An extended, alternate mix of The Byrds' recording of the song, featuring more prominent percussion and Clarence White's lead guitar solo (which had been edited out of the version found on the album), was included as a bonus track on the 1997 Columbia/Legacy reissue of Ballad of Easy Rider. In addition to its appearance on the Ballad of Easy Rider album, the song can also be found on several Byrds' compilations, including The Best of The Byrds: Greatest Hits, Volume II, History of The Byrds, The Very Best of The Byrds, and The Essential Byrds. However, the song was played only rarely between 1971 and the band's break-up in 1973. "Ballad of Easy Rider" was first introduced into The Byrds' live concert repertoire during February 1969 and would go on to be performed relatively frequently throughout the rest of the year and into 1970. CBS Records in the United Kingdom went a step further by reissuing "Wasn't Born to Follow" as the A-side of a single in September 1969, in the hopes that it might provide The Byrds with a fluke hit. The Byrds' recording of "Wasn't Born to Follow" initially appeared on the band's 1968 album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, but having been featured prominently in Easy Rider, Columbia Records saw fit to include the song on some copies of the single. The B-side of The Byrds' single was the traditional song " Oil in My Lamp", although there are copies of the single known to exist with the Goffin- King song "Wasn't Born to Follow" on the B-side instead. However, this idea was discarded and ultimately the song "Ballad of Easy Rider" gave the new Byrds' album its title. As recording sessions for The Byrds' eighth studio album continued, interest in the band mounted as a result of their involvement with the Easy Rider film, leading McGuinn to announce in interviews that the band's next album would be titled Captain America, in honor of Peter Fonda's character in the film. In addition, Melcher added an orchestral overdub to the track in an attempt to emulate recent hit singles like Glen Campbell's " Gentle on My Mind" and Harry Nilsson's " Everybody's Talkin'". The song was also lengthened by producer Terry Melcher by editing a copy of the first verse onto the end of the second, effectively creating a third verse. The Byrds' version of the song was recorded on Jand is performed at a quicker tempo than the soundtrack version. In the 21st century, Roger McGuinn continues to perform the song during his solo concerts and consequently a recording of it appears on his 2007 live album, Live from Spain. This Roger McGuinn solo version is a completely different take from the version that The Byrds would later release as a single and include on their Ballad of Easy Rider album. Īlthough the version of "Ballad of Easy Rider" used in the film and included on the Easy Rider soundtrack album is listed as a solo performance by Roger McGuinn, it actually features McGuinn accompanying himself on acoustic guitar with fellow Byrd Gene Parsons playing harmonica. He didn't seem to understand Peter Fonda's anti-hero concept." Others have speculated that Dylan's reason for insisting his co-writing credit be removed was the belief that his name was being exploited to boost the film's street credibility.
He wanted to see the truck blow up in order to get poetic justice.
Ballad of easy rider movie#
McGuinn has theorised in interviews that Dylan disowned the song because "he didn't like the movie that much. When Dylan saw a private screening of Easy Rider and realised that he had been credited as co-writer of the film's theme song, he telephoned McGuinn and demanded that his name be removed from both the film's closing credits and all subsequent releases of the song. He'll know what to do with it." The lyric fragment was dutifully passed on to McGuinn, who took the lines and expanded upon them with his own lyrical and musical contributions to produce the finished song. Fonda also wanted Dylan to write the film's theme song but Dylan declined, quickly scribbling the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow" - on to a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give this to McGuinn.
Ballad of easy rider license#
The star and script writer of Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, had initially intended to use Bob Dylan's song " It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the film but after failing to license the track, Fonda asked Roger McGuinn of The Byrds to record a cover version of the song instead.
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