idea for the song had been discussed during the band's flight to England, it did not begin to take shape until the Byrds' November 1965 tour of the U.S.
Clark began writing the song's lyrics on November 24, 1965, when he scribbled down some rough ideas for later development, after a discussion with guitarist Brian Jones, before the Byrds made a concert appearance supporting the Rolling Stones.[2][11] Over the following days, Clark expanded this fragment into a full poem, eventually setting the words to music and giving them a melody.[2] Clark then showed the song to McGuinn and Crosby. McGuinn suggested that the song be arranged to incorporate Coltrane's influence.[2] Since Clark's death, however, McGuinn has contended 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.[2] In his book, Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark, author John Einarson disputes this claim and ponders whether McGuinn's story would be the same if Clark was still alive.[2]
Recording
The
"Eight Miles High" also exhibits the influence of sitarist Ravi Shankar, particularly in the droning quality of the song's vocal melody and in McGuinn's guitar playing.
An earlier version of "Eight Miles High" was recorded with
Release and legacy
U.S. radio ban
"Eight Miles High" was released on March 14, 1966, in the U.S.
Following its release, the band faced allegations of advocating the use of recreational drugs in Bill Gavin's Record Report, a weekly newsletter circulated to U.S. radio stations.[2][1] This resulted in "Eight Miles High" being banned in a number of states within a week of the report being published, a factor which contributed to the single's failure to break into the Billboard Top 10.[1] The Byrds and their publicist, Derek Taylor, countered by strenuously denying that the song was drug-related. Taylor issued an indignant press release stating unequivocally that the song was about the band's trip to England and not drug use.[9] However, by the early 1980s, both Crosby and Clark were prepared to admit the song was not entirely as innocent as they had originally declared. Crosby said: "Of course it was a drug song! We were stoned when we wrote it."[9] Clark was less blunt, explaining in an interview that "it was about a lot of things. It was about the airplane trip to England, it was about drugs, it was about all that. A piece of poetry of that nature is not limited to having it have to be just about airplanes or having it have to be just about drugs. It was inclusive because during those days the new experimenting with all the drugs was a very vogue thing to do."[2][9]
Research analyst Mark Teehan, writing for Popular Musicology Online, has challenged the widely held view among critics, music historians and the Byrds themselves that the U.S. radio ban hurt sales of "Eight Miles High".[25][26] He points out that although the Gavin Report recommended that radio stations withdraw the single from airplay, many stations did not comply with this suggestion.[26] In addition, he notes that the radio ban was not suggested by the Gavin Report until April 29, 1966, almost seven weeks after the single had been released—ample time for it to have made its mark on the charts.[26] Teehan has uncovered evidence showing "Eight Miles High" was already decelerating on the national charts before the end of April 1966.[26] Having examined the local music surveys and the Billboard regional retail sales charts as they relate to the national charting of "Eight Miles High", Teehan found that the progressive, complex and uncommercial nature of the song was a much bigger factor in its failure to reach the Billboard Top 10.[2][26] Commercial radio stations were reluctant to play songs that were over two-and-a-half minutes long during the mid-1960s, and the song suffered from uncoordinated and inefficient promotion by Columbia Records.[26] Teehan's research revealed that "Eight Miles High" failed to reach the Top Five in any of his 23 sample regional markets, and most telling, among the thirty radio stations included within this sample, it reached the Top 10 on only seven of them (23%).[26]
Influence and reception
The song's use of Indian and free-form jazz influences, along with its impressionistic lyrics, were immediately influential on the emerging genre of psychedelic rock.[23][27] Accordingly, some authors and music historians, including Eric V. D. Luft, Domenic Priore, and Dwight Rounds, have described "Eight Miles High" as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song.[28][29][30] In his book Riot On Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood, Priore cites the song as the one that kicked off the psychedelic craze, explaining "prior to 'Eight Miles High,' there were no pop records with incessant, hypnotic basslines juxtaposed by droning, trance-induced improvisational guitar."[13]
The song was responsible for the naming of the musical subgenre raga rock, when journalist Sally Kempton, in her review of the single for The Village Voice, used the term to describe the record's experimental fusion of eastern and western music.[31] However, although Kempton was the first person to use the term raga rock in print, she actually borrowed the phrase from the promotional material the Byrds' press office had supplied to accompany the "Eight Miles High" single release.[10] In a 1968 interview for the Pop Chronicles radio documentary, McGuinn denied that the song was an example of raga rock,[8] while Crosby, speaking in 1998, dismissed the term entirely, saying "they kept trying to label us; every time we turned around, they came up with a new one ... it's a bunch of bullshit."[32] Nonetheless, the experimental nature of the song placed the Byrds firmly at the forefront of the burgeoning psychedelic movement, along with the Yardbirds, the Beatles, Donovan and the Rolling Stones, who were all exploring similar musical territory concurrently.[27]
Contemporary reviews for the single were mostly positive, with
In 1999, the song was inducted into the
Post-release
During the same month that "Eight Miles High" was released as a single, the Byrds' primary songwriter, Gene Clark, left the band.[23] His fear of flying was given as the official reason for his departure, but other factors, including his tendency toward anxiety and paranoia, as well as his increasing isolation within the group, were also at work.[23][39] Following the release of "Eight Miles High" and Clark's departure, the Byrds never again managed to place a single in the Billboard Top 20.[21]
The Byrds performed "Eight Miles High" on a number of
The song remained a favorite of Clark's during his post-Byrds solo career and he often performed it at his concert appearances until his death, in 1991.[2] McGuinn also continues to perform an intricate acoustic guitar rendition of the song at his concerts.[43] Crosby has revisited "Eight Miles High" infrequently during his post-Byrds career, but it was performed during Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's reunion tour of 2000, with Neil Young handling McGuinn's guitar solo, while the other three members sang the song's three-part harmonies.[15] The Byrds' bass player, Chris Hillman, also recorded an acoustic version of "Eight Miles High" as part of his 2005 album, The Other Side.[44]
In addition to its appearance on the Fifth Dimension album, "Eight Miles High" also appears on several Byrds' compilations, including: The Byrds' Greatest Hits, History of The Byrds, The Original Singles: 1965–1967, Volume 1, The Byrds, The Very Best of The Byrds, The Essential Byrds and There Is a Season.[45]
Cover versions and media references
"Eight Miles High" has been
The Byrds' version of "Eight Miles High" is featured in the 1983 film Purple Haze.[56] It appears in both the "Le Voyage dans la Lune" and "The Original Wives Club" episodes of the television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.[57][58]
Personnel
- Roger McGuinn – Vocals, 12-string guitar
- Gene Clark – Vocals
- David Crosby – Vocals, guitar
- Chris Hillman – Bass guitar
- Michael Clarke – Drums
References
- ^ ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
- ^ ISBN 0-87930-793-5.
- ^ a b c McGuinn, Camilla (February 14, 2009). "Eight Miles High". Roger McGuinn's Official Blog. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
- ^ Fitzsimmons, Mick. "Sold on Song: Eight Miles High". BBC. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
- ^ ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
- ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.
- ^ a b "Pop Chronicles: Show 35 – The Rubberization of Soul: The Great Pop Renaissance". University of North Texas. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
- ^ ISBN 1-55553-319-1.
- ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9529540-1-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-906002-04-6.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archivedfrom the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8264-2819-6.
- ISBN 0-7493-0283-6.
- ^ The Byrds: how we made Eight Miles High Archived November 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The Guardian, September 16, 2014
- ^ Connors, Tim. "Fifth Dimension". Byrdwatcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles. Euclid Business Network. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
- ^ Rogan, Johnny. (1996). Fifth Dimension (1996 CD liner notes).
- ^ ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7.
- ISBN 0-7119-7670-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.
- ^ Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g Teehan, Mark. "The Byrds, "Eight Miles High", the Gavin Report, and Media Censorship of Alleged 'Drug Songs' in 1966: An Assessment". Popular Musicology Online. Archived from the original on April 11, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
- ^ Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archivedfrom the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-9655179-2-8.
- ISBN 978-1-86074-627-7.
- ISBN 978-1-933538-69-3.
- ISBN 978-1-906002-15-2.
- ^ Connors, Tim. "The Byrdwatcher Interview with David Crosby: Part Five". Euclid Business Network Incorporated. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
- ^ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. April 2, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 26, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ISBN 0-313326-89-4.
- ^ "GRAMMY Hall of Fame: Past Recipients". GRAMMY.org. The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on May 29, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks". Rockandrollreport.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2009.
- ISBN 0-87930-793-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-9529540-1-X.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
- ^ Landers, Rick. "Roger McGuinn Interview". Modern Guitars Magazine. Rick Landers. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Rovi Corporation. Archivedfrom the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Archivedfrom the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ^ "Hüsker Dü – Commercial Releases". Hüsker Dü Annotated Discography. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- ^ "Don McLean's American Pie – Official Lyrics". Don McLean Online. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
- About.com. Archivedfrom the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Pitchfork Media. Archivedfrom the original on May 22, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- ^ "Working on a Dream album review". Uncut. IPC Media. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- Amazon.com. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
- Amazon.com. Archivedfrom the original on September 12, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
- Amazon.com. Archivedfrom the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
External links
- BBC – Radio 2 Sold on Song
- "Eight Miles High" tablature Archived July 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine