The Byrds are, at least in the opinion of this humble blogger, the finest American rock group of all time. In terms of reinvention, they were second only to The Beatles (third if you also factor in jazz since they had that Miles Davis guy). They had at least four accomplished songwriters (Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons). Roger McGuinn is one of the greatest guitarists of his generation. Their first six albums — Mr. Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn! Turn!, Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday, The Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart of the Rodeo — represents one of the most impressive LP hot streaks in music history. While they had more of their share of difficulties (increasingly low sales, in fighting, the usuals) they nevertheless went from strength to strength over the first four years as a going concern. Folk rock, psychedelic rock, country rock: The Byrds mastered them all.
And yet, The Turtles' "You Showed Me" is the closest thing we'll get to a Byrds single on this blog. "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn!" had both topped the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1965 (with the former also reaching the top of the UK chart) but both fell just short on the RPM hit parade. Canadians were just about the only people with the good sense to take their brilliant and influential single "Eight Miles High" into the Top 10 (it struggled just about everywhere due to alleged drug references) but, otherwise, they never had any other major hits north of the border. That said, their creative peak coincided with a downturn in sales in seemingly every territory.
By 1969, the lineup of The Byrds had shifted dramatically, even by their standards. Longtime bassist and songwriter Chris Hillman had left to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with short-term Byrd Gram Parsons, leaving Roger McGuinn as the sole holdover from their glory years. Rather than having to choose between pursuing country music and reverting back to space-age acid rock, the singer-guitarist rather sensibly decided to do both for their seventh album, the stupidly named Dr. Byrds and Mr Hyde. (A bad title but appropriate given their dual musical nature) A total flop in North America, it nevertheless sold respectably in Britain. At around the same time, the Flying Burrito Brothers released their debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin, a critical smash which sold abysmally. (As Brian Eno once said, only 10,000 people bought the first Burrito album but everyone who did formed a country rock band and were fitted for Nudie suits) Meanwhile, Gene Clark put out the second of two stellar LPs with multi-instrumentalist Doug Dillard, which were similarly ignored by consumers. The only current or ex-Bryd who managed to have a hit recording that year was David Crosby with his newfound trio Crosby, Stills and Nash.
What the majority of these very talented individuals lacked was a strong and sustained pop vision, not unlike Paul McCartney. Clark and Hillman had written outstanding pop songs in their day ("I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" and "Have You Seen Her Face?" respectively) but members of The Byrds were mainly preoccupied by folk, country, Indian raga, free jazz and 'Cosmic American Music' (whatever the hell that was supposed to be) to be concerned with something as trivial as pure pop. In fact, the album that became Sweetheart of the Rodeo had initially been pitched by McGuinn as a double album history of American music. While it's always possible some facsimile of Broadway and/or the Great American Songbook would have been included, it's rather revealing that they and other forms of twentieth century pop are never mentioned as being a part of it. McGuinn envisioned it opening with tracks harking back to Appalachian folk and early bluegrass before giving way to blues, country, jazz and rock and culminating with a futuristic leap into synthy space rock. Pop? I doubt it even crossed his mind.
The Clark/McGuinn co-write "You Showed Me" has that pop sensibility even if it was from a time when they were still developing. Not even particularly promising, their early demo is chiefly of historic interest. It is, therefore, something of an odd choice of cover version for The Turtles. "You Won't Have to Cry", "The World Turns All Around Her", "Renaissance Fair", and "Change Is Now" (among others) would have all made for smashing singles. It's possible, though, that The Turtles knew there was little that they could have added to them and next to no chance they'd even be able to equal such outstanding album deep cuts. They could, however, add plenty to a very basic cut like "You Showed Me".
Perhaps this is why there is a tasteful string section accompanying them. Or why there are hints of reggae, a genre The Byrds never touched. Or why they employ the use of a Moog synthesizer, an instrument that McGuinn and his on-again, off-again chums were familiar with. In some ways, it sounds like how The Byrds ought to have treated it, especially if it had ended up on the wide ranging Notorious Byrd Brothers. If The Byrds were instrumental in commercializing Bob Dylan, you might say that The Turtles, in turn, did everything they could to commercialize the now luckless Byrds.
Fascinatingly, The Turtles attempted all-encompassing study of American music just as The Byrds had planned to do in early 1968. As opposed to the jingle-janglers, though, the LA five piece of Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman, Al Nichol, Jim Pons, and Johnny Barbata actually got it completed, released at the end of '68 as The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands. They did so in taking on a series of alter egos in order to explore zany takes on surf rock, country, psychedelic, and even Hawaiian music. On "You Showed Me" they transformed into Nature's Children, a group of nudists (which explains the sleeve above: easy ladies). Not only did they add some much needed musical textures but they turned a simple song of young love on its head and into an ode to exhibitionists. You showed him all right.
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