Eight Miles High

the song by the Byrds

"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band the Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn (a. k. a. Roger McGuinn), and David Crosby. It was first released as a single on March 14, 1966. Musically influenced by sitar player Ravi Shankar and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, the song was influential in developing the musical styles of psychedelia and raga rock. Accordingly, critics often cite "Eight Miles High" as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song, as well as a classic of the counterculture era. The song was subject to a U. S. radio ban shortly after its release, following allegations published in the broadcasting trade journal the Gavin Report regarding perceived drug connotations in its lyrics. The band strenuously denied these allegations at the time, but in later years both Clark and Crosby admitted that the song was at least partly inspired by their drug use. The failure of "Eight Miles High" to reach the Billboard Top 10 is usually attributed to the broadcasting ban, but some commentators have suggested the song's complexity and uncommercial nature were greater factors. "Eight Miles High" reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was also included on the band's third album, Fifth Dimension, which was released on July 18, 1966. "Eight Miles High" became the Byrds' third and final U. S. Top 20 hit, and was their last release before the departure of Clark, who was the band's principal songwriter at the time.

The song's lyrics are, for the most part, about the group's flight to London in August 1965 and their accompanying English tour, as hinted at by the opening couplet: "Eight miles high and when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known." 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 writ of copyright infringement because of the similarities in their names. 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. The impact of these recordings on the band would manifest itself in the music of "Eight Miles High" and its B side "Why"—both of which were influential in the development of the musical styles of psychedelic rock, raga rock, and psychedelic pop. Clark began writing the song's lyrics on November 24, 1965, when he scribbled down some rough ideas for later development, after a discussion with guitarist Brian Jones, before the Byrds made a concert appearance supporting the Rolling Stones. Over the following days, Clark expanded this fragment into a full poem, eventually setting the words to music and giving them a melody. Record producer Allen Stanton guided the band through the recording process. "Eight Miles High" also exhibits the influence of sitarist Ravi Shankar, particularly in the droning quality of the song's vocal melody and in McGuinn's guitar playing. However, the song does not actually feature the sound of the sitar, despite the Byrds having appeared brandishing the instrument at a contemporary press conference held to promote the single. McGuinn has since said he believes this original version of the song to be more spontaneous sounding than the better known Columbia release.

"Eight Miles High" was released on March 14, 1966, in the U. S. and May 29, 1966, in the UK, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. Following its release, the band faced allegations of advocating the use of recreational drugs in Bill Gavin's Record Report, a weekly newsletter circulated to U. S. radio stations. This resulted in "Eight Miles High" being banned in a number of states within a week of the report being published, a factor which contributed to the single's failure to break into the Billboard Top 10. Research analyst Mark Teehan, writing for Popular Musicology Online, has challenged the widely held view among critics, music historians and the Byrds themselves that the U. S. radio ban hurt sales of "Eight Miles High". Commercial radio stations were reluctant to play songs that were over two and a half minutes long during the mid 1960s, and the song suffered from uncoordinated and inefficient promotion by Columbia Records. Accordingly, some authors and music historians, including Eric V. D. Luft, Domenic Priore, and Dwight Rounds, have described "Eight Miles High" as being the first bona fide psychedelic rock song. In his book Riot On Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood, Priore cites the song as the one that kicked off the psychedelic craze, explaining "prior to 'Eight Miles High,' there were no pop records with incessant, hypnotic basslines juxtaposed by droning, trance induced improvisational guitar." However, although Kempton was the first person to use the term raga rock in print, she actually borrowed the phrase from the promotional material the Byrds' press office had supplied to accompany the "Eight Miles High" single release. Nonetheless, the experimental nature of the song placed the Byrds firmly at the forefront of the burgeoning psychedelic movement, along with the Yardbirds, the Beatles, Donovan and the Rolling Stones, who were all exploring similar musical territory concurrently. Cash Box described the single as a "rhythmic, shufflin’ blues soaked affair with some real inventive riffs." Record World magazine also praised the song, commenting "It's an eerie tune with lyrics bound to hypnotize. Will climb heights." In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, an honor reserved for "recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old." In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Eight Miles High" at number 151 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and in March 2005, Q magazine placed the song at number 50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

During the same month that "Eight Miles High" was released as a single, the Byrds' primary songwriter, Gene Clark, left the band. His fear of flying was given as the official reason for his departure, but other factors, including his tendency toward anxiety and paranoia, as well as his increasing isolation within the group, were also at work. Following the release of "Eight Miles High" and Clark's departure, the Byrds never again managed to place a single in the Billboard Top 20. The song became a staple of the band's live concert repertoire until their final disbandment in 1973. and another live version was released as part of the 2008 album, Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971. The song was performed by a reformed lineup of the Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman in January 1989. Crosby has revisited "Eight Miles High" infrequently during his post Byrds career, but it was performed during Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's reunion tour of 2000, with Neil Young handling McGuinn's guitar solo, while the other three members sang the song's three part harmonies. In addition to its appearance on the Fifth Dimension album, "Eight Miles High" also appears on several Byrds' compilations, including: The Byrds' Greatest Hits, History of The Byrds, The Original Singles: 1965–1967, Volume 1, The Byrds, The Very Best of The Byrds, The Essential Byrds and There Is a Season.

"Eight Miles High" has been covered by many different bands and artists including: the Ventures, Leathercoated Minds, East of Eden, Lighthouse, Leo Kottke, Roxy Music, Ride, Stewart/Gaskin, Robyn Hitchcock, Rockfour, Les Fradkin, The Kennedys, the Postmarks and Steve Hunter. Hüsker Dü released the song as a single prior to the release of their Zen Arcade LP in 1984. The song was covered in 1969 by Golden Earring, who included a nineteen minute version on their Eight Miles High album. The Emerson, Lake & Palmer spinoff group 3 recorded the song with revised lyrics on their 1988 album, To the Power of Three. Crowded House with Roger McGuinn covered the song on their I Feel Possessed EP. Don McLean's song "American Pie" makes reference to "Eight Miles High" with the lines "The Birds flew off with a fall out shelter / Eight miles high and falling fast." The First Edition's 1968 hit, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", contains a reference to the song with the line "I tripped on a cloud and fell a eight miles high." The independent rock band Okkervil River references "Eight Miles High" in its song "Plus Ones", on the 2007 album The Stage Names. Bruce Springsteen's song "Life Itself", from his 2009 album Working on a Dream, features guitar playing and production techniques reminiscent of "Eight Miles High" by the Byrds. The Byrds' version of "Eight Miles High" is featured in the 1983 film Purple Haze. It appears in both the "Le Voyage dans la Lune" and "The Original Wives Club" episodes of the television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.