Roger McGuinn says Zombies hit insiped Byrds classic
Roger McGuinn says that he was directly inspired to write the introduction to the Byrds' 1966 psychedelic classic "Eight Miles High" after hearing the Zombies' "She's Not There."
McGuinn told Uncut magazine that the group's single also mixed in various jazz influences which contributed to the song's structure, explaining that, "I was inspired by the Zombies' 'She's Not There,' there was a little jazzy break in that. And we were listening to a lot of (saxophonist) John Coltrane. It seemed like a fair thing to do to put a little Coltrane in the middle of this song, which really had nothing to do with psychedelic. That was purely subjective on the part of the listener."
McGuinn co-wrote "Eight Miles High" with then-bandmates David Crosby and Gene Clark. Clark actually quit the band prior to the song's release, partly because of his fear of flying.
"Eight Miles High" peaked at Number 14 and was featured on the group's 1966 album Fifth Dimension.
McGuinn told us that the final lineup of the Byrds, which included Clarence White, Gene Parsons and Skip Battin, had a ball stretching the song out to nearly three times its normal length: "We always enjoyed doing it and the audiences always did love it. I'm not sure if they were cheering that the break was so good or they're just cheering out of relief, you know (laughs), that, that it's over, but (laughs) in any case, there was a lot of reaction when we'd come back in. Basically what happened was, Clarence and I both smoked at that time, and he and I would go off and have a cigarette. So that's how, you know, how long a cigarette would last (laughs). We would almost play a game with Gene and Skip and not come back and make them keep improvising. It was, like, a little thing we were doing to their heads."
McGuinn told Uncut magazine that the group's single also mixed in various jazz influences which contributed to the song's structure, explaining that, "I was inspired by the Zombies' 'She's Not There,' there was a little jazzy break in that. And we were listening to a lot of (saxophonist) John Coltrane. It seemed like a fair thing to do to put a little Coltrane in the middle of this song, which really had nothing to do with psychedelic. That was purely subjective on the part of the listener."
McGuinn co-wrote "Eight Miles High" with then-bandmates David Crosby and Gene Clark. Clark actually quit the band prior to the song's release, partly because of his fear of flying.
"Eight Miles High" peaked at Number 14 and was featured on the group's 1966 album Fifth Dimension.
McGuinn told us that the final lineup of the Byrds, which included Clarence White, Gene Parsons and Skip Battin, had a ball stretching the song out to nearly three times its normal length: "We always enjoyed doing it and the audiences always did love it. I'm not sure if they were cheering that the break was so good or they're just cheering out of relief, you know (laughs), that, that it's over, but (laughs) in any case, there was a lot of reaction when we'd come back in. Basically what happened was, Clarence and I both smoked at that time, and he and I would go off and have a cigarette. So that's how, you know, how long a cigarette would last (laughs). We would almost play a game with Gene and Skip and not come back and make them keep improvising. It was, like, a little thing we were doing to their heads."
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