terry melcher's favorite toy

Do not f@ckin' worry or...

alternatively, hold your breath. I have not been born again; once in a lifetime is quite enough.

Written by Ira and Charles Louvin, this is simply a dress rehearsal from the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" sessions with Gram Parsons on vocals.

Fitting on a Sunday. Said Gary Usher:

“ McGuinn was a little bit edgy that Parsons was getting a little bit too much out of this whole thing.... He didn't want the album to turn into a Gram Parsons album. We wanted to keep Gram's voice in there, but we also wanted the recognition to come from Hillman and McGuinn, obviously. You just don't take a hit group and interject a new singer for no reason.... There were legal problems but they were resolved and the album had just the exact amount of Gram Parsons that McGuinn, Hillman and I wanted. ”

Those legal issues apparently revolved around the fact that Parsons was still under contract to Lee Hazlewood at the time of recording. Roger McGuinn was sufficiently "edgy" to erase the approved master vocals produced by Gary Usher and replace them with his own solo performances.

"The line-up for the album was very short lived. After playing a handful of concerts throughout the Los Angeles area, including a party at Ciro's (where the original line-up of The Byrds first gained acclaim) for legendary publicist Derek Taylor, the band embarked on a short European tour. Tapes reveal a very schizophrenic ensemble playing psychedelic-oriented material alongside the Nashville songs. A lipsynched performance on television found Parsons, who, in between concerts, had visited Stonehenge and befriended Keith Richards in what would become one of rock's most infamous associations, sarcastically miming McGuinn's "Eight Miles High" solo on dobro."

Well. F@ck it, brothers and sisters. I am a huge fan of Roger McGuinn's nasal Dylan interpretations. No doubt about it.

This is a document, not a traffic ticket.

▼ THE BYRDS: THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (REHEARSAL, TAKE #11) [BONUS TRACK] from "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" CD (Columbia Legacy Edition) 1997 (US)

PURCHASE SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO REMASTERED + BONUS TRACKS