Friday, December 3, 2010

The Byrds: You Showed Me

Let me apologize for the late post on this today. Our ISP was down when I tried to post this in the morning. In addition, there will not be a post for tomorrow - I am taking a vacation from the blogosphere.

Written by Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark in 1964, “You Showed Me” was a 1969 hit for The Turtles. The song was originally performed by McGuinn and Clark as a duo when they performed at the Troubadour. It was later recorded by their band The Byrds during their sessions at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles in 1964.



While the song demo was not originally carried over to their first Columbia release, it did appear on the 1969 LP named “Preflyte.” The original was a much faster interpretation of the song.



The Turtles’ Hit Version


The interpretation of “You Showed Me” appeared on the The Turtles’ “Battle of the Bands” album that was released in late 1968. It has a slower tempo than The Byrds’ original. Producer Chip Douglas who played bass in the Gene Clark Group introduced the song to The Turtles.

When Douglas played the song for The Turtles he did on a pump organ with a set of broken bellows and thereby was performed slower than normal. The band liked the slower version and it ended up being The Turtles final Top 40 hit charting at #6.

The major/minor chord progression with the strings and the interplay of the synthesizer throughout the tune really makes this recording spectacular. U2 later sampled The Turtles version for their song “The Playboy Mansion.”




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