[Michael.SF.]

I saw McQuinn at a small club here in the east Bay, probably 10 years ago now. He told a great story:

Somebody approached Dylan at a party with a lyric for a new song. Dylan looked at the words:

The river flows
It flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes
That's where I want to be

Dylan then gave the guy the note back and said: "Give it to McQuinn, he can do something with it."

The song became "The Ballad of Easy Rider"

[hellbender]

On McGuinn's album Live From Mars, he tells many great anecdotes about how the Byrds got started and the influences on their songs. For example, the guitar into on Tambourine Man was influenced by Bach, and the chaotic guitar intro to Eight Miles High (which is about their first tour to England) was inspired by saxophonist John Coltrane.

The other Byrd not mentioned was Gene Clark, who wrote many of the early songs which were not covers.

[Reaganite Republican]

What a cool story... and great to meet him, seems like a good guy.