You had briefly commented it, actually. But now you gave a more detailed review that is well received too.
It sounds more like a country song with a folk rock treatment to me. However, the line between folkish and countrish sometimes is very thin. I can see what you say about the guitar fills though, and I guess you're right from a technical point of view.
You are right. It is a mix of country and folk. But those folk harmonies kind of take over don't they. I guess it comes down to what appeals to the ear the most at the time of listening.
The Times They Are A-Changin'. This sounds like a failed attempt at making another memorable version of a Dylan's classic. The guitar intro is not very inspired and the enthusiastic vocals sound a little forced. The result is still listenable, but it's below the level expected from the Byrds.
They went to the Dylan well once too often with this one. It's pretty weak. The alternate version is somewhat better, but overall, this was an ill-advised attempt. It's not a song that lends itself to being "prettied up" with Byrds harmonies, and McGuinn just doesn't put enough snarl into the lead vocal to make it convincing.
I much agree! This is a travesty done to a song that was so important and should have been sung with a vengeance as did Peter Paul and Mary did on their In Concert double lp. The Byrds version makes it sound like a frivolous ditty when it was a call to arms. It was one of Bob's most foreboding set of lyrics, at least at that time in history.
It sounds like it was done in a hurry. This version only uses I, IV and V, whereas the original also includes ii and vii chords.
Yes, especially when they had that version of Baby Blue in the can with a much more convincing McGuinn vocal.
Wait And See. An upbeat song, written by McGuinn and Crosby. The short guitar solo doesn't say much. Just a decent filler.
I routinely skip this one. This was clearly band politics at work.Any of the Gene tunes they left off would have been preferable.
I find this to be the weakest original in the entire canon of the first five Byrds albums. "Mind Gardens" is at least interesting musically, and even "The Lear Jet Song" and "CTA-102" have their charms. But this one — kind of just a big pile of nothing.
Yes, I think I agree. "Wait And See" is a weak and uninteresting track that adds nothing to the Byrds' discography. I think it could be compared to "Wait" from Rubber Soul, not only for the similar name. Actually the Beatles' song is a stronger composition, in my opinion, but still it's a track that contributed nothing at that stage of the band (in fact, it's a leftover from Help!).
I'm going to go out on a limb here. I seem to be the only person here who actually likes "Wait And See." I like the fact that it's a story with a happy ending. In the first two verses, he says he's going to "win the love" of the girl, and in the final verse after the instrumental break, he makes good on his claim. The idea of ending on an unresolved dominant predates McCartney's "For No One" by several months. There are other things about it that I also find musically interesting. Along with "California Dreaming" and "We Can Work It Out," (which both came out around the same time as this) the song really goes to town on those Sus4 chords (on every dominant). I also like the way the unison singing and the harmony singing are just about evenly divided. The wide divide on McGuinn's lower part and Crosby's upper part on the "I'm Gonna Get That Girl" sections are also nice touches. As a side note, I believe Crosby has publicly stated that this song was written entirely by McGuinn, and that he cannot remember contributing anything to it other than his usual rhythm guitar and upper harmony vocals. The composing credits probably involved some sort of legal wrangling at the time, with reasons that have been lost to history.
Interesting notes. In my case, I don't dislike the song nor skip it when I listen to the album (actually I never skip any song from any album I listen to). I just think of it as a mindless filler with little merits, taking into account the time context. But thanks for your analysis, it may make me see the song from a different angle.
Oh! Susannah. A weird version of the famous old song. It sounds like a joking track to me, but it can be enjoyable if you don't take it so seriously. BONUS TRACKS The Day Walk (Never Before). In my opinion, not one of the best songs by Clark, but better than some songs that were included on the album. The riff sounds quite like "Satisfaction". I also believe the melody was partly recycled for one of his later songs ("Elevator Operator"). She Don't Care About Time. A very good song with interesting lyrics, relegated to be a non-album B-side. Fans usually rave about this one, but honestly I don't see it as a better song than the other three Clark's tracks that ended up on the album. I prefer the version featuring a harmonica in the instrumental break. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. Good cover of the Dylan's song. It's much more upbeat than the version recorded by the later Byrds' lineup, in 1969. Actually they sound as if they were different songs. Stranger In A Strange Land. A nice instrumental track, credited to Crosby. Probably my favorite instrumental in the Byrds' catalog.
After listening to the rest of the album, when one finally hears "Oh Susannah," the inclination is to say to one's self, "Oh, so that's where they put all the chords that were removed from "The Times They Are A Changing." The Day Walk (Never Before) is a great slab of extremely early psychedelia. It has very Dylan-like lyrics but with extremely un-Dylan-like chord changes. There's no question that if Clark hadn't quit the group a few months later, it would've wound up somewhere on side 2 of the next album instead of one of those nondescript instrumentals. And it certainly would've been a welcome addition. She Don't Care About Time is in the key of D, but starts out on a G chord. That alone makes it musically interesting to me. Like "The Day Walk," it has Dylan like lyrics (Love Minus Zero No Limit immediately comes to mind), but a very un-Dylan-like chord progression. I wish Crosby McGuinn and Hillman would get together one last time and overdub the vocals on to "Stranger In A Strange Land." All three of them are still in good voice, and I don't like the way this version leaves out chords:
The faster harmonica version is the outtake, whereas the other version was the b-side of Turn Turn Turn. One thing that's interesting is how notably different the drumming is on these two versions. Forum member @Maggie has proffered the theory that it might be Hal Blaine doing the "Ticket to Ride" influenced drumming on the released version, since it's somewhat un-Clarkelike and quite different than the drumming on the earlier harmonica version. It seems a plausible theory to me, though no evidence has emerged to support it. If Gene had stayed in the band, he likely would have submitted all new songs for the 5D album, rather than seeking to revisit the rejected "The Day Walk." He was writing so much that when stuff was rejected he seemed to always be on to the next song. Which is not to say that "The Day Walk" isn't a great song.
Not just a "very good song", this is an all-time 60s' classic!! Akin to "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" from the first album, this should have been the second A-side single. A flawless song of genius.
She Don't Care About Time A great Gene song that is straight folk with the first two lines the same and the third a rise out (departure) and then the concluding line. Michael does his best Hal Blaine on the drums or is it the other way around? The verse starts on the IV chord and gets our attention and anticipation. However, the coolest thing about the song is Roger's solo. I am not sure but this may be one of the earliest uses of classical music in a rock/pop song. Roger quotes Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring in the solo. Sounds like Ticket to Ride but George said he though up If I Needed Someone after listening to the Byrds song. I don't recall reading why in the heck this song was not on the album.
I do appreaciate "She Don't Care About Time", but in my opinion Clark wrote better songs in 1965 (e.g. "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better", "Here Without You" and "The World Turns All Around Her"). The song is certainly better than at least half of the material in Turn! Turn! Turn!, but I wouldn't say it reaches the "classic" status.
George said that the riff and drumming of "If I Needed Someone" were inspired by "The Bells Of Rhymney" and "She Don't Care About Time", respectively. With regard to "She Don't Care About Time" and its exclusion from the album, McGuinn said this: "I love that song ('She Don't Care About Time'), I really do. I don't know why that never got on. That was for the Turn Turn Turn album, right? I think we had enough stuff already – except that I'm not too happy with the last four cuts of that album."
