Byrds, The - Bad Night At The Whiskey Lyrics

very mystical

So much better than Sweetheart!

In the summer of '69, I had a little band that played in the park every Sunday afternoon, and we covered this. Afterwards, the band and 78 of our closest friends went swimming in the reservoir.

After the baroque majesty of Notorious Byrd Brothers and the country sweetness of Sweetheart of the Rodeo, two masterpieces that saw the Byrds outstripping Doctor Who in the regeneration game, came this 45, our first taste of the band with McGuinn as sole remaining member from the original line-up. I remember John Peel playing it on Top Gear and thinking, "This is wonderful!" Yes, it was definitely the Byrds but, somehow, there was another shift, another curve in the space-time continuum. I immediately purchased the single which still possesses a rich mono sound, the high lonesome bluesy lead guitar more to the fore than on any of the LP and subsequent CD issues. Imagine my surprise when I learned, years later, that these licks were from McGuinn and not Clarence White, as I'd hitherto believed! What a great record, underrated in the Byrds canon, somehow harkening back to the "heavier" aspects of the 5D album but also incorporating the cosmic cowboy vibe of the two 1968 albums. And those drone-like vocal harmonies that drift in the background, almost echoing If You're Gone, are spine-tingling....

I saw the Whiskey gig that this song refers to; it was in October 1968, shortly after the release of Sweethearts of the Rodeo, and marked the debut of the Byrds' new lineup with Clarence White on guitar. On the heels of internal disputes that imploded the previous lineup, The Byrds were tentative and a relative 'downer' when compared with opener Blues Image who ripped it up with a progressive and kinetic set that was hard to follow. To get an idea of what I'm talking about, lookup my video here of 'Take Me to the Sunrise' by Blues Image--it's the song they opened with and sounds exactly as it did that night-- truly a force to be reckoned with.

The Byrds are my all time faverite band. And I didn't start getting into them until 4 years after their final breakup. To me, "Bad Night at the Whiskey" is the group's #1 song. "Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde" is my 2nd faverite album. #1 to me is "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". A fantastic record. (Sgt. Pepper eat your heart out!) I think it sounds "more together" than "Pepper". The origional band quit way too soon. I remember getting kind of sick when I listened to the follow-up "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" in the course of my research. Stone country as a follow-up? Come on. But they bounced back with "Dr. Byrds". I can't understand critics thinking that this album is bad. Roger Mcguinn should have kept going this route. I don't think the later band had much chemistry at all, if any. Their sound wasn't much like the old band at all and their music got progressively weaker. The origional band probably threw away a lot of great music. You can only imagine what great stuff they might have produced. This was the Beatles faverite American group I understand. They knew the Byrds were doing their own thing and not trying to be a copy of the fab four. The two bands "freely stole from each other" and influenced each other's development. It all came to an end but at least we got "Dr. Byrds" with the great "Bad Night at the Whiskey" before the big decline.

Robert Duane

Have to agree with you on Notorious Byrd Brothers - best album by The Byrds and anyone else for that matter. Single release of Eight Miles High is best song though in my opinion

Winning through extremely tough competition from themselves, The Notorious Byrd Brothers is their best LP. Just perfect. A wick to keep our love light burning.

Sweetheart of the Rodeo was great :/

I can hear the Jayhawks in this.

find the good let the evil go

classic track

BAD ASSSSSSSSSSSSS

Exceptional. . .i wish the Byrds continued in this vein, Wheels on Fire, Child of the Universe, King Apathy and this. . .now that's my kind of country rock. .

Yeah, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde is one of their greatest albums of all time!

agreed !!!

not a good byrds period - except for this and maybe king apathy; c&w and parsons 'killed them'........but left a brilliant legacy

Badass song. The original Byrds wish they could make music like this. 

They could. :)

This is one of the highlights of this album!!

mika

i had forgotten that one...dreadfull

Jim

Personnally I don't dislike this tune but I agree on Lay Lady Lay .. IMOO ( In My Own Opinion )

What are you talking about? This song rocks.

On reflection its not the worst...Lay Lady Lay has that honour..in my not too bright opinion

I didnt buy it

Jim

the worst 45

You are therefore not to bright to buy it. It is superb.

i bought this as a singfe in 1969...and its the worst 45 the band ever did

Jim

What the F is a singfe??? You're not allowed to criticize if you can't spell.