“Eight Miles High” is a song by the American rock band the Byrds and first released as a single on March 14, 1966. The single reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart. The song was their last release before the departure of Gene Clark, who was the band’s principal songwriter at the time. Musically influenced by Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane, “Eight Miles High”, along with its McGuinn and Crosby-penned B-side “Why”, was influential in developing the musical styles of psychedelic rock, raga rock and psychedelic pop. As such, the song is often cited by critics as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song. (More from Wikipedia)
One day not so long ago, I was looking at the Wikipedia entry on “Eight Miles High” by the Byrds – a song like this has its own article that (among other things) talks about various versions and covers of the song – and there was a quote in the introductory section from someone at Rolling Stone saying that this was the first psychedelic rock song. I changed the intro and wondered how the RS guy could have thought that. My comment started a discussion with another Wikipedian about this; I noted that the 13th Floor Elevators were advertising themselves as a psychedelic rock band the year before, and he countered that this doesn’t mean they were playing true psychedelic rock songs. Anyway, the link to the Rolling Stone quote no longer pointed to anything, so now the introduction says this (I think the caveat “bona fide” was my idea): “Accordingly, critics often cite ‘Eight Miles High’ as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song.”
I am a big fan of “Eight Miles High”; besides the original by the Byrds (the song was written by bandmembers Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn and David Crosby), Golden Earring recorded a side-long extended treatment of “Eight Miles High” that I simply love, and past UARB Index covered “Eight Miles High” on their first album.
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According to Wikipedia: “John Einarson has noted that the influence of [John Coltrane]’s saxophone playing and, in particular, his song ‘India’ from the Impressions album, can be clearly heard in ‘Eight Miles High’ — most noticeably in [Jim] McGuinn’s recurring twelve-string guitar solo. In addition to this striking guitar motif, the song is also highlighted by Chris Hillman’s driving and hypnotic bass line, [David] Crosby’s chunky rhythm guitar playing, and the band's ethereal harmonies.”
Another important influence is the sitar music of Ravi Shankar, “particularly in the droning quality of the song’s vocal melody and in [Jim] McGuinn’s guitar playing” (as noted in Wikipedia). The Byrds even brought a sitar with them to a press conference that was used to promote “Eight Miles High”, even though a sitar was not used in the recording.
Ravi Shankar is an acknowledged master of the sitar and began promoting Indian classical music in 1956, including appearances at major music gatherings like the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (Shankar’s first performance at a rock event) and the original Woodstock in 1969.
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“Eight Miles High” is essentially a reference to an airplane ride; from Wikipedia: “Although commercial airliners fly at an altitude of six to seven miles, it was felt that ‘eight miles high’ sounded more poetic than six and also recalled the title of the Beatles’ song ‘Eight Days a Week’. . . . Other lyrics in the song that explicitly refer to the Byrds’ stay in England include the couplet: ‘Nowhere is there warmth to be found / Among those afraid of losing their ground’, which is a reference to the hostile reaction of the UK music press and to the English group the Birds serving the band with a copyright infringement writ, due to the similarities in name. In addition, ‘Round the squares, huddled in storms / Some laughing, some just shapeless forms’ describes fans waiting for the band outside hotels; while the line ‘Sidewalk scenes and black limousines’ refers to the excited crowds that jostled the band as they exited their chauffeur-driven cars.”
Perceived drug references in the lyrics caused a broadcasting ban on “Eight Miles High” in the U.S. shortly after its release; and largely as a result, the song stalled at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the UK singles chart.
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Still, the March 1966 release date for “Eight Miles High” seemed to me to be a little late; surely there are older psychedelic rock songs than this?
“Shapes of Things” by the Yardbirds is the first song written by the bandmembers that became a hit; it was released on February 25, 1966 and reached #3 on the UK singles chart and #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Richie Unterberger has written of this song for Allmusic: “[Jeff Beck]’s guitar pyrotechnics came to fruition with ‘Shapes of Things’, which (along with the Byrds’ ‘Eight Miles High’) can justifiably be classified as the first psychedelic rock classic.”
Donovan’s first single “Catch the Wind” was released a full year before “Eight Miles High”, though his first song with a psychedelic vibe is “Sunshine Superman”, which came out in July 1966.
(July 2015)
