Ballad of Easy Rider

Ballad of Easy Rider
Studio album by The Byrds
Released	October 29, 1969
Recorded	June 17 – August 26, 1969, Columbia Studios, Hollywood, CA
Genre	Rock, Country rock
Length	33:55
Label	Columbia
Producer	Terry Melcher
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B+) link Rolling Stone (Not Rated) link
The Byrds chronology
Preflyte (1969) Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) Untitled (1970)
Singles from Ballad of Easy Rider
"Ballad of Easy Rider" / "Oil in My Lamp" Released: October 1, 1969 "Jesus Is Just Alright" / "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" Released: December 15, 1969

Ballad of Easy Rider is the eighth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in October, 1969^[1] (see 1969 in music) on Columbia Records, catalogue item CS 9942.^[2] The album peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200 album chart, during a chart stay of seventeen weeks,^[3] a substantial improvement over its predecessor, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. The reverse was true in the United Kingdom, however, where the album reached #41 on the UK Albums Chart, while Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde had reached #15.^[4] The album's title track, "Ballad of Easy Rider", was released as a preceding single on October 1, 1969, backed with "Oil in My Lamp" (or "Wasn't Born to Follow" on some copies), and reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[5] Although this single was issued in most international territories, it was not released in the United Kingdom.^[2] A second single from the album, "Jesus Is Just Alright", was released on December 15, 1969^[2] and reached #97 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the UK.^[5] The album is notable for being the second and final album to feature the band line-up of Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gene Parsons and John York.

Background and Easy Rider film

Recording sessions for the Ballad of Easy Rider album were produced by Terry Melcher,^[6] who had produced the band's first two albums, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!, in 1965.^[7] The band decided upon Melcher as the album's producer following their dissatisfaction with Bob Johnston's production of their previous album, and more specifically, with his having overdubbed a female choir onto their recent non-album single, "Lay Lady Lay", without their consent.^[2] Melcher's return to the producer's chair began an association that would last until Byrdmaniax in 1971, much longer than his first tenure as The Byrds' producer. Melcher was happy to accept the band's invitation to produce the album but his one stipulation was that he would also take on management duties for The Byrds, not wishing for a repeat of the conflict he experienced with the group's original manager, Jim Dickson, in 1965.^[2]

In early 1969, the script writer and star of the film Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, asked Bob Dylan to compose a theme song for the project. Dylan declined but offered as a consolation the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow"^[1] - which he hurriedly scribbled onto a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give that to McGuinn."^[2] McGuinn took the lines and fleshed out the completed song with his own lyrical and musical contributions.^[1][8] After seeing a private screening of Easy Rider and realizing that he had been named as co-writer of the film's theme song, Dylan demanded that his writing credit be removed,^[8] leading McGuinn to theorize in later years that Dylan had disliked the film's ending and anti-hero motif.^[2] Another possible reason for Dylan insisting that his name be removed from the song's credits may have been a suspicion that his name was being exploited to boost the film's credibility.^[7] In 2000 McGuinn recounted to Jud Cost the story of Dylan disowning credit for the song: "[W]hen the soundtrack album was out and the credit was Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn, I got a call from Dylan at three o'clock in the morning going 'What's this? I don't want this credit. Take it off.'"^[8]

Two versions of the song "Ballad of Easy Rider" were released; the first, which was used in the film and released on the Easy Rider soundtrack album, was a bluesy version, listed as a solo performance by McGuinn, but actually featuring fellow Byrd, Gene Parsons, on harmonica.^[2] The second version was the recording by The Byrds, which was included on the Ballad of Easy Rider album and released as a single, featuring the addition of an orchestra and a repeat of the song's first verse.^[2] It should be noted that the version found on the soundtrack album and used in the film is a completely different take to the version by The Byrds.^[7] "Ballad of Easy Rider" would be McGuinn's sole songwriting contribution to the Ballad of Easy Rider album, due to his being preoccupied with composing the music for a country-rock adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, anagrammatically re-titled as Gene Tryp. The musical was never completed and six of the songs that McGuinn and Broadway impresario, Jacques Levy, had written for the project would see release on The Byrds' next two albums, (Untitled) and Byrdmaniax.^[2]

As recording sessions for the Ballad of Easy Rider album continued throughout July and August, public interest in the band mounted as a result of their involvement with the Easy Rider film, prompting McGuinn to announce that the title of The Byrds' forthcoming album would be Captain America, named after Peter Fonda's character in Easy Rider.^[2] Ultimately, this working title would not be used, and the album was instead named after the film's theme song.

Music

The remaining ten tracks on the Ballad of Easy Rider album mostly consisted of cover versions and interpretations of traditional material. Among these non-original songs was a cover of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", which found The Byrds harking back to their earlier folk-rock incarnation. The band had first attempted to record "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" in June and August 1965, during the sessions for their second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!,^[2] but these recordings remained unreleased at the time.^[9] McGuinn returned to the composition in 1969, slowing down the tempo and radically altering the arrangement to fashion a more somber and serious version of the song than the one the band had recorded in 1965.^[6] The Byrds' 1969 rendition of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" was also released as the B-side of the "Jesus Is Just Alright" single.^[5]

Other covers on the album included Woody Guthrie's "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)", a poignant account of immigrant exploitation, the gospel-styled "Jesus Is Just Alright", which went on to influence The Doobie Brothers' hit recording of the song,^[7] and Pamela Polland's "Tulsa County Blue", which would later become a country hit for Anita Carter in 1971.^[10][11] Despite "Tulsa County Blue" having been brought to the album sessions by John York and sung by him during 1969 concert performances, the album version features Roger McGuinn singing lead vocal.^[12] Another cover featured on the album was "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)", a song principally written by Vern Gosdin after he returned home one evening to find that his wife had left him and taken their children with her.^[6] Also included was a meditation on the recent Apollo 11 moon landing, titled "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins", which continued the tradition of ending Byrds' albums on a quirky, tongue-in-cheek note.^[6] Among the traditional songs recorded for the album were the sea shanty, "Jack Tarr the Sailor", a harmony-laden arrangement of the Baptist hymn "Oil in My Lamp", and "Way Beyond the Sun", with the latter being omitted from the album and remaining unreleased until its inclusion on The Byrds box set in 1990.^[2]

The album also featured John York's composition, "Fido", a song written about a stray dog that the bass player encountered in a Kansas City hotel room,^[6] making Ballad of Easy Rider the second Byrds' album in a row to feature a paean to a canine companion (the first being Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which featured the song "Old Blue").^[13] A third song about a dog, "Bugler", would later appear on the band's 1971 album, Farther Along.^[13] "Fido" is notable for featuring a drum solo performed by Gene Parsons, which is the only example of such a solo on any of The Byrds' studio albums.^[6] Gene Parsons also contributed the song "Gunga Din", which relates the story of a gig in Central Park that Chuck Berry failed to appear at and a separate incident in which John York and his mother were refused admittance to a restaurant, due to York wearing a leather jacket.^[14]

In September, 1969, following the recording of the album, John York, was asked to leave the band.^[1] York had become increasingly disenchanted with his position in The Byrds and had been vocal about his reluctance to perform songs that had been written and recorded by earlier line-ups of the band, feeling that it was somewhat spurious to perform songs that had been made popular by other musicians.^[2] The rest of the band had begun to doubt York's commitment and so a consensus was reached, among the other three members, that York should be fired.^[2] York was replaced, at the suggestion of Gene Parsons and Clarence White, by Skip Battin, a freelance session musician and one-time member of Skip & Flip with Gary Paxton.^[15]

Release

Ballad of Easy Rider was released on October 29, 1969 in the United States and January 16, 1970 in the United Kingdom.^[1][2] The album is notable for being the first Byrds' album to be commercially issued exclusively in stereo in both the United States and the UK,^[2][7] although there is some evidence to suggest that mono promo copies of the album were distributed in the UK.^[16] The back cover of the LP featured liner notes written by Peter Fonda in a free-form, stream of consciousness style, optimistically opining (in a manner reminiscent of the chorus of "Jesus Is Just Alright") that "whoever the Byrds are is just alright. OH YEAH!"

Upon its release, the Ballad of Easy Rider album revived The Byrds' commercial fortunes, giving the band their first U.S. Top 40 album in two years. The band's public profile was also increased due to the inclusion of three Byrds' related songs on the Easy Rider soundtrack. Columbia Records' was eager to capitalize on this new-found popularity and launched an advertising campaign for the album, proclaiming "The movie gave you the facts, the Ballad interprets them".^[2] However, with the exception of "Ballad of Easy Rider", none the songs on the album had much to do with the film.^[7] In fact, the album cover's sepia toned photograph of Lemuel Parsons (Gene Parsons' father) sitting astride an archaic 1928 Harley-Davidson could almost be seen as a parody of the film's biker ethos.^[2]

Ballad of Easy Rider was remastered at 20-bit resolution as part of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds series, and was reissued in an expanded form on March 25, 1997. The six bonus tracks on the remastered CD include the outtakes, "Way Beyond the Sun" (inspired by a recording of the song on The Pentangle's first album), "Fiddler a Dram" (a Moog synthesizer experiment by Roger McGuinn), and a rendition of "Tulsa County Blue" with John York singing lead vocals.^[6] A recording of "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood", a song written by the then little-known Jackson Browne, is also included.^[7]

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Ballad of Easy Rider" (Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan) – 2:01
2. "Fido" (John York) – 2:40
3. "Oil in My Lamp" (traditional, arranged Gene Parsons, Clarence White) – 3:13
4. "Tulsa County Blue" [aka "Tulsa County"] (Pamela Polland) – 2:49
5. "Jack Tarr the Sailor" (traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn) – 3:31
   • NOTE: Bob Dylan is not officially credited as a songwriter on "Ballad of Easy Rider".^[8]

Side 2

1. "Jesus Is Just Alright" (Arthur Reynolds) – 2:10
2. "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Bob Dylan) – 4:53
3. "There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)" (Vern Gosdin, Cathy Gosdin, Rex Gosdin) – 3:29
4. "Gunga Din" (Gene Parsons) – 3:03
5. "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" (Woody Guthrie, Martin Hoffman) – 3:50
6. "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins" (Zeke Manners, Scott Seely) – 1:41

1997 reissue bonus tracks

12. "Way Beyond the Sun" (traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn) – 2:57
13. "Mae Jean Goes to Hollywood" (Jackson Browne) – 2:44
14. "Oil in My Lamp" [Alternate Version] (traditional, arranged Gene Parsons, Clarence White) – 2:02
15. "Tulsa County Blue" [Alternate Version] (Pamela Polland) – 3:39
16. "Fiddler a Dram (Moog Experiment)" (traditional, arranged Roger McGuinn) – 3:10
17. "Ballad of Easy Rider" [Long Version] (Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan) – 2:26
18. "Build It Up" [Instrumental] (Clarence White, Gene Parsons) - 5:34
    • NOTE: this song ends at 2:35; at 3:35 begins "Radio Spot: Ballad of Easy Rider Album #1", which ends at 4:30; at 4:38 begins "Radio Spot: Ballad of Easy Rider Album #2".

Singles

1. "Ballad of Easy Rider" b/w "Oil in My Lamp" ("Wasn't Born to Follow" on some copies) (Columbia 449900) 1 October, 1969
2. "Jesus Is Just Alright" b/w "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Columbia 45071) 15 December, 1969

Personnel

NOTES:

• Sources for this section are as follows: ^[6][8]
• Roger McGuinn plays Moog synthesizer and banjo on bonus track 16.

Release history

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Fricke, David. (1997). Ballad of Easy Rider (1997 CD liner notes). 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s} Rogan, Johnny. (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited. Rogan House. ISBN 0-95295-401-X. 
3. ^ Whitburn, Joel. (2002). Top Pop Albums 1955-2001. Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-147-0. 
4. ^ Brown, Tony. (2000). The Complete Book of the British Charts. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "The Byrds chart data". Ultimate Music Database. http://www.umdmusic.com/default.asp?Lang=English&Search=Byrds&Where=Bands. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Rogan, Johnny. (1997). Ballad of Easy Rider (1997 CD liner notes). 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Ballad of Easy Rider". ByrdWatcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles. http://ebni.com/byrds/lpboer.html. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Hjort, Christopher. (2008). So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965-1973). Jawbone Press. ISBN 1-90600-215-0. 
9. ^ Hyde, Bob. (1989). Never Before (1989 CD liner notes). 
10. ^ "The Carter Family". Johnny Cash: Through The Eyes Of A Fan. http://www.stevenmenke.com/Carter%20Family%20.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
11. ^ "Tulsa County information". Pamela Polland Official Website. http://www.pamelapolland.com/text/oa_note04.html. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
12. ^ "The Byrds speak about Ballad of Easy Rider". The Byrds Lyrics Page. http://die-augenweide.de/byrds/speak/ballad.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-27. 
13. ^ ^{a b} "Reviews of Byrds and Other Albums". Jonathan and David's Byrds Page. http://byrds.churchyear.net/reviews.html. Retrieved 2009-09-26. 
14. ^ Parsons, Gene. (1994). The Kindling Collection (1994 CD liner notes). 
15. ^ Fricke, David. (2000). (Untitled)/(Unissued) (2000 CD liner notes). 
16. ^ "The Byrds Mono Pressings". Byrds Flyght. http://users.skynet.be/byrdsflyght/mono.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-26.