The Byrds’ often fractious dynamic continues to this day. “They said, ‘It’s not what we expect from a rock autobiography.’ But looking back at it, there was a lot of sex, drugs and rock and roll in there and there’s a lot of stuff I wouldn’t want anyone to know about.” “The publisher said, ‘Can you take all that Jesus stuff out of there?’” he says. As he recalls, the reason was the parts of the book that were devoted to his Christian beliefs, which kicked in during the late Seventies.

McGuinn himself wrote a memoir years ago, which he says was rejected by his publisher after it was submitted. But McGuinn, playing all the instruments himself, has finally recorded most of the rest of the unheard material from that project, including the gospel-st yle “Are You Right with God?” A release date is pending. A few of those songs, like “Chestnut Mare” and “Just a Season,” emerged on Byrds albums. In 1969, he and the late lyricist Jacques Levy wrote two dozen songs for a musical, Gene Tryp, based on Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. McGuinn says we shouldn’t expect any more of those shows - he felt they should have been limited to that five-decade mark - but he continues to tour solo and has a least one more Byrds trump card up his sleeve. In 2018, timed to the 50 th anniversary of Sweetheart of the Rodeo, McGuinn and Hillman reunited to play the country-rock milestone start to finish. But It would have been great if we’d all stayed together, more or less like the Stones.” The Notorious Byrd Brothers is a really good record, and it had David on it too. “We managed to make some good records even without all the guys. “It’s kind of a sad story when you think about the guys leaving,” McGuinn admits. They were gone.”Īs one turn, turn, turns through the pages, The Byrds 1964-1967 also chronicles of departures of Clark and Crosby, with McGuinn, Hillman and Clarke reduced to a trio (as seen in rare live shots of that incarnation, which even McGuinn hadn’t seen). Sometimes our limo would be parked on the street and we had to run from the car to the venue and the girls would tackle you and say, ‘I got ’em!’ They didn’t have good security back then.” McGuinn also recalls one loyal fan stealing his trademark Byrds granny glasses in Chicago: “We were doing an in-store and coming down the escalator and some girl grabbed them. “It was like being in A Hard Day’s Night.

“America’s answer to the Beatles,” chuckles McGuinn, who will turn 80 next month. Photos show fans grabbing at the band or swarming around Crosby as he exits a limo. If you really want to make a dent in your savings account, another autographed “Super Deluxe” edition, which comes with a fine-art print of one of the book’s photos and will be limited to 75 copies, will set you back $1,700.Īmong the many aspects of Byrds history that are rekindled by the book is the Beatlemania level of fan worship that greeted the band the year after “Mr. A deluxe edition signed by McGuinn and Hillman will go for $350 another limited edition, signed by McGuinn, Hillman and Crosby, can be had for $475. A so-called “standard edition” of the book will be priced at $125.

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