The Byrds - Chestnut Mare

[pwrl]

My favorite Byrds lineup. Great song from a great album.

[Ghoopty]

Hairy band!

[vintageX1]

ahem, 15 year old over here, and this song is so moving and meaningful.

But yeah, my generation's music does suck compared to this... :(

[Anglynn74]

it was goin good until that girl scared the hell outta me

[skydogging]

Clarence White was an excellent guitar player!

[treatmentbound]

Roger in his "Crazy World of Arthur Brown" phase.

[2323giggity]

just a simple, great tune by the byrds--- i have enjoyed it for nearly 35 yrs, the true meaning of it is totally lost on the younger generation

[nelsondecoteau]

original Byrds not great musicians?

What about Chris Hillman ?

he is a great player on mandolin ,guitar ,and also with the Byrds Bass. check your facts before you comment, Neslon DeCoteau

[stefani93340]

what is with this girl? floating above my song.

[michaelgordonful]

Yea,he does look stoned,musta been that afghani hash going around at the time!!!!!!!!

[pdorn777]

This line-up of the Byrds totally blows me away. The country influence of Gram Parsons remained and deepened following his departure in July '68, and really took on maturity with both the release "Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde" and later with the inclusion of bluegrass-influenced Clarence White. "Chestnut Mare" for me was pretty much the quintessence of that fortuitous constellation of musical events.

[decemberschild1217]

@pdorn777 yah I agree these guys are are musically up to the level of Roger...as much as I love the original Byrds with the exception of Mcguinn they really werent great musicians.....(yes that includes David!)

[rcswofford]

@decemberschild1217 I saw this lineup in 1973. they struck me as the finest musicians and tightest act that I had seen. 40 yrs & 230 concerts later, Its still true. - the original Byrds - genuis, trend setter, visionary, one of the greatest songwriters, outstanding musicians or vocalists...one or more of these attributes apply to each - their contribution - not many groups have had members whose impact has been so great on today's music . of course, thats just my opinion

[decemberschild1217]

@rcswofford I agree completely with you....Geno was obviously the best writer....Speaking from musicianship alone tho the orig lineup doesnt hold a candle to this one....Case in point: Mcguinn on 12 string was the only Byrd who played on the Tamborine Man 45....and my apolgies to the Hillman fan but he's no Skip Battan PS: I saw Roger solo in 76 but that 73 show must have been something!

[SirHprdgn]

I bet the guy from the movie "Zoo" LOVES this song.

[HugeGene]

One of my fav Byrds tunes. McGuinn screwed up the lyrics, but maybe it was on purpose in order to shorten the length of the tune for TV time allottment. Love the hair! Those were the days. Used to inhale plenty and listen to that one.

[scotfreak]

@HugeGene i just want to let you know, that as a 17 year old..... i am carrying on that tradition of inhaling... and listening to the best of the byrds

[HugeGene]

@scotfreak Nice to know, brutha'... keep carrying the Torch. 

[picnut56]

Dino,

You are correct in the observation that Roger appears a little stoned. But, I'm 54 and grew up in that era and we were all a little stoned back then.

Music was meaningful back then and, not the crap that airs today. I'm grateful that people still recognize lyrics for what they were meant to be and not just a backdrop to the musical notation.

I'm sure your term paper was excellent if you understand Jungian Psychology.

[mrmsrv]

@picnut56 i can appreciate that brother..still am most of the time today still

[kronos66]

Superb!

[cichlid16]

I really like the floating german lady :)

[degree7]

Those guys got some pretty scary beards and hair goin' on there.

RIP Clarence White though, what a guitarist.

[franciscosuman]

Man, that is some real rock drumming by Gene Parsons.

[Cristinact]

It's funny to see how the cameramen could not tell who to focus when the first choir ended =) Yes, Mr. Cameraman, it's the one on the far right!!!!

[MrNIO888]

why you add that german biT@# talking in the beggining of the video???wtf???

[impala327]

is it just me, or this just creepy?

[MisterMojoSinkin]

I think everybody was stoned when they made this video -- I mean everyone in America under 30! Anyway, it's a little awkward in spots maybe, but Clarence effin' White makes it a home run. Good song too.

[bigzach1000]

@MisterMojoSinkin Where is it awkward? It sounds like Roger needed to clear his throat at the end, but other than that I didn't hear any foul notes or mistakes.

[fxg11]

Righteous. And Gene Parsons is kicking ass all the way.

[RoryNights]

Wonderful, just wonderful.. thank-you for posting :)

[thebeefdancer]

RIP skip

[fredpulm]

This version is perhaps edited for the time allowed in German TV. It is refreshing to see the blue-grass virtuosity of Clarence White, RIP. Mr. McGuinn, thanks for the memories all throughout your career!

[gianni737]

I LOVE THIS

[Detroit1967]

The host's name is Uschi Nerke ; )

[palmpedal]

Gene built the b bender on clarence's guitar now owned by Mart Stuart, this is the first of many he has built down through the years, but the only one built on the back of the guitar with a cover built over it. All the others are inset in a routed out area. Gene told me this story himself at the Nashville NAAM show in 1999. I was demo-ing his acoustic version in a Guild with Casper Rowels playing a Telecaster. He is a pretty good drummer too.

[dmdsmc73]

Was Jim Seiter the drummer from Spanky and our Gamg?

[betover68]

I had anal on this song once

[icecreamforcrowhurst]

@betover68 Thanks for sharing that with us but umm... maybe a little too much information?

[fasfadsfsd]

@betover68 You're the kind of person they're fighting for in Afghanistan. Enjoy your anal. Asshole. 

[n1a31y161r]

Hey, McGuinn... did you really see this mare? Eh? 

[stankler]

yeah this is great but ...cobain man.no love of the hitchin woman and back to the earth.this is pure fuckin genius.and its made my night to find it .live.a breath of freash air in an unfortunate world.the byrds WERE PUNK

[stankler]

yeah this is great but ...cobain man.no love of the hitchin woman and back to the earth.

[clickswitchh]

I just want to shoot Roger when he starts to singtalk about that horse, its so fucking stupid ... and just a bad song ... the byrds should have quit after sweet heart of the rodeo

[vilepete]

@clickswitchh Silly Witchh, they are amazing here! to be honest, here and always! Love their lineup and musical changes.... Almighty Byrds, they are!

[slimshine953]

@clickswitchh Harsh.

[ejectorerector]

really, by the end of the song, he is saying i'm gonna catch that whore

[borgduck]

It's clear to see where the Eagles got their style, their influence, their everything from!

[qualityten]

Clarence White is the genius at this stage of the band's life.

[jenderland]

production value is stellar.

[ejectorerector]

lol why is the band name flying across the screen right in the middle of the song!!!

[pdmanning67]

I would say this version is quite good, considering that a german girl in hot pants was levitating over them and all

[k3304]

these guys look like they got good dope

[ToddSweeneyOnce]

@k3304 Very good from the way they look, especially the bassist.

[jexplink]

Clarence White - Genius.

[clickswitchh]

Hate this song

[coldplays179]

candidate for worst music video ever? lol i love the byrds but this video is so funny

[borntoend94]

@coldplays179 It's not a music video, it's live from a tv show.

[mkeulr]

cool song.....

[aarfeld]

I believe the guy on congas and tambourine is their long-time sound man, Jimmi Seiter. He occasionally sat in with them.

[noel2711]

I have the greatest admiration for a band who can play so well whilst so stoned. I have (in the past) had difficulty walking down the street!!

[shanehenning26]

great song

[JumpinJohnny74]

Good ol' Beat Club

[1954telecaster]

one word: drugs.

[morvelification]

goddamn roger mcguinn is a scary guy lol

sweet song though, better off the album, that floating woman pisses me off

[bleeshpo]

i was at a byrds show when i seen this girl, real purty, real fine / she's above the band jus' sorta floatin' up in the air / 'bout a mile high i'd say / i walk over to her thinkin' of a pickup line / when all of sudden, she just fades away

I'm gonna hitch that girl if I can

an' when I do I'll give her my gland

an' we'll romance for life

my hot com-mon law wife

I'm gonna catch that girl if I can

[clean3]

@bleeshpo ten out of ten....jolly good sir; could've added...'then she'll be trouble and strife (wife) I'll end it with a knife'....ok, maybe not the last bit...you've got me started now.

[oldhiway66]

@bleeshpo  :O

[twobanger21]

@bleeshpo I'll give her my BRAND you knucklehead!

[scotfreak]

@bleeshpo HAHA

[shawnkilroy]

awful!

[vilepete]

@shawnkilroy It's not!

[ZoneIII]

Thanks for posting. The Byrds were a great group. In fact, they were my favorite group during the late 60s.

[TKTRV]

Google

DON'T PANIC says John Joseph O'Brien :-)

but

OPRAH AND AL GORE AND THE SATANIC GAY MAFIA GOT CAUGHT TRYING TO UPSTAGE GOD ON THE INTERNET

or just Google

SCOLE GHOST THEATER FIXES IT :-)

[shoobedoowap]

hey... how'd Walter Becker get in there?

[Rabidburt]

Not the real Byrds but a great, great song, nonethless. I agree. . .WTF, about the sexual references to a gee-gee. . .

[ernestosb7]

esa weona está pa darle por el ass, ptm

[GFitzhug]

RIP, Clarence White,a great country picker!

[spuffchops70]

The floaty bird's kwality

[ZAXDAD66]

He'll be just like a wife...........WTF!

[tommylord]

@ZAXDAD66 I believe the lyric is "she'll be just like a wife"

[clickswitchh]

*Pukes* the byrds after 1970 aint the byrds

[cricketplus]

metephor?

[Drew625in2une]

Love hearing Clarence working Gene's B Bender. Thank you for posting this.

[JazzJonnie]

With the superb Clarence White

[Spectra92]

Did they get the guy in green from Planet of the Apes?

[TubularJim183]

Do you mean... "Skip" the monkey?

[JazzJonnie]

@Spectra92 Tosspot

[PhilRebbeck]

It's demented, but great.

[kaarekjohnsen]

Written by Roger McGuinn and Jacques Levy in 1969 as part of a musical adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt". In Ibsen's play the hero is chasing a reindeer, but in McGuinn's song it is a horse.

[dino335]

This version is a little rushed, ad they left out the middle part of the song that is on the studio version. That's part of the reason the lyrics might seem not to make much sense.

The words should be taken symbolically, not literally. They relate to Jungian psychology.

I actually wrote a term paper on the subject in college.

And McGuinn is pretty stoned in this video.

[neyocise]

And quite rightly, I might add. I could never play this song when sober.

[thozzman]

@dino335 Stoned he is...He discovered "Hey-soos" (Spanish pronunication of Jesus) in the late seventies, swore off drugs, and became a born again Christian.

And he won't go for a Byrds reunion because of David Crosby. Plus McGuinn's wife can't stand him.

[craig8754]

@dino335 This is one of the hardest songs to play and sing at same time

[clickswitchh]

@dino335 Theyr singing about a horse dude ... dont flatter him

[petalouka]

@dino335 Interesting, but on the other side, i still thing its mainly about searching a horse - but its true, searching is always symbolically :)

[nancyrowina]

@dino335 Is there a video of him where he's not pretty stoned? :) Interesting interpretation of the lyrics too.

[wrtc36]

Hey we wrote a song of the same name

type in

Chestnut Mare Steve Low band

[gabbahey66]

man love horse horse love man oh willber

[vilepete]

why is Jesus Christ playing bass on this one? !! :) Amazing song, but quite clumsy lyirics i agree..

[Finko00]

This is a weird song. Guitar soloing throughout... and its about a horse that he'll TREAT JUST LIKE A WIFE, only in the sense that they'll be friends for life, I hope..

[TheConcernedPatriot]

COCAINE

[Natokowsky]

fucking bullshit.

[betover68]

wouldnt mind tappin' zat german broad

[yippierb]

Clarence and Gene the best line up.... these guys played.

[deadwoodgulch]

Just seen the credits! sorry.

[deadwoodgulch]

Who is the conga player?

[suninthefall]

man, its original Byrds and its the same with long hair or not, peace.

[67nairb]

When was this concert recorded?

[ProcolHarum1967]

1970 or 1971ish

[67nairb]

On what show?

[ProcolHarum1967]

Beat Club (Germany)

[67nairb]

Thanks for the info. It's too bad nearly all of the members of the Byrds are dead.

[ProcolHarum1967]

I know thats the problem with allot of good old bands.

[67nairb]

I'd say that's the problem with most rock bands.

[rounds1954]

2 out of 5, that is not most. Mike and Gene are dead, but Dave, Roger and Chris are still alive.

[67nairb]

Didn't one of the band members die of Alzheimer's?

[deadwoodgulch]

Skip Battin.Ex member of the Hollywood Argylls.

[bazookasawaserpent]

You cant die of Alzheimer's... But you can have it when you die.

[67nairb]

Ronald Reagan died due to complications of Alzheimer's

[bazookasawaserpent]

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain where brain cells continue to die over time. There is no cure to stop the progression and eventually the body will shut down. People usually die of secondary infection, such as pneumonia. Same as AIDS, people do not die from AIDS but from a secondary infection. So if you want to be technical? We r both right.

[67nairb]

Excuse my ignorance and I hope I'm not annoying you but what is secondary infection?

[bazookasawaserpent]

Pneumonia? H1N1, And Flu virus hell even a cold can kill you when you are weak. Appreciate you being an intelligent person and you weren't ignorant just uninformed.

[67nairb]

You're welcome.

[henrynevins]

@rounds1954 Gene is not dead. Go to his website stringbender com or got to the YouTube video called "invention of the string bender" where he talks about Clarence White.

[royrez]

This is one of only 4 songs, that in my life, I loved the first time I heard it. I heard it once on the radio ... And then the second time I heard it, I called the radio station and requested it and didn't know who the artist was. Third time I heard it, I had the record.

[1993MURDODUNLOP]

What are the other songs you loved?

[royrez]

There are other songs that I loved ... But the songs that the VERY first time I heard 'em on the radio, I loved are ... "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and the Mind Benders, "Baby It's You" by Smith and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by the Buckinghams.

[royrez]

Wow ... some of you guys must be pretty young and never heard of symbolism..... First time I heard this song (Yea, I'm from the 60's) I took that this song is actually about a woman.

[luciferion2000]

hahah Roger McGuinn wanted to make love to a horse

i just cant stop laughing.

GO ROGER !!!

[greeneyefull]

definately anothER great tune by the BYRDS and a good video too ,but the line 'She'll be just like a wife" always made me wonder if that was a good choice of words ,because I do not think Roger McGuinn wanted to make love to a horse,and a horse could not wash dishes or run the clothes washer and dryer,or mop the floors

[burri123]

yeah, let's rewrite this as "she'll be my best friend". now where's my royalty check.

[Bellyflops2]

Beautiful song

[jdubbiyou]

Gene Clark was long gone by this time as were the other original members; David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke. Roger McGuinn remains...............

[OzTwanger]

Where is Gene Clark in this vid?

[OzTwanger]

Ridiculous slick guitar work. Great song. They don't build musos like this any more

[bettydaw1970]

guy sounds like he wants to get it on with a horse..

[PhilRebbeck]

A strange and beautiful song

[Wisegeorge]

Every member of this band was cool beyond recognition. Clarence, oh yeah. Gene Parsons, omg he is such an ass kicking drummer. Skip Battin, yeah? Older and amazing. Roger, and technology pulled it all together, thankfully, or we would be reading the TV Guide to see when we they might be on the tube again. I'm glad those days are over. The Byrds rule for all time now.

[clickswitchh]

McGuinn is really weird

[hoty1957]

Clarence was the greatest flatpicker who ever walked the earth......

[doofus0123]

Great song, great performance! It would be interesting to give this to an AP English class for a "Literature Interpretation" project, and see what they come up with. lol.

[oakeysmokey]

I love Clarence's watery guitar licks

Just miss this era of music SO much.

[bardamu6]

Love the floating woman...but who is Jimmi Seiter?

[JFguitar22]

very good guitar fill and riff!

[longroadoutofeden2]

i knew a dr,voc once...i went to see him with my leg.

[taariqtaariq]

the LATE PERIOD Byrds were awesome!"Live at royal albert hall 1971" is amazing .

[Karmalize]

best introduction ever

[mandra299]

Clarence White was a guitar genius. Now he will never get the notice he deserved.

[betover68]

cool, cool, cool.

Yeah, no one can't beat clarence (rip)

[Detroit1967]

Clarence's guitar fills are mindboggling great.

Jerry Donahue (Fotheringay etc.) is another fine picker coming to my mind.

[Detroit1967]

Voice over belongs to curvy Beat-Club TV host Mrs. Uschi Nerke aka "floaty woman" above the Byrds. Uschi ist alive and kicking.

[stenwald]

Gorgeous footage - great to see Skip and Clarence (RIP both).

Agreed, I personally much prefer their later work.

[fiddlemuse]

thank you SO much for posting this memory for me . I learned music from these guys

[woodycobain]

Later Byrds= Very, Very Underated

[gladyrenee]

This is one of my favorite songs. Thanks for posting.