Eight Miles High

Single infobox
Name = Eight Miles High


200px_Background_=_Red_
Artist = The Byrds
B-side = "Why" (Jim McGuinn, David Crosby)
Released = March 14, 1966
Format = 7"
Recorded = 1966
Genre = Psychedelic rock
Length = 3 min 33 s
Label = Columbia
Writer = Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, David Crosby
Chart position =

• 14(USA)
  Reviews =
  Last single = "Set You Free This Time"
  (1966)
  This single = "Eight Miles High"
  (1966)
  Next single = "5D (Fifth Dimension)"
  (1966) |

  "Eight Miles High" is a song by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby, first appearing as a single from 1966 by the rock band The Byrds. The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was included as well on their album "Fifth Dimension", released on July 18, 1966. In tandem with its b-side, "Why," written by McGuinn and Crosby, the song was instrumental in ushering in a new strain of rock and roll in the mid-1960s, that of psychedelic rock.

  Content

  The obscure lyrics, penned by Clark, are about the group's plane trip touring England in 1965. "Eight miles high, and when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known." Airliners fly at an altitude of six to seven miles high; but it was felt that "eight miles high" sounded better.

  According to Clark, the lyrics were primarily of his doing, with the only contribution coming from David Crosby's line "Rain grey town, known for its sound". Since Clark's death, however, McGuinn has contended that it was he who conceived the idea for the song being about a plane ride, and that he and Crosby both contributed lyrics to Clark's unfinished draft. John Einarson's book, "Mr. Tambourine Man", questions this claim and wonders if McGuinn's story would be the same had Clark lived.

  Almost immediately after "Eight Miles High," the Byrds suffered the loss of Clark, their main songwriter. His fear of flying was the official reason for his departure, although other pressures were at work. After Clark's departure, the Byrds would never visit the top 20 with a single again.

  Music

  McGuinn's twelve string guitar playing — especially the famed introductory solo — was heavily inspired by Coltrane's saxophone on "India" from his 1961 Village Vanguard concerts on the Impressions album of 1963. McGuinn is very guarded of the effort that went into his approximation of Coltrane's technique to guitar. Chris Hillman's bass line drives the song, while the rhythm guitar work by Crosby and fast drumming of Michael Clarke add dramatic turbulence. On a 1966 taped interview added to the 1996 re-issue of the album, Crosby said that the catastrophic ending made him "feel like a plane landing."

  The B-side

  The B-side, "Why", equally pushed the envelope, its incorporation of raga aspects from Indian classical music even more pronounced than on the A-side. The lyric, unusual for the developing rock and roll groupie haven of Los Angeles, argues a very feminist viewpoint considering that it was written by two men, or one man, Crosby often claiming sole authorship of the song. [Zimmer and Diltz, p. 37] This version differs from the one later released on "Younger Than Yesterday", by the more pronounced bass lines and vocal punch of the radio mix given a single side in the mid-sixties.

  Other Versions

  An earlier version of the song, along with "Why," had been recorded in RCA Studios in Los Angeles in December of 1965; those tracks saw release on the 1996 expanded reissue of "Fifth Dimension" on Legacy Recordings.

  Covers

  The song has been covered many times, notably by Golden Earring in 1970, who put a 19 minute version of the song on their "Eight Miles High" album.

  Infobox Single
  Name = Eight Miles High
  
  
  Artist = Hüsker Dü
  Released = March 1984
  Recorded = October 1983
  Genre = Alternative rock
  Length = 3:56
  Label = SST
  Producer = Spot
  Last single = "In a Free Land" (1982)
  This single = "Eight Miles High" (1984)
  Next single = "Celebrated Summer" (1985)Other artists who covered it include:
  * The Postmarks on "By the Numbers", 2008
  * Leo Kottke on "Mudlark", 1971
  * Roxy Music on "Flesh And Blood", 1980
  * Hüsker Dü as a bonus single released with their "Zen Arcade" LP of 1984.
  * In 1988, the ELP spinoff group 3 covered the song on "To the Power of 3", altering the lyrics.
  * Rockfour on the "Wild Animals" EP (2000) and "...For Fans Only".
  * Robyn Hitchcock
  * Les Fradkin on his 2006 CD "12" and as part of "Timeless Flyte" Vol. 3
  * Chris Hillman on "The Other Side", 2005.
  * Leathercoated Minds on "A Trip Down to Sunset Strip", in 1966. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dxfqxqq5ldte All Music Guide description]
  * The song's title appears in the lyric "I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high" in the song "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)".

  Legacy

  In 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine named "Eight Miles High" the 150th Greatest Song of All Time. In March 2005, "Q" magazine placed "Eight Miles High" at number 50 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.The Door's 1968 song "Spanish caravan", 27 seconds in, has a part which is similar to the opening chord progression of Eight Miles High, both being adaptations of the classical piece "Asturias" by Isaac Albéniz.

  Don McLean's song "American Pie" makes reference to "Eight Miles High" with the line "Eight miles high and falling fast".

  The indie rock band Okkervil River reference "Eight Miles High" in their song "Plus Ones" (from the 2007 album "The Stage Names"). The song, which mentions several classic numerical lyrics but alters their original intentions by adding one, includes the line, "You would probably die before you shot up nine miles high."

  External links

  * [http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/kadler/public_html/rmcguinn/sound_index.html McGuinn plays the guitar break on the 12-string]
  * [http://www.geneclark.com/songarchive/eightmilestab.html "Eight Miles High" tablature]

  References

  
  * [http://ebni.com/byrds/lp5d.html "ByrdWatcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles"]
  * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/eightmileshigh.shtml"BBC - Radio 2 Sold on Song"]
  * [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3ifqxqw5ldfe~T1shtml"All Music Guide profile"]
  * Zimmer, Dave, and Diltz, Henry. "Crosby Stills & Nash: The Authorized Biography" (First edition), St. Martin’s Press, 1984. ISBN 0-312-17660-0

  Notes