This whole album is worth a listen. Dylan and The Byrds went electric with Folk in 1965 and started that whole music revolution. That's Roger McGuinn on the 12 string Rickenbacker, he defined part of the sound of the 60s with the way he plays it. The Byrds are also a very experimental band with many breakthrough sounds in the mid 60s. The Byrds we're considered the American Beatles. The Beatles and Byrds both inspired each other. All of their albums are great.
Very early on in their careers the members of The Byrds watched the Beatles movie a hard Day‘s night together, and were inspired to acquire all of the same instruments asthe Beatles used including the 12 string Rickenbacker that George played. After the Bells of Rhymney came out. George tipped his hat back to the BYRDS by writing, If I Needed Someone using the 12 string, and based on the rift that was played in the Bells of Rhymney.
Harri -You should try 'So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star' by The Byrds.. A fairly short track with sardonic lyrics, and it features your hero, Hugh Masekala on trumpet. You'l love it.
This was from The Byrd's debut album, from 1965, "Mr. Tambourine Man". Definitely easy to hear their early musical trademark, complex harmonies and McGinn's 12 string Rickenbacker guitar sound. Great tune with the quintessential Byrd sound. Beautiful song from a great time. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and David. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
Yeah, even The Byrds got it wrong, the actual pronunciation is "Rumnee". Pete Seeger took the words from a poetic work called 'Gwalia Deserta' by Welsh poet Idris Davies, added this tune, and thus created the song. The Byrds turned it into something spectacular.
There's a tambourine! Also, The Chimes of Freedom on this album. Very uplifting when it came out. So many greats from 1965.......California Dreaming........Oh but that first Jesus & Mary Chain was blistering! They brought the jangle later. Psychocandy! Oh my goodness. Still radical.
Harri.......Loved your interactions and comments during the song...The Byrds had a very Unique sound back then, probably different than most bands...They were one of the "greatest" harmonizing groups back then, along the Beach Boys, Beatles, and Hollies.......Of the Hollies one of my Favorite bands, lead guitarist Tony Hicks also played the 12 string Rickenbacker as Roger McGuinn of the Byrds did.......The Byrds get that ringing sound from the 12 string and tambourine played by co lead singer, Gene Clark of the Byrds........He later left the group as he wrote most/alot of the songs the Byrds did, and he wanted a little more money from the group which was sort of standard back then for the song writers. in the group. He told me this back then in 65. I believe he left the Byrds in Dec. of 65.......I knew on of his sisters very well in San Francisco.....Keep up your show and comments!...Cheers, BW
Absolutely legendary. I discovered my favorites all played Rickenbacker! Tom Petty, George Harrison. Rickenbacker actually has a Roger McGuinn model guitar.
@@AC-ju5yu The Byrds did some great folk covers including John Riley, Wild Mountain Thyme, We'll Meet Again. They could have done a whole album's worth.
The lyrics were written in 1938 by Welsh poet Idris Davies about a mining disaster in a coal mine in South Wales, as well as paying homage to those who thanklessly laboured in all the coal mines there. Pete Seeger put the words to music around 1958 or so. This Byrds' cover was an album cut so I don't think it was ever released as a single. The actual Welsh pronunciation of Rhymney sounds more like "Rumney". Besides being influenced by The Beatles, Jim McGuinn's use of the 12 string Rickenbacker was also inspired by another Liverpool group, The Searchers, who were more Folk oriented and closer to what The Byrds were doing before their fame.
Yes, your background on the song is important. As with The Byrds' adaptations of Bob Dylan songs, this adaptation of a Pete Seeger song completely transforms the song into something both folk rock and hymnal with soaring ethereal harmonies and powerful instrumental work.
Take a nursery rhyme from 1744, “oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement’s,” add the labor struggles of Welsh miners, topped off by a twelve-string guitar… genius.
That was one thing the byrds were known for the Twelve string electric guitar Which made there song so unique. I don't think a lot of people realize how important the byrds were, They were the absolute first folk singers to plug in and go electric.
I saw Roger in concert last Tuesday night, and he is still performing this song nearly 60 years later than when the Byrds first did it. He's nearly 82 years old and still a virtuoso with that 12 string Rick. Just beautiful!
Please take a listen to the version of this beautiful song by John Denver. He plays it on a 12 string acoustic guitar in front of an audience. He was hesitant. The piece is extremely difficult to play and even more difficult to perform. It’s fascinating!
Yeah, that's because he was a founding member of the band. A source of frequent friction in the band as well, which eventually led to him being fired by McGuinn and Hillman. Still, when he was focused on the music, he was a key contributor to some of their best early songs.
This is another one of the most influential folk rock bands from the 60's. The Byrds covered a lot of Bob Dylan's songs. They had a lot of great hits such as "Mr. Tambourine Man", "All I Really Want To Do", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Chimes Of Freedom", "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Mr. Spaceman" etc. David Crosby was originally in this band before he became part of Crosby Stills & Nash.
The only song I know of that lists lots of places in south Wales. The odd place name out being Wye? I believe the Wye valley to be in England. Great song, great cover.
a great byrds tune that got no radio airplay in the day. 'my back pages is another song that needs more daylight . roger mcguinns 'ballad of easy rider' was another great one along with 'i wasn't born to follow' - written by carole king and gerry goffin. the telltale jangle sound of the byrds was roger mcguinn's rickenbacker guitar. originally jim mcguinn at the outset of the byrds but he started using his middle name roger
Here is Pete Seeger performing this live in the 1960s: ua-cam.com/video/vK_eVaLeiQ0/v-deo.html (I was raised on Pete Seeger..."The Bells of Rhymney" was one of my Dad's favourites.) And this is Oysterband performing it much more recently: ua-cam.com/video/ZEdbbSY5fxA/v-deo.html In concert, Oysterband often pairs "The Bells of Rhymney" with the song "Coal Not Dole" ua-cam.com/video/2_BwDxP3bic/v-deo.html
The first LP I ever bought. Still a pleasant listen, though I never played it a lot at the time. Has probably only ever had under twenty plays. I was still finding my own tastes, buying an LP already 5 years old. This was before I had even left home. I didn't read the music press and had no idea really. All I knew was Top Twenty pop and all the Beatles' catalogue.
That was Gene Clark on the lead. The guitars? Ricky electric 12 strings led the way for SOOOO many others. They'd do that guitar thangy again when Clarence White joined the band in their country phase 1968-72.
Wow, this not only gives me a similar feel as their song “Turn, Turn, Turn”, but also of The Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone”, which is from the same year as this song …
This is Oysterband's version of "The Bells of Rhymney" which, I think, is an even more electric version than that of the Byrds (no aspersions intended!): ua-cam.com/video/ZEdbbSY5fxA/v-deo.html
Yeah, the Byrds' guitar sound was revived by a bunch of bands in the early to mid-eighties, in the UK and the US and probably Australia as well, the best known maybe being early REM from, like, 1983 to 1985. At about the same time, Johnny Marr of the Smiths also replicated it, as did explicitly sixties-revival bands like the early Bangles earlier in the decade. Back then, people referred to that Byrdsian guitar sound as "jangly."
John Denvers 1968/69 version will always be my favourite. His 12 string is impeccable. Can't find the late 60s version on utube. This clip from 1982 is good enough though. ua-cam.com/video/MszzjcGbC9g/v-deo.html
Rhymney (proper Welsh spelling Rhymni) is neither pronounced rimney as the Byrds pronounced it nor how you first pronounced it. It is pronounced Hrumney (the initial "Rh", is a single letter in the Welsh alphabet different from "R" and signifies an aspirated R). In Welsh the following "y" is pronounced like the "u" in the English word "up". That is always so where "y" appears in the first syllable of a Welsh word but is pronounced like the short "i" as in the English word "pin" in a subsequent syllable. I am a Welsh speaking Welshman and on its release my friends and I (all Cwm Rhymni lads and lasses) loved this Byrds' version of Pete Seeger's song (which please watch here on UA-cam), but being Welsh, we were irked by the mispronunciation of Rhymni . The Rhymni is, btw, a river (yr Afon Rhymni) which gives its name to the town where it rises and to the once heavily industrialised coal mining valley (Cwm Rhymni) down which it flows. It also gives its name to the district of the city of Cardiff where it debouches into the Bristol Channel, although the name of that district is spelled Rumney, an even more anglicised version of Rhymni which at least hints at the correct pronunciation of Rhymni.
Back in the days when the Byrds were popular the type of guitar sound they employed in their music was referred to us colloquially as "ringing guitar". Not that awful buzzing sympathetic vibration caused by a bad fret or string which is called ringing but the inescapably sweet evocation of high pitched ringing bells.
I'm guessing I am the only one that finds this version of this song rather bland. It seems to have none of the passion and anger that is needed to fully express the experience of the welsh miners of the time and indeed the poem of Idris Davies. A far better version is that produced by Oysterband much later.
An awesome 60s song @
This whole album is worth a listen. Dylan and The Byrds went electric with Folk in 1965 and started that whole music revolution. That's Roger McGuinn on the 12 string Rickenbacker, he defined part of the sound of the 60s with the way he plays it. The Byrds are also a very experimental band with many breakthrough sounds in the mid 60s. The Byrds we're considered the American Beatles. The Beatles and Byrds both inspired each other. All of their albums are great.
Just Beautifull ❤ Thanks Harri
Always been one of my top Byrds songs. Try “Eight Miles High”. !!!
he Byrds were awesome...
love Roger McQuinns 12 string Rickenbacker he's so distinctive
Beautiful one here love you
Very early on in their careers the members of The Byrds watched the Beatles movie a hard Day‘s night together, and were inspired to acquire all of the same instruments asthe Beatles used including the 12 string Rickenbacker that George played. After the Bells of Rhymney came out. George tipped his hat back to the BYRDS by writing, If I Needed Someone using the 12 string, and based on the rift that was played in the Bells of Rhymney.
Harri -You should try 'So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star' by The Byrds.. A fairly short track with sardonic lyrics, and it features your hero, Hugh Masekala on trumpet. You'l love it.
Great cover of a Pete Seeger song
Thank David and Harri. Has a similar beat as Mr. Tambourine Man.
Love the way this song ends with the high harmonies.
This was from The Byrd's debut album, from 1965, "Mr. Tambourine Man". Definitely easy to hear their early musical trademark, complex harmonies and McGinn's 12 string Rickenbacker guitar sound. Great tune with the quintessential Byrd sound. Beautiful song from a great time. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and David. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦
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David T - Anything The Byrds does it for me. Great submission. Harri, another stellar review.
DaveBZen- thanks. One of my all-time favorite bands!
The Byrds have such a distinctive sound but I love all of them.
That 12 string brings a fuller sound
Yeah, even The Byrds got it wrong, the actual pronunciation is "Rumnee".
Pete Seeger took the words from a poetic work called 'Gwalia Deserta' by Welsh poet Idris Davies, added this tune, and thus created the song. The Byrds turned it into something spectacular.
I think they actually liked the sound of "rimnee" better, but I'm not sure of that.
Rumnee. Absolutely correct.
There's a tambourine! Also, The Chimes of Freedom on this album. Very uplifting when it came out. So many greats from 1965.......California Dreaming........Oh but that first Jesus & Mary Chain was blistering! They brought the jangle later. Psychocandy! Oh my goodness. Still radical.
Nice one ! More Byrds :).
Harri.......Loved your interactions and comments during the song...The Byrds had a very Unique sound back then, probably different than most bands...They were one of the "greatest" harmonizing groups back then, along the Beach Boys, Beatles, and Hollies.......Of the Hollies one of my Favorite bands, lead guitarist Tony Hicks also played the 12 string Rickenbacker as Roger McGuinn of the Byrds did.......The Byrds get that ringing sound from the 12 string and tambourine played by co lead singer, Gene Clark of the Byrds........He later left the group as he wrote most/alot of the songs the Byrds did, and he wanted a little more money from the group which was sort of standard back then for the song writers. in the group. He told me this back then in 65. I believe he left the Byrds in Dec. of 65.......I knew on of his sisters very well in San Francisco.....Keep up your show and comments!...Cheers, BW
Nothing sounds like that Rickenbacker 12-string. Love it
It's Roger's Rickenbacher 12 string guitar, Harri. Thanks for this, takes me back to hearing this album when it first dropped!
Absolutely legendary. I discovered my favorites all played Rickenbacker! Tom Petty, George Harrison. Rickenbacker actually has a Roger McGuinn model guitar.
Still have the album. One of my favorites.
Rickenbacker 360/12. Heavily compressed and played with metal fingerpicks.
@@AC-ju5yu The Byrds did some great folk covers including John Riley, Wild Mountain Thyme, We'll Meet Again. They could have done a whole album's worth.
Suggestions for more Byrds reactions - "My Back Pages" a cover of a Bob Dylan song, and "Thoughts and Words", a Byrds original
5:24 Smack that bass guitar string, Chris! and a nice little Gene Clark tambourine trill ... lovely ending.
The lyrics were written in 1938 by Welsh poet Idris Davies about a mining disaster in a coal mine in South Wales, as well as paying homage to those who thanklessly laboured in all the coal mines there. Pete Seeger put the words to music around 1958 or so. This Byrds' cover was an album cut so I don't think it was ever released as a single. The actual Welsh pronunciation of Rhymney sounds more like "Rumney".
Besides being influenced by The Beatles, Jim McGuinn's use of the 12 string Rickenbacker was also inspired by another Liverpool group, The Searchers, who were more Folk oriented and closer to what The Byrds were doing before their fame.
Thank you for your comment. I have listened to every version of this song because it’s easily my favorite.
Yes, your background on the song is important. As with The Byrds' adaptations of Bob Dylan songs, this adaptation of a Pete Seeger song completely transforms the song into something both folk rock and hymnal with soaring ethereal harmonies and powerful instrumental work.
Take a nursery rhyme from 1744, “oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement’s,” add the labor struggles of Welsh miners, topped off by a twelve-string guitar… genius.
Rittenbacker 12 String guitar. Made famous by Roger MGuinn
and George Harrison.
My brother bought this album and together, we wore it out. Thanks David T. The Byrds had a great sound. Nice observations from Harri. 🌺✌️
That was one thing the byrds were known for the Twelve string electric guitar Which made there song so unique. I don't think a lot of people realize how important the byrds were, They were the absolute first folk singers to plug in and go electric.
One of the best reaction guys on reaction. U know what I mean. Later
Only Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman are still alive and active. All the other members have passed on.
I saw Roger in concert last Tuesday night, and he is still performing this song nearly 60 years later than when the Byrds first did it. He's nearly 82 years old and still a virtuoso with that 12 string Rick. Just beautiful!
Please take a listen to the version of this beautiful song by John Denver. He plays it on a 12 string acoustic guitar in front of an audience. He was hesitant. The piece is extremely difficult to play and even more difficult to perform. It’s fascinating!
David Crosby is playing and singing harmony on this album.
Yeah, that's because he was a founding member of the band. A source of frequent friction in the band as well, which eventually led to him being fired by McGuinn and Hillman. Still, when he was focused on the music, he was a key contributor to some of their best early songs.
This is another one of the most influential folk rock bands from the 60's. The Byrds covered a lot of Bob Dylan's songs. They had a lot of great hits such as "Mr. Tambourine Man", "All I Really Want To Do", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Chimes Of Freedom", "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Mr. Spaceman" etc. David Crosby was originally in this band before he became part of Crosby Stills & Nash.
The only song I know of that lists lots of places in south Wales. The odd place name out being Wye? I believe the Wye valley to be in England. Great song, great cover.
Endearing, good catch
Thank you Harri for concentrating on the music and not gettin hung up on videos and lyrics.
Mention of the Byrds and the Jesus and Mary Chain in the same video. Two of my favorite bands! Thanks Harri for all your thoughtful comparisons.
a great byrds tune that got no radio airplay in the day. 'my back pages is another song that needs more daylight . roger mcguinns 'ballad of easy rider' was another great one along with 'i wasn't born to follow' - written by carole king and gerry goffin. the telltale jangle sound of the byrds was roger mcguinn's rickenbacker guitar. originally jim mcguinn at the outset of the byrds but he started using his middle name roger
Here is Pete Seeger performing this live in the 1960s:
ua-cam.com/video/vK_eVaLeiQ0/v-deo.html
(I was raised on Pete Seeger..."The Bells of Rhymney" was one of my Dad's favourites.)
And this is Oysterband performing it much more recently:
ua-cam.com/video/ZEdbbSY5fxA/v-deo.html
In concert, Oysterband often pairs "The Bells of Rhymney" with the song "Coal Not Dole"
ua-cam.com/video/2_BwDxP3bic/v-deo.html
Yes Roger McGuin plays the Rickenbacker 360/ 12 string with toaster pickups which give the guitar a jingle jangle sound
The first LP I ever bought. Still a pleasant listen, though I never played it a lot at the time. Has probably only ever had under twenty plays. I was still finding my own tastes, buying an LP already 5 years old. This was before I had even left home. I didn't read the music press and had no idea really. All I knew was Top Twenty pop and all the Beatles' catalogue.
The unique sound you hear is Jim (Roger) Mcguinn's 12 string Rickenbacker guitar , with his own custom pick-ups and preamps..
That was Gene Clark on the lead. The guitars? Ricky electric 12 strings led the way for SOOOO many others. They'd do that guitar thangy again when Clarence White joined the band in their country phase 1968-72.
Wow, this not only gives me a similar feel as their song “Turn, Turn, Turn”, but also of The Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone”, which is from the same year as this song …
Needed someone was written by George using a riff from this song, he wrote a note to roger
George inverted the guitar line from this for “If I Needed Someone”
great band. If you have not already done so try listening to their version of 'My back pages'
A folk song by Pete Seeger that the Byrds electrified
This is Oysterband's version of "The Bells of Rhymney" which, I think, is an even more electric version than that of the Byrds (no aspersions intended!):
ua-cam.com/video/ZEdbbSY5fxA/v-deo.html
Hi guys X
It was an Electric 12 string.
Yeah, the Byrds' guitar sound was revived by a bunch of bands in the early to mid-eighties, in the UK and the US and probably Australia as well, the best known maybe being early REM from, like, 1983 to 1985. At about the same time, Johnny Marr of the Smiths also replicated it, as did explicitly sixties-revival bands like the early Bangles earlier in the decade. Back then, people referred to that Byrdsian guitar sound as "jangly."
As I understand it, this song is derived from an English nursery rhyme .
Listen to 'coming around' by travis,it has that byrds sound.
Listen to Fusion Orchestra, you'll love it
Songs:
1. Sonata in Z
2. Have I Left the Gas On?
John Denvers 1968/69 version will always be my favourite. His 12 string is impeccable. Can't find the late 60s version on utube. This clip from 1982 is good enough though. ua-cam.com/video/MszzjcGbC9g/v-deo.html
He had a solo version on the Violets of Dawn album when he was with the Mitchell Trio. I think it’s on UA-cam. Awesome!
Rhumney should pronouced Rum knee
Nice reaction, better than most
Rhymney is pronounced "Rumnee"
left a song suggestion below by John Prine great story teller.
Rhymney (proper Welsh spelling Rhymni) is neither pronounced rimney as the Byrds pronounced it nor how you first pronounced it. It is pronounced Hrumney (the initial "Rh", is a single letter in the Welsh alphabet different from "R" and signifies an aspirated R).
In Welsh the following "y" is pronounced like the "u" in the English word "up". That is always so where "y" appears in the first syllable of a Welsh word but is pronounced like the short "i" as in the English word "pin" in a subsequent syllable.
I am a Welsh speaking Welshman and on its release my friends and I (all Cwm Rhymni lads and lasses) loved this Byrds' version of Pete Seeger's song (which please watch here on UA-cam), but being Welsh, we were irked by the mispronunciation of Rhymni .
The Rhymni is, btw, a river (yr Afon Rhymni) which gives its name to the town where it rises and to the once heavily industrialised coal mining valley (Cwm Rhymni) down which it flows. It also gives its name to the district of the city of Cardiff where it debouches into the Bristol Channel, although the name of that district is spelled Rumney, an even more anglicised version of Rhymni which at least hints at the correct pronunciation of Rhymni.
Back in the days when the Byrds were popular the type of guitar sound they employed in their music was referred to us colloquially as "ringing guitar". Not that awful buzzing sympathetic vibration caused by a bad fret or string which is called ringing but the inescapably sweet evocation of high pitched ringing bells.
I'm guessing I am the only one that finds this version of this song rather bland. It seems to have none of the passion and anger that is needed to fully express the experience of the welsh miners of the time and indeed the poem of Idris Davies. A far better version is that produced by Oysterband much later.
Yeh! McGuinn's sparkling double six Rickenbacher is the beating heart of the Byrds, no doubt about that.