Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" is a song written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby, first released as a single in March 1966 by the rock band The Byrds. The single reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #24 in the United Kingdom. The song was also included on the band's third album Fifth Dimension, released on July 18, 1966. Along with its McGuinn and Crosby penned B-side, "Why", the song was influential in developing the musical style known as psychedelic rock.
Content
The obscure lyrics, composed by Clark, are about the group's airplane flight to England during 1965, as illustrated in the song's opening couplet; "Eight miles high, and when you touch down, you'll find that it's stranger than known." Commercial airliners fly at an altitude of six to seven miles, but it was felt that "eight miles high" sounded more poetic than six as well as recalling The Beatles' song Eight Days a Week. The song was widely misconstrued as being about recreational drug use and was banned by a number of radio stations internationally, including the BBC.
According to Clark, the lyrics were primarily his creation, with a minor contribution being David Crosby's line "Rain grey town, known for its sound." Since Clark's death, however, McGuinn has contended that it was he who conceived the initial idea of writing a song about an airplane ride and that he and Crosby both contributed lyrics to Clark's unfinished draft. In his book, Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark, author John Einarson questions this claim and ponders whether McGuinn's story would be the same were Clark still alive.
During the same month that "Eight Miles High" was released as a single, the Byrds' main songwriter, Gene Clark, left the band. His fear of flying was stated as the official reason for his departure, although other factors were at work. After Clark's departure, the Byrds never again had a Top 20 single in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Music
Jim McGuinn's twelve-string guitar playing, particularly the introductory solo, was inspired by John Coltrane's saxophone playing on the song "India" from his 1963 Impressions album. McGuinn is very guarded of the effort that went into his approximation of Coltrane's technique to guitar. The song is driven along by Chris Hillman's bass line, while the rhythm guitar work by Crosby and fast drumming of Michael Clarke add dramatic turbulence. In a 1966 promotional interview, which was added to the 1996 CD re-issue of the Fifth Dimension album, Crosby said that the song's ending made him "feel like a plane landing".
The B-side
The McGuinn and Crosby song "Why", which was the B-side of the "Eight Miles High" single, also broke new ground in rock music with its Ravi Shankar inspired incorporation of raga and Indian classical music influences. The lyric is unusual for the developing rock and roll groupie haven of Los Angeles in that it argues a very feminist viewpoint considering that it was written by two men, or one man, with Crosby often claiming sole authorship of the song. The version of "Why" found on the B-side of the "Eight Miles High" single is completely different to the one later released on the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album. The version included on the Younger Than Yesterday album was recorded 11 months later, during the sessions for that album.
Other versions
Earlier versions of "Eight Miles High" and "Why" had been recorded in RCA Studios in Los Angeles during December 1965. These earlier versions initially saw release on the 1987 album Never Before as well as appearing on the 1996 expanded CD reissue of Fifth Dimension on Columbia/Legacy.
In addition, a 16-minute live version of "Eight Miles High" can be found on the Byrds' (Untitled) album. There is also another live version of the song included on the 2008 Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 album.
Other recordings
The song has been recorded many times, notably by Golden Earring during 1969, who put a nineteen-minute version of the song on their Eight Miles High album.
Other artists who have recorded the song include: The Ventures on Go With The Ventures, 1966
Leathercoated Minds on A Trip Down to Sunset Strip, in 1968.
Leo Kottke on Mudlark, 1971
Roxy Music on Flesh And Blood, 1980
Hüsker Dü as a bonus single released with their Zen Arcade LP of 1984.
In 1988, the ELP spinoff group 3 covered the song on To the Power of 3, altering the lyrics.
Ride on Through The Looking Glass - 1966, 1990
Robyn Hitchcock on his Greatest Hits album, 1996
Rockfour on the Wild Animals EP (2000) and ...For Fans Only (2003).
Chris Hillman on The Other Side, 2005.
Les Fradkin on his 2006 CD "12" and as part of Timeless Flyte Vol. 3
The Postmarks on By the Numbers, 2008
Legacy
During 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine named "Eight Miles High" the 150th Greatest Song of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Eight Miles High" at number 50 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
The Door's 1968 song "Spanish caravan", 27 seconds in, has a part which is similar to the opening chord progression of Eight Miles High, both being adaptations of the classical piece "Asturias" by Isaac Albéniz.
Don McLean's song "American Pie" makes reference to "Eight Miles High" with the lines "The Birds I]sic[/I flew off with a fall-out shelter/Eight miles high and falling fast".
The song's title appears in the lyric "I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high" from the song "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" by The First Edition.
The independent rock music band Okkervil River reference "Eight Miles High" in their song "Plus Ones" (from the 2007 album The Stage Names). The song, which mentions several classic numerical lyrics but alters their original intentions by adding one, includes the line, "You would probably die before you shot up nine miles high." Two songs on Bruce Springsteen's 2009 album Working on a Dream make production homages to "Eight Miles High".
The Byrds' version was featured in the 1983 film Purple Haze.
Translation
The phrase "Eight Miles High" occurs as such in the following languages: English, French, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Ukrainian.
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