“Everybody’s Been Burned” is a great David Crosby song recorded by one of my all-time favorite bands The Byrds. No doubt but that the early proto-psychedelic Byrds are the best and “Burned” illustrates some of the reasons why – crystal-clear guitars, jazzy chord changes and a wistful melancholic summer-hazy feel. Unfortunately the song as recorded is off tempo by the second measure, the guitars lose intonation and the 12-string solo is one of the most limp ever recorded. I asked Roger McGuinn about this one day and he said it was because the song meandered and Crosby didn’t have a clear stylistic vision for it. I asked Crosby to comment on this and he said McGuinn was unable to play the solo properly and couldn’t understand where he was coming from. These matters notwithstanding I decided the song could use a make-over so here it is – a great song by one of the greatest bands ever.
2006, copyright
3 responses so far ↓
1 Ryan // Mar 14, 2009 at 10:46 am
Interesting how you have this compressor air sipping beat way up front, but the geetars are still crystal clear and jangly.
They’re not competing-How do you do that?
2 Bill Edwards // May 27, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I think the original tentative, off-beat feel of the solo suits the vibe of the song very well, even if the Cros didn’t like it! I can’t imagine it any other way.
3 Tom McCurnin // Jul 28, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I have several outtakes of this great song in my bootleg collection. I do like David K.’s version of this .
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