Music video by The Byrds performing Eight Miles High (Audio). Originally released 1966. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Crosby looks just like my brother in law Roy. I'm 70 Roy's 4 or 5 years older, a seabee that even did the loading of bags of dead dudes onto the plane for their ride back to the 🇺🇸 from 🇻🇳 Vietnam. Terrible things do for our country but somebody had to do it. Crosby so looked and behaved just like Crosby. Uncanny. But look at it this way. When Dave got that liver transplant though? We got to spend a little more time with that Crosby dude that was kick, effing a 😅 right!
Listening to BBC Radio early this afternoon - Reported the Music Inductry had been really surprised that streaming services (think Spotify etc) were getting more uptake on older material than modern stuff. Didn't really have to think about it all that long to work out: A hell of a lot of modern stuff is written to a formula - How long it must be how brief the instruments before singing comes in, how limited the range of what can be sung about is etc etc etc - Mainly apparently because music - and some streaming 'radio' - is really just filler between adverts and the advertisers are strict in their demands. Which, ironically, is loosing them listeners (but maybe the listeners they loose are the more discerning who wouldn't believe the adverts anyway?) Sure there *is* good music being made now same as always. Its struggling to break through the advertisers' fog 'though.
@@Farweasel There is an article about what you are talking about in the Atlantic magazine, I read it on line. On how the old music is outselling the new music. Hmm, i wonder why.
The only harmonious band that broke away from that beatleesque sound everyone discovered and aped grotesquely. The Byrds had a unique,American choral sound that soared and cut deep.
I remember hearing this for the first time back in the 60s I was a fifteen-year-old musician. I'd never heard anything like it before, and it opened the way to a whole new wave of music that was the foundation for the times. Even now when I hear Eight Miles High it evokes feelings of awe at the power and liberation of music.
@@ebayerr It’s amazing how various sound frequencies (which is all music really is) can mentally take us back to anywhere in the past…….I just enjoy it….I don’t try to figure it out
I could not agree more. I still do this in one of the bands I play with. I sing the Crosby harmony and try to the McGuinn 12 string lick on a 6 string!
It's impossible to listen to this song and not be transported back in time, if you lived through it or you didnt, it conjures up an amazingly bittersweet feeling of yearning, discovery. All that we had, all that we lost, what survived, what didn't. A truly magical time-- In a modern Renaissance Lost.
Now that's well put. Are you a writer or poet by chance? The era was heady with possibilities and has an incredibly rich (if often decadent) musical legacy, but also left us with massive crippling plagues of drug abuse.
@@samuelfoster8615 Comparisons are irrelevant -- LSD has greatly damaged lives and today's doping is totally because of that lawless era. I remember pre-drug America and have watched the whole country go to the dogs on the basis of hippie idiocy, indeed almost the whole of western civilization.
I hope, and I pray, that all is not lost. Perhaps, the cosmic wheels are still turning? That beautiful Process and Ascension that began in the 60s,.... oh my God, I really hope it's still out there somewhere alive somehow!
One of the very best songs to come out of the 60’s. McGuinns Rickenbacher makes the most beautiful sound. True pioneers in opening new musical portals.
I was 16 and Roger McGuinn's guitar playing drew me to the electric guitar and music in general. His guitar descant running a layer beneath the melody throughout the song is mesmerizing.
The secret sauce, according to Roger, was the very heavy use of compression. He described it as "squashing the signal". There's nothing that can mimic analog signal processing, or what I call soaking the tubes. I've missed the sound I got from my stolen Hiwatt Lead 30 combo. I could see the tubes so bright it looked like they were going to melt. Thanks Roger, you were with me in the beginning of my path to the stage, and you remain deep in my heart and soul... I'll meet you on the other side Brother!
It wasn't so much about taking acid, it was about the coldness of London, where they had gone to tour and record music. "nowhere is there warmth to be found"
Actually ..the song is about the fear of flying..Gene Clark had a massive panic attack on the plane going to their first tour in England and ended up leaving the band soon after
Roger and others insist that it purely is about the experience of flying at the height of cross-Atlantic travel, with the melody influenced by Coltrane. Nothing more.
Lyrically, it is about the disappointing experience in England after having been billed as the American response to the Beatles. They Byrds arrived in England exhausted, they had equipment issues, unrealistic fan expectations and an experience that was dampened by all of this. While flying back across the Atlantic 7 miles high, they reflected on their experience and put it to words. Allegedly they went with 8 miles high (not 7) as the Beatles had a hit with 8 Days a week. There has been some rumor the Brian Jones contributed to it as well. Musically you can clearly hear the influence of John Caltrain and maybe some Ravi Shankar.
Eight miles high And when you touch down You'll find that it's stranger than known Signs in the street That say where you're going Are somewhere, just being their own Nowhere is There warmth to be found Among those afraid of losing their ground Rain-gray town Known for its sound In places small faces unbound Round the squares Huddled in storms Some laughing, some just shapeless forms Sidewalk scenes And black limousines Some living, some standing alone......
what beautiful balance of hip, folk rock, pointing to eastern meditation, clever dissonance, and wonderfully ' tight ' production. Columbia! How could it NOT be? Rock on, Byrds, clever groove!!!
Thanks to Gene Clark and the Wrecking Crew studio musicians, otherwise the Byrds were pretty damn talentless, though Parsons was allegedly talented, but died too young for us to really know. Crosby was a glorified backup singer with major jealousy issues. If it weren't for Vito Paulekis and his dancing freaks, the Byrds don't ever take off, facts.
@@kaymuldoon3575 yes - nothing like it had come before - defined mid 60's - the twang was what Dylan described as that mercury sound and for me it was the soul of it's time
I had forgotten just how talented this group was. The guitar work is really amazing on this tune. And of course, the harmonies can't easily be beaten. I love the "California sound."
If you haven't read it, check out Michael Walker's book about Laurel Canyon. It made me wish I'd been a fly on the wall. Such an amazing collection of artists!
@@marshhill9720 I saw the documentary about it in the movie theater. The Byrds, CSN, etc. have really influenced me as a singer-songwriter. Here's one of the tunes: ua-cam.com/video/59FrTlhBH9g/v-deo.html. Let me know what you think. Thanks and take care, Maria.
@@marshhill9720 Thank you so much for listening! My next single will be released on February 24th: "Smile: You've Sure Got What It Takes." It is a tune about hope, confidence and the will to survive. Take care!
This song, one of the absolute best songs of all time. My remembrance was of my Dad loading up our station wagon in 1966, and I was helping him. I was holding a cassette tape of the Byrds, and he asked me what I had in my hand.... I told him I had a tape of the Byrds... He thought I was talking about Alfred Hitchcock and the movie 'The Birds', needless to say, he was very confused. I clarified the conversation by saying that "Alfred's Birds' don't get that high, but these BYRDS DO!!!!!
@@spaepenbertrand7403 Somebody to Love by Grace Slick and The Great Society was released in February 1966 a month before The Byrds Eight Miles High (March 1966).
Just need to add, you use the term 'truly psychedelic' You may not agree this version fits your definition of 'truly' but the Jorma Kaukonen's guitar solo at the end was described by music critic Brett Milano at the time as psychedelic. In my mind that makes it psychedelic enough for me to regard it as an example of psychedelia. Obviously Eight Miles High and Jefferson Airplane's version of Somebody to Love are a lot more psychedelic.
@@spaepenbertrand7403 I don't know what happened to my previous reply which seems to have gone missing but I did suggest Someone to Love by The Great Society which was released in February 1966 while Eight Miles High was released in March 1966.
Allegedly the Byrds prefer their original RCA recording ... all due respect ... but i'm glad Columbia made them clean up the mess and re-record it like this
The story goes that the Byrds touring bus was where they listened to their one tape which had Ravi Shankar on one side and John Coltrane's " A Love Supreme" on the other. Those incredible guitar interludes here were inspired by Coltrane's soaring modal saxophone masterpieces on his iconic album. The result is one of the greatest songs to come out of an era of truly groundbreaking innovative music.
Playing in honor of David Crosby who passed away today. Of the original lineup only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman are still with us. This song was going hot and was at #14 when some radio stations refused to play it due to references of getting high and thus the song didn't go higher. I never did drugs but the song's melody and the playing were nothing short of terrific.
I’m currently listening to it while high, which somehow I’ve never done before, and I can tell you it sounds just as mindblowing as it did the first time I heard it, almost 30 years ago when I was 10 and first discovering ‘60 music. So yeah, you don’t have to actually *be* high to *feel* it in this song- The Byrds captured it perfectly.
@coogan8825 It was derived from LSD use. You don't get how LSD affects the brain. That's why it's so trippy. Clark and Crosby have both stated it was about drugs i.e. LSD-25.
Without that sound he invented, there's no REM, there's probably no Tom Petty and the heartbreaker's, there's no Teenage Fanclub, and surely no If I needed Someone or several other nice songs from that British band. A great sound.
McGuinn's Rickenbacker sound was a sort of happy accident. While recording, the engineers put compression on the guitar to protect their recording equipment. This resulted in a more punched up sound on the Rickenbacker. In addition, at the suggestion of Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, McGuinn added a tremble booster to the signal giving the Rickenbacker a brighter than normal sound.
The Byrds put out 6 great albums between 65 and 68. And if you count all the b sides and outtakes, thats a lot of great songs. It's crazy how they are somewhat underrated in the pantheon of 60s bands.
I agree and was so glad Hillman and Gram Parsons went on to make the Flying Burrito Brothers. Great Great music. Gram and the Burritos influenced so many- the Stones/Keith Richards. His work with Emmylou Harris is really good as well.
This sounds so beautiful when they're singing it and they play it so flight fully brilliant love them so very much because of it too well peace everyone.
I used to sit outside the Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset Blvd when i was about 15yo, i lived in Hollywood at the time,Fri nights were a trip [literally] lots of bikers parked opposite the Whiskey,cops cruising looking for runaway girls[kids],i just turned 70yo, just memories but a great time to grow up in. Adios PS the Byrds jogged my memory.
@geoffreysutton9 Lucky you, lucky me. I was born on Sunset Blvd off of Grand Ave, downtown L.A. People find it hard to believe that once-upon-a-time Los Angeles was beautiful. My older sis and her Catholic school girlfriends hung out at the Whiskey as well as the Trubador. I'm 67 but she is 8 years my senior. There was a restaurant across the street from Tower Records, kitty-corner, called Old World and some French restaurant across from that. Do you remember that? Anyway, the best food there and everywhere else and inexpensive. Such fantastic times to be young and alive. How good we had it and did not even fathom that it could ever deteriorate or devolve to the pathetic state we find ourselves. Still, onward and upwa👊. Keep on rocking in the free world✌️
Xactly - there was nothing like it before - it was like the Twang and combination of Harmony and Rythem was the soul of it's time - Always brings back a flood of memories - the sound is a hot August night and I would do anything to go back so I wouldn't have left her - I just didn't know - but you are Spot On - that's not just nostalgia - that's God works in most mysterious ways
Such an awesome beginning. And the rest of it is rich with great Byrds harmonies. From 68! MgGuin puts the Rickenbacker 12 string on the map! The ending is as impressive as the beginning!
@@jcedwards8363 Sorry but EIGHT MILES was released March 15,1966 and the BEATLES Tomorrow Never Knows Aug 5 1966 Rush drummer NEIL PEART said ' The Beatles were reactionary not revolutionary
@bgandjsco1 I'm sorry brother but that's the stupidest comment by Peart if he ever did comment that wow. The Beatles set the stage for everyone else in rock . So much that the band we are hearing was a direct answer to the Beatles as were the monkeys.
@@elbuchito2907 Yes he did say it. We've already learned that they DID not invent Psychodelia music. They did not invent Guitar rock. They didn't have the first double record or the first concept record. More specifically what Peart said was They (the Beatles) were great at catching on to emerging trends and quickly capitalizing on it.
By the time this song was released here in the States,on March 14,1966,distortion and feedback had been pretty well establishe on the guitar. Roger McGuinn said that the played the 12 string parts the way he did,because he wanted it to sound "trippy".
I am so saddened by his passing. In Australia we had our Queen Renee Geyer pass this week too. Lately so many musos which make me evermore grateful for their contribution to the best music ever!!! RIP HEROES xx
I was just starting school when this came out but I enjoyed for many years on the radio in So Cal and Hawaii - I even once had the 45rpm single - it reminds me of the last golden years of California.
This song evokes so many memories for me - the turmoil (Vietnam, assassinations, the cruel resistance to civil rights) and the hope (the Vietnam protests, the strength and determination of the civil rights advocates, the strides we made together), and the mixed impact of the drug culture. (I was about 9 when this came out and wasn't into drugs, but I understood the influence and the contradictions.) I think I must have been channeling another human even then because this time and this music resonated with me at a cellular level. Rest in peace, David Crosby!
In the late 60s, watching televised US space program events, particularly the moon landing, this song always went through my mind, during early earth-launch.
PLS. don't forget Gene Clark, the lyrics writer with contributions of the other band members. This 8 Miles High tune is based on INDIA John Coltrane's album.
I read a post yesterday that mentioned a song the Byrds did that was partially written by Brian Jones, for which he didn't care to get a credit. It was in November of 1965 which brought to mind; as the limo was taking the Rolling Stones to their hotel before going to the venue of the evening's performance, at a red light, Brian jumped from the seat and dashed out the door, with a, "the Byrds are in town and I'm going to visit them. See you at the hotel later." Now I know what he accomplished from that unannounced departure which had us wondering if he would show. He did.
ABSOLUTELY - there was nothing like it before and the twang and combination of harmony and rythem was the soul of it's time - always brings a flood of memories - this sound was a hot August night and if I could go back l would have never left her - God works in most mysterious ways
Im 75 and still digging this song.
Don’t give it up Boss
IT s a gem
68
This is peak human music! 🎵
me too
This song is timeless ,I,m 70 and it still sounds fresh............
Man do I remember
I’m 67 I still get high with this deep tune!
Well Bob I'm 73 and it is what it is.............Rest home rock! 😅
@@wayneflemmer2607 They've all come to look for America.
Ditto 👍
I'm with you. I'm 67 and still listen to 60s and 70s music.
I'm 65 and I mostly listen Japanese math-rock and jazz. Gotta move on. Although, here I am.
I just did 2 graham. Parsons songs with David Nelson band. 67 as well .
The great graham Parsons and Gine Clark.
Tenho 62 anos e na minha opinião as músicas dos anos 60 e 70 são as melhores mas também gosto muito do rock and roll dos anos 50. Um abraço do Brasil.
It was never topped.
Absolutely one of the best psychedelic - era songs.
Correct. Source: am 8 Miles high
THE best 👌
You nailed it bud.
Obsessed by this.
Agreed
RIP David Crosby. thanks for the music.
Crosby looks just like my brother in law Roy. I'm 70 Roy's 4 or 5 years older, a seabee that even did the loading of bags of dead dudes onto the plane for their ride back to the 🇺🇸 from 🇻🇳 Vietnam. Terrible things do for our country but somebody had to do it. Crosby so looked and behaved just like Crosby. Uncanny. But look at it this way. When Dave got that liver transplant though? We got to spend a little more time with that Crosby dude that was kick, effing a 😅 right!
And Roger is one of the unsung guitar heroes.
Some songs never grow old. Eight Miles High by the fabulous Byrds is one of them.
Listening to BBC Radio early this afternoon - Reported the Music Inductry had been really surprised that streaming services (think Spotify etc) were getting more uptake on older material than modern stuff.
Didn't really have to think about it all that long to work out:
A hell of a lot of modern stuff is written to a formula - How long it must be how brief the instruments before singing comes in, how limited the range of what can be sung about is etc etc etc - Mainly apparently because music - and some streaming 'radio' - is really just filler between adverts and the advertisers are strict in their demands.
Which, ironically, is loosing them listeners (but maybe the listeners they loose are the more discerning who wouldn't believe the adverts anyway?)
Sure there *is* good music being made now same as always.
Its struggling to break through the advertisers' fog 'though.
@@Farweasel There is an article about what you are talking about in the Atlantic magazine, I read it on line. On how the old music is outselling the new music. Hmm, i wonder why.
@@SDsailor7 I hope The Atlantic gave this channel an acknoweledgement and my contribution a listing in the sources.
I bet they didn't ;-p
@@Farweasel Nope, they did not.
@@Farweasel Nope, they did not.
Defines the 60’s nothing better. Astronaut stuff
The only harmonious band that broke away from that beatleesque sound everyone discovered and aped grotesquely. The Byrds had a unique,American choral sound that soared and cut deep.
They remind me more of the Buffalo Springfield than the Beatles.
And then The Beatles followed them too
I remember hearing this for the first time back in the 60s I was a fifteen-year-old musician. I'd never heard anything like it before, and it opened the way to a whole new wave of music that was the foundation for the times. Even now when I hear Eight Miles High it evokes feelings of awe at the power and liberation of music.
Love it
Get down with the get down sound....“Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out”
@@ebayerr It’s amazing how various sound frequencies (which is all music really is) can mentally take us back to anywhere in the past…….I just enjoy it….I don’t try to figure it out
@@garycarbone Indeed
David…..RIP
One of the great rock tunes of all time.
this was one of my favorite songs as a kid. those shimmering chords sounded like the sun coming out after a thunderstorm
Good description 😂
Yep me on acid
Me as a 8 year old with my ear up against the wall, older brother in next bedroom playing this.
That’s exactly what I picture too, back when I was like 8
Perfect comparison
I cry every time I hear this recording. The jangle, the harmonies and trippy meanderings evoke so much.
I agree. It is just beautiful 😢
It's just got that sound... Hairs standing up on arms.
Yes, it's the trippy meanderings that makes this song!
Same here
I like to dedicate this song to David Crosby.
R.I.P brother.
Thanks Dave.
Thanks. Dave.
best song! from Kiev with love
Slava Ukraine
...and much love to you
Chris’ bass playing on this just blows me away.
One of the best songs ever written, my favorite band and still as fresh as ever.
Agree 100%.
I could not agree more.
I still do this in one of the bands I play with. I sing the Crosby harmony and try to the McGuinn 12 string lick on a 6 string!
Tony Arcieri
My iPod is engraved "Byrdmaniac - 8 miles high and still flying". Best group and best song. Can't believe it's 50 years old.
Tony Arcieri agreed 100%. listened to it in 66, still listening. one of the great songs and albums of my lifetime.
Yes! Thank you!
It's impossible to listen to this song and not be transported back in time, if you lived through it or you didnt, it conjures up an amazingly bittersweet feeling of yearning, discovery. All that we had, all that we lost, what survived, what didn't. A truly magical time-- In a modern Renaissance Lost.
Now that's well put. Are you a writer or poet by chance? The era was heady with possibilities and has an incredibly rich (if often decadent) musical legacy, but also left us with massive crippling plagues of drug abuse.
@@samuelfoster8615 Except for those stuck with HPPD.
@@samuelfoster8615 Comparisons are irrelevant -- LSD has greatly damaged lives and today's doping is totally because of that lawless era. I remember pre-drug America and have watched the whole country go to the dogs on the basis of hippie idiocy, indeed almost the whole of western civilization.
@@samuelfoster8615 How old are you?
I hope, and I pray, that all is not lost. Perhaps, the cosmic wheels are still turning? That beautiful Process and Ascension that began in the 60s,.... oh my God, I really hope it's still out there somewhere alive somehow!
One of the very best songs to come out of the 60’s. McGuinns Rickenbacher makes the most beautiful sound. True pioneers in opening new musical portals.
RMs solo was influenced by John Coltrane....great guitarist. Session musicians were sometimes used but he was on everything.
I was 16 and Roger McGuinn's guitar playing drew me to the electric guitar and music in general. His guitar descant running a layer beneath the melody throughout the song is mesmerizing.
The secret sauce, according to Roger, was the very heavy use of compression. He described it as "squashing the signal". There's nothing that can mimic analog signal processing, or what I call soaking the tubes. I've missed the sound I got from my stolen Hiwatt Lead 30 combo. I could see the tubes so bright it looked like they were going to melt.
Thanks Roger, you were with me in the beginning of my path to the stage, and you remain deep in my heart and soul...
I'll meet you on the other side Brother!
Just saw Roger tonight playing and telling stories in Newark Ohio! He still sings like an angel!
Wow! Chaz from |Hull
Probably the best, most unified recorded performance of the original 5 Byrds.
The Byrds' Eight Miles High is one of most evocative of the Acid experience. The sound recording by the Byrds is a stroke of genius.
It wasn't so much about taking acid, it was about the coldness of London, where they had gone to tour and record music. "nowhere is there warmth to be found"
Acid is a state of Mind. Nowhere is warmth to be found, hits on a couple different Levels...
Actually ..the song is about the fear of flying..Gene Clark had a massive panic attack on the plane going to their first tour in England and ended up leaving the band soon after
Roger and others insist that it purely is about the experience of flying at the height of cross-Atlantic travel, with the melody influenced by Coltrane. Nothing more.
Lyrically, it is about the disappointing experience in England after having been billed as the American response to the Beatles. They Byrds arrived in England exhausted, they had equipment issues, unrealistic fan expectations and an experience that was dampened by all of this. While flying back across the Atlantic 7 miles high, they reflected on their experience and put it to words. Allegedly they went with 8 miles high (not 7) as the Beatles had a hit with 8 Days a week. There has been some rumor the Brian Jones contributed to it as well. Musically you can clearly hear the influence of John Caltrain and maybe some Ravi Shankar.
Eight miles high
And when you touch down
You'll find that it's stranger than known
Signs in the street
That say where you're going
Are somewhere, just being their own
Nowhere is
There warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain-gray town
Known for its sound
In places small faces unbound
Round the squares
Huddled in storms
Some laughing, some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes
And black limousines
Some living, some standing alone......
Thank you.
thanks. I'm gonna learn this one. great, great music.
Thanks for putting these lyrics here!🎶🎸😀
WTF does it mean? I dunno but I love the song
Thanks!
rip david thanks for the music fly hi me boy
Have a good trip
what beautiful balance of hip, folk rock, pointing to eastern meditation, clever dissonance, and wonderfully ' tight ' production. Columbia! How could it NOT be? Rock on, Byrds, clever groove!!!
Michael Haydn it’s a masterpiece.
Thanks to Gene Clark and the Wrecking Crew studio musicians, otherwise the Byrds were pretty damn talentless, though Parsons was allegedly talented, but died too young for us to really know. Crosby was a glorified backup singer with major jealousy issues. If it weren't for Vito Paulekis and his dancing freaks, the Byrds don't ever take off, facts.
Miles Jolly I absolutely agree, it’s a masterpiece. 👍
@@kaymuldoon3575 yes - nothing like it had come before - defined mid 60's - the twang was what Dylan described as that mercury sound and for me it was the soul of it's time
Beautifully put mate
I've never heard a 12 sting used in this creative way for lead guitar, and I never have since.
I had forgotten just how talented this group was. The guitar work is really amazing on this tune. And of course, the harmonies can't easily be beaten. I love the "California sound."
If you haven't read it, check out Michael Walker's book about Laurel Canyon. It made me wish I'd been a fly on the wall. Such an amazing collection of artists!
@@marshhill9720 I saw the documentary about it in the movie theater. The Byrds, CSN, etc. have really influenced me as a singer-songwriter. Here's one of the tunes: ua-cam.com/video/59FrTlhBH9g/v-deo.html. Let me know what you think. Thanks and take care, Maria.
@@gwynnielsen5081 Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
@@marshhill9720 Thank you so much for listening! My next single will be released on February 24th: "Smile: You've Sure Got What It Takes." It is a tune about hope, confidence and the will to survive. Take care!
60's and the 70's were the best in music and Hollywood, been downhill since with few exceptions.
The 80s and 90s also have amazing music.
0:01 The bass is rattling on the snare... We mean business. Phenomenal, innovative record. Love The Byrds.
A fantastic song recorded by a real band in one room together using analog technology. The sounds they got will never be heard again.
The first 11 seconds are just amazing. The entire song is awesome but what an intro.
Chris Hillman...enough said
We did live the best years, didn't we.....
60s 70s... Great Albums
Definitely YES!
Yes very true looking back from 2024
No matter what, I cannot think of anything worse than to be young now. Man, what a total rip-off!!
It seems surreal that we listened to so many great artists 60 years ago.
This song, one of the absolute best songs of all time. My remembrance was of my Dad loading up our station wagon in 1966, and I was helping him. I was holding a cassette tape of the Byrds, and he asked me what I had in my hand.... I told him I had a tape of the Byrds... He thought I was talking about Alfred Hitchcock and the movie 'The Birds', needless to say, he was very confused. I clarified the conversation by saying that "Alfred's Birds' don't get that high, but these BYRDS DO!!!!!
cassette tapes in 1966 ? 🤔
This song gives me chills.
I dig the vocals
One of my favorites by The Byrds.
I can play this song 10 times in a row and not get tired of it. That's how I know it's my fav.
Farrah: Hope you're still lovin' it in 2021. I know I am
@@hotajax yes the twang and the rythem combined were the soul of it's time - I was there and the sound still brings a shaking of emotional memories
Mainly because there would be nothing to relate it to
@@johnsullivan2652
did you hear it at the time of release because if you weren't there at the time I'm impressed cause your comment is SPOT On
Man i could imagine what this was like hearing for the first time in the 60's it must have been mind blowing.
It still moves us all these years later... it is a potent song.
@@kevinb3812 I can understand that.
What a guitar solo! Fantastic and Delicious!!😅😮
When music had soul.
First psychedelic song ever. Best psychedelic song ever
How do you reckon this is the first ever psychedelic song?
@@LudgerBW I don't of another truly psychedelic recorded before this one. I may be wrong. Do you have another idea ?
@@spaepenbertrand7403 Somebody to Love by Grace Slick and The Great Society was released in February 1966 a month before The Byrds Eight Miles High (March 1966).
Just need to add, you use the term 'truly psychedelic' You may not agree this version fits your definition of 'truly' but the Jorma Kaukonen's guitar solo at the end was described by music critic Brett Milano at the time as psychedelic. In my mind that makes it psychedelic enough for me to regard it as an example of psychedelia. Obviously Eight Miles High and Jefferson Airplane's version of Somebody to Love are a lot more psychedelic.
@@spaepenbertrand7403 I don't know what happened to my previous reply which seems to have gone missing but I did suggest Someone to Love by The Great Society which was released in February 1966 while Eight Miles High was released in March 1966.
shout out to my dad who was born in 68 for getting me into acid rock
Dazzling and Revolutionary, Hypnotic and Mesmerizing, this Radiantly Awesome song sounds like the dawn of Psychedelic Rock.
Allegedly the Byrds prefer their original RCA recording ... all due respect ... but i'm glad Columbia made them clean up the mess and re-record it like this
The RCA cut had a raw rough appeal. The Ric sounds like ice cracking, but I agree the Columbia take is clearly better.
The story goes that the Byrds touring bus was where they listened to their one tape which had Ravi Shankar on one side and John Coltrane's " A Love Supreme" on the other. Those incredible guitar interludes here were inspired by Coltrane's soaring modal saxophone masterpieces on his iconic album. The result is one of the greatest songs to come out of an era of truly groundbreaking innovative music.
Coltrane's "India" I think but definitely!!
ua-cam.com/video/G3w35yvUFPU/v-deo.html
"Impressions" and "Africa/Brass" were Coltrane pieces, but yes. It's nice to see people acknowledge where they drew inspiration from
This song is so good, it's almost unbelievable.
Roger McGuinn always credited the harmonies on this to David Crosby. Crosby was a master--and he'll surely be missed. One sad day.
Harmonies were always on-tap with Davis Crosby around! Some of the best examples in rock are with Crosby playing a part.
Playing in honor of David Crosby who passed away today. Of the original lineup only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman are still with us.
This song was going hot and was at #14 when some radio stations refused to play it due to references of getting high and thus the song didn't go higher. I never did drugs but the song's melody and the playing were nothing short of terrific.
I’m currently listening to it while high, which somehow I’ve never done before, and I can tell you it sounds just as mindblowing as it did the first time I heard it, almost 30 years ago when I was 10 and first discovering ‘60 music. So yeah, you don’t have to actually *be* high to *feel* it in this song- The Byrds captured it perfectly.
If I could only remember my name. This was the beginning, i,m sure you don,t get it......................BB
@coogan8825 Believe what you like.
What goes around comes around.
@coogan8825It was inspired by acid.
@coogan8825 It was derived from LSD use. You don't get how LSD affects the brain. That's why it's so trippy. Clark and Crosby have both stated it was about drugs i.e. LSD-25.
A Classic song! McGuinn's guitar work is magnificent. One of the best groups ever.
The song of the day, a timeless classic, y'all know this song, have a great 2024
The Rickenbacker guitar played by McGuinn made this and many other of the Byrds songs....immortal.....timeless....no just damn good...
Without that sound he invented, there's no REM, there's probably no Tom Petty and the heartbreaker's, there's no Teenage Fanclub, and surely no If I needed Someone or several other nice songs from that British band. A great sound.
McGuinn's Rickenbacker sound was a sort of happy accident. While recording, the engineers put compression on the guitar to protect their recording equipment. This resulted in a more punched up sound on the Rickenbacker. In addition, at the suggestion of Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, McGuinn added a tremble booster to the signal giving the Rickenbacker a brighter than normal sound.
Masterpiece..
The drumming..
Amen.
The Byrds put out 6 great albums between 65 and 68. And if you count all the b sides and outtakes, thats a lot of great songs. It's crazy how they are somewhat underrated in the pantheon of 60s bands.
But they’re not underrated at all…
I agree and was so glad Hillman and Gram Parsons went on to make the Flying Burrito Brothers. Great Great music. Gram and the Burritos influenced so many- the Stones/Keith Richards. His work with Emmylou Harris is really good as well.
Even my dad who was born in '48 from a tiny village in Holland had all those records from the 60's.
Tim "Chinny" Brown ....?
@@jimmytgoose476 had to look that up. A skater? Nah. I'm the Tim Brown that was a wide receiver for the Raiders
The quintessential 60's song...
This aged hippie could name a few others: White Rabbit, I Just Dropped In, Kicks.
Saw them in London 1968! ROCKIN!
Came out one year before the Summer of Love.
@@brianallancobb I remember it well. Saw them in London 1968, Deep Purple were support. Happy times.
This sounds so beautiful when they're singing it and they play it so flight fully brilliant love them so very much because of it too well peace everyone.
That 12 string Rickenbacker sound..that's what makes this song (and most songs by The Byrds in general) irresistable.
truly an iconic sound in the history of rock and roll
I used to sit outside the Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset Blvd when i was about 15yo, i lived in Hollywood at the time,Fri nights were a trip [literally] lots of bikers parked opposite the Whiskey,cops cruising looking for runaway girls[kids],i just turned 70yo, just memories but a great time to grow up in. Adios PS the Byrds jogged my memory.
@geoffreysutton9 Lucky you, lucky me. I was born on Sunset Blvd off of Grand Ave, downtown L.A. People find it hard to believe that once-upon-a-time Los Angeles was beautiful. My older sis and her Catholic school girlfriends hung out at the Whiskey as well as the Trubador. I'm 67 but she is 8 years my senior. There was a restaurant across the street from Tower Records, kitty-corner, called Old World and some French restaurant across from that. Do you remember that? Anyway, the best food there and everywhere else and inexpensive. Such fantastic times to be young and alive. How good we had it and did not even fathom that it could ever deteriorate or devolve to the pathetic state we find ourselves. Still, onward and upwa👊. Keep on rocking in the free world✌️
Onward and upward👊✌️
Rickenbacker heaven! This and I Can See For Miles and Miles really got me!
RIP David. Thanks for the great music!
RIP David. I have many fond memories from my youth listening to your songs. You will not be forgotten.
A twelve string guitar solo that makes no sense could ONLY happen in the 60's.
You had to be there!
First it made sense to John Coltrane with his India and Africa recordings, and the Byrds listened to him, and then they did this magic with that.
Thank you, this one's a pita to learn 😅😅😅
Love that solo. Always have. Eastern influence. No refrain or theme. Just goes off.
@@kennethfrazee2540 yum! 🥙
What i feel when I hear this stuff goes far beyond just nostalgia.
Xactly - there was nothing like it before - it was like the Twang and combination of Harmony and Rythem was the soul of it's time -
Always brings back a flood of memories - the sound is a hot August night and I would do anything to go back so I wouldn't have left her - I just didn't know -
but you are Spot On - that's not just nostalgia - that's God works in most mysterious ways
That it does kiddo 👶 that it does so beautiful 😍 and so very groovy 🎹🎼♥️❤️👍🏿💪🏾🎸🎻🪕.
Such an awesome beginning. And the rest of it is rich with great Byrds harmonies. From 68! MgGuin puts the Rickenbacker 12 string on the map! The ending is as impressive as the beginning!
Roger McGuinn's 12 string is killer!
This is the Birth of psychedelic music.
close ...... The Beatles 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is the Crown
@@jcedwards8363 Sorry but EIGHT MILES was released March 15,1966 and the BEATLES Tomorrow Never Knows Aug 5 1966 Rush drummer NEIL PEART said ' The Beatles were reactionary not revolutionary
@bgandjsco1 I'm sorry brother but that's the stupidest comment by Peart if he ever did comment that wow. The Beatles set the stage for everyone else in rock . So much that the band we are hearing was a direct answer to the Beatles as were the monkeys.
@@elbuchito2907 Yes he did say it. We've already learned that they DID not invent Psychodelia music. They did not invent Guitar rock. They didn't have the first double record or the first concept record. More specifically what Peart said was They (the Beatles) were great at catching on to emerging trends and quickly capitalizing on it.
@@bgandjsco1 Who sounded like the Beatles in 1963 ? Please ,please me ?
R.I.P. David Crosby
What an era of music!
Some of the best music from a 60's child! Rest In Peace David Crosby!! Thanks for the good music!!
Beautiful harmonies.
By the time this song was released here in the States,on March 14,1966,distortion and feedback had been pretty well establishe on the guitar.
Roger McGuinn said that the played the 12 string parts the way he did,because he wanted it to sound "trippy".
Rest in Peace, David. You wrote some of the best songs ever!
Amen. I am here for the same reason. Doing a deep dive into his immense and memorable catalog. RIP
Yep he sure did . RIP
I am so saddened by his passing. In Australia we had our Queen Renee Geyer pass this week too. Lately so many musos which make me evermore grateful for their contribution to the best music ever!!! RIP HEROES xx
Whoever as a African American done 8 miles
1985 age 14 years old African American I love it
Remembering the first time I heard this song in 1966 ,feel in love with the Byrds
I truly am a flower child…Love this.
I was just starting school when this came out but I enjoyed for many years on the radio in So Cal and Hawaii - I even once had the 45rpm single - it reminds me of the last golden years of California.
Those sharp, astringent guitar chords go up and down my spine like a cold knife. Simply wonderful.
Astringent is an incredibly correct description of their sound!
Man, if I could go back in time, give me the 60s please!!
That Rickenbacker 12 strings... simply wonderful!
This song evokes so many memories for me - the turmoil (Vietnam, assassinations, the cruel resistance to civil rights) and the hope (the Vietnam protests, the strength and determination of the civil rights advocates, the strides we made together), and the mixed impact of the drug culture. (I was about 9 when this came out and wasn't into drugs, but I understood the influence and the contradictions.) I think I must have been channeling another human even then because this time and this music resonated with me at a cellular level. Rest in peace, David Crosby!
Great comment, Marla.
Great comment except for Vietnam
I were 14 listening to this song in 1985 I am A African Americans
African American love this song were 14 when I listened to this song
At that time a 9 year old did not know what drugs were. Today they are convinced to steal cars and carry a gun.
In the late 60s, watching televised US space program events, particularly the moon landing, this song always went through my mind, during early earth-launch.
This song is just perfection.
RIP David Crosby 🙏🙏🙏
8 miles high blows me away every time I listen to it . . .
Groovy, Man.
The 60s beautiful
No, The Beatles and Pink Floyd invented it, The Byrds carried on. Greetings from Slovenia
Banning this song on radio was utterly ridiculous. It should have been left alone to become a #1 song.
So sorry to hear of your passing David. ❤️🩹
Thank you for the music and…KEEP PLAYING! 🤍
PLS. don't forget Gene Clark, the lyrics writer with contributions of the other band members. This 8 Miles High tune is based on INDIA John Coltrane's album.
RIP, David Crosby. Thank you.
RIP David Crosby ❤ Thank you.
We've had fun in Muzungu land. Listening to his songs.
After I heard that guitar solo for the first time, I became ab instant Byrds fan!!!
An instant...
This is THE 60s tune bar none
Amazing cover of a great Husker Du song
LOL! You are joking I do hope?
I think every one of us remembers exactly when and where we first heard this song. I’ll never forget how it felt. Rest In Peace, David Crosby.
今
Im 31 and I love the byrds one of 10 bands of the 60s to take me on a journey everything I listen and what a mash up of professionals 🎉❤
Never get tired of this. It's amazing.
Is the entire album good? Thanks
I like the instruments intro the sound of vocals reminds me of that time period
this will always remain alive
I read a post yesterday that mentioned a song the Byrds did that was partially written by Brian Jones, for which he didn't care to get a credit. It was in November of 1965 which brought to mind; as the limo was taking the Rolling Stones to their hotel before going to the venue of the evening's performance, at a red light, Brian jumped from the seat and dashed out the door, with a, "the Byrds are in town and I'm going to visit them. See you at the hotel later." Now I know what he accomplished from that unannounced departure which had us wondering if he would show. He did.
2024 and I am still here❤
I'm not leaving! Can't make me!🎸👍✌️
Me too, and always will be as long as I draw breathe.
Definitely my favourite Byrds song. Gotta love the vocal harmonies.
Beefheart, which one of my friends are you?
Quite possibly, the world’s most perfect rock song
ABSOLUTELY - there was nothing like it before and the twang and combination of harmony and rythem was the soul of it's time - always brings a flood of memories - this sound was a hot August night and if I could go back l would have never left her - God works in most mysterious ways
The Wonder Years
The ringing overtones from McGuinn's Rick during the verses are absolutely sublime.
Totally!!!!!!!!!!!! 💜
its just an amplified piece of wood and some strings but the sound he makes comes from heaven