Song:Eight Miles High
Album:The Byrds Greatest Hits
The Byrds had already created folk rock but the 1966 hit Eight Miles High took them in a direction that would influence the soon to be popular psychedelic scene. It was also the final contribution of lead singer Gene Clark before he left the group. Though a lot of folks interpret Eight Miles High as a drug song, the song was actually about Clark's fear of flying. Of course that's very ironic because his fear of flying is why he left The Byrds soon after the song was recorded. There are two distinctive elements to the song. One is Chris Hillman's bassline. The other is Roger McGuinn's twelve string guitar. It seems McGuinn had been listening to a lot of John Coltrane's Indian inspired music at the time and tried to make his guitar sound like Coltrane's sax. Eight Miles High reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was their final top 20 hit. It was on their 1966 album Fifth Dimension which reached #24 on the album chart. This Greatest Hits comp was first released in 1967 but Columbia/Legacy released an expanded edition in 1999. Though Eight Miles High was a big influence on psychedelia, The Byrds would soon become more of a country group. Here's The Byrds performing Eight Miles High in 1966. You might think you're hallucinating while watching this video.
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