"All I Really Want to Do"

In "All I Really Want to Do," the lines "Drag you down or bring you down / Chain you down or bring you down" both generally descend (D D C# A B B A and D D C# A B G# A), musically giving a sense of those "down"s.  This feature is also present in Bob Dylan's original version, although Dylan sings "Drag you down or drain you down."

"Mr. Tambourine Man"

While figuring out parts isn't much of a priority for this project (especially in these early stages), I may post some from time to time.  Since "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the Byrds' first single, the title track of the first album, and the first track on that album and since I've already figured out the bass part and the chords, it seemed like a good place to start.

As always, there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong:

Introduction

I first heard the Byrds in early 2003 (I think it was February because it was shortly after the space shuttle Columbia disaster).  "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" was played as the walk-on music to a community performance I was part of, and almost immediately, I liked it better than any of the songs in the show itself.  Aside from The Byrds' Greatest Hits, Fifth Dimension was the first Byrds album I owned, and I think it was also one of the first original albums I owned (as opposed to compilation albums).

In 2008, ignorant that "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" was satire, I did exactly what the song said:  I got an electric guitar and took some time and learned how to play.  Over the next few years, I learned how to play more instruments and started writing about music analytically.  In the last five years, I've started a number of projects focused on specific bands.  Originally, the goal for these was to try to learn every part in every song, but eventually, it shifted more towards simply writing about interesting features I found in the music.  Maybe I should have done this earlier, but now I'm starting one of these projects on the Byrds.

I don't have all of the albums, but I do have most of them:

• Mr. Tambourine Man
• Turn! Turn! Turn!
• Fifth Dimension
• Younger than Yesterday
• The Notorious Byrd Brothers
• Sweetheart of the Rodeo
• Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde
• Ballad of Easy Rider
• (Untitled)

I've already made a number of notes (although some - maybe even most - are very minor points), and I plan on going through them all again and posting notes for one song every week.  After I've made my way through those, I'll write about anything I notice as it comes up.  As with my other projects, this means that months may go by in between posts.