byrdsongs, xliv

As the 60s drew to a close, the Byrds’ music began to evince little flashes of nostalgia here and there. The general thrust is still of the LA cowboy variety, with rustic western vibes sanding down the rough edges left behind after the death of the two-minute pop song. But within this broad and, to be honest, somewhat depressing sweep of things, there are momentary pockets, gaps where McGuinn in particular seems to look back, yearning for those heady neon nights at the Trip and Ciro’s Le Disc, when everything was new and fresh and reality felt infinitely malleable. Child of the Universe on Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde is an instance of this reflection backwards, as is the cover of It’s All Over Now Baby Blue on The Ballad of Easy Rider, a song McGuinn had covered in a poppier and more energized time signature during the sessions for Turn Turn Turn… All the Things, another product of the collaboration between McGuinn and Jacques Levy, falls under the heading of nostalgia as well. It’s far too mellow, languid and stretched out to ever be mistaken for something recorded in the mid 60s, but the main riff and harmonies will remind you of the Bells of Rhymney and the halcyon days of teenage utopianism. The song is very much in line with the material that comes out of a quick original Byrds reunion in the same year (1970, not to be confused with the more muddled and corporate reunion of 1973)… Along with its nostalgic streak, All the Things is undeniably mournful, coming from the point of view of someone who only appreciates what he had after it’s long gone.  Perhaps that someone is meant to be the personification of an entire generation.  All the things I want today, all the things I wasted on the way…