Our final classic song song of the day this week where the cover proved more popular than the original is “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Believe it or not, the Byrds’ cover ranked considerably higher than any of Bob Dylan’s versions of his own song.
“Mr. Tambourine Man” was, of course, written by Bob Dylan. Many assumed the song was about drugs (“Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship” and all that), although Dylan denies this. He says the song was about a guitarist that he played with named Bruce Langhorne. Here’s how the songwriter remembers it:
“‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ I think, was inspired by Bruce Langhorne. Bruce was playing guitar with me on a bunch of the early records. On one session, [producer] Tom Wilson had asked him to play tambourine. And he had this gigantic tambourine. It was like, really big. It was as big as a wagon wheel. He was playing, and this vision of him playing this tambourine just stuck in my mind.”
So there you have it. “Mr. Tambourine Man” wasn’t about marijuana, it was about a guy playing a giant tambourine. Never knew Dylan could be so literal, did you?
Dylan wrote “Mr. Tambourine Man” in early 1964; he started writing it in February and finished it up in April. He first sang it at a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall on May 17 of that year and first recorded it in June, during the sessions for the Another Side of Bob Dylan album. That version wasn’t deemed good enough to release, however, so he re-recorded it on January 15, 1965. It saw the light of day on Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home album, which was released in March of 1965. Dylan never released the song as a single.
The Byrds heard an early demo of “Mr. Tambourine Man” and decided to include it on their debut album. (In fact, they named the album after the song.) It was the first track the band recorded (on January 20, 1965) and one that didn’t include the entire band. Producer Terry Melcher didn’t have a lot of confidence in the band’s studio chops, so he brought in members of the Wrecking Crew to record the backing track. So, on this single only, you hear Jerry Cole and Bill Pitman on guitars, Leon Russell on electric piano, Larry Knechtel on bass, and the ubiquitous Hal Blaine on drums. Roger McGuinn was the only Byrd playing an instrument on the track; that signature 12-string guitar part was all his. Byrds David Crosby and Gene Clark provided backup vocals, with McGuinn singing lead.
Hal Blaine explains that regular Byrds drummer Michael Clarke was not happy about not playing on the record:
“When I did the Byrds, that was the only drummer that pissed and bitched and moaned, and Terry Melcher, the producer, had to tell him to shut up and sit the fuck down! Anyway, they were thrilled at the end, because right out of the box came ‘Mr. Tambourine Man.’”
The Byrds’ version of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was released as a single on April 12, 1965, and was an immediate hit. The track went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100, as well as in in the UK, Ireland, and South Africa.
The Byrds’ cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was extremely influential. It helped to define the new genre of folk rock and even inspired Bob Dylan himself to go electric, which was a big deal at the time. It was groundbreaking.
And here’s a treat for you, Bob Dylan playing “Mr. Tambourine Man” live at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, introduced by none other than folk legend Pete Seeger. This is early Bob, and it’s something to hear.
