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Gene Clark
www.caughtbytheriver.net
Remembering Gene Clark has been created to mark
the twentieth anniversary of Genes passing, 24 May 2011.
Edited by Jeff Barrett
Written by Mick Houghton
Designed by Sunny Park
American Dreamer
by Mick Houghton
In April 1977,
rine Man stand tall against the Dylan covers. When you
come to the Turn Turn Turn album, Clark saw a number
of his songs excluded in favour of weaker offerings by the
others, and a poor, pointless cover of Stephen Fosters
Oh Susannah. Clark still squeezes in three classics: Set
You Free This Time, the pre-power pop The World Turns
All Around Her and melancholy If Youre Gone, even
if there isnt room for She Dont Care About Time, the
brilliant, cryptic b-side of Turn Turn Turn. Clark had effectively become third in line in the Byrds pecking order,
overshadowed not only by McGuinn but also by the more
outgoing David Crosby.
As a result, in 1966, Gene Clark became the first major star (and he was a star, certainly in America), to walk
out of a leading group at their peak. Fear of flying and his
reluctance to tour is always flagged up as the reason but
Clark was also wary of the glare of publicity and there was
a growing animosity with his fellow Byrds because he was
making more money. While his brooding songs didnt lend
themselves to singles, he wrote the b-sides to both their US
No.1s. When the cheerless Clark original Set You Free This
Time was released as the Byrds fourth single, it stalled and
was flipped in preference to the frothier It Wont Be Wrong.
An almost inherent lack of commerciality would dog Clarks
career throughout his life.
Clarks parting gift to the Byrds was in providing the
original poem for the mind blowing Eight Miles High.
Nothing the Byrds recorded till then prepared anybody for
its sheer sonic assault. Clarks thoughtful lyric about the culture shock of the Byrds first UK tour set off a creative chain
reaction. David Crosby provided the rain grey town line
and John Coltrane the musical inspiration. Its by far the
most collaborative recording the Byrds ever made and apparently Clarks and the others favourite Byrds song.
In 1966, it was impossible to launch a deep, darkly
romantic singer songwriter. Gene Clark was five years
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bums, elevating them above mere instrumental workouts and including some of his finest Out on the Side,
She Darked the Sun, Polly, Kansas City Southern and
Train Leaves Here This Morning , the latter co-written with
Bernie Leadon. When Leadon emerged as a founder member of the Eagles, they covered the song on their first album.
Leadon left after the first album when Doug Dillard
brought in Donna Washburn as vocalist. Her duet with
Clark on the Everlys So Sad easily equals the more renouned pairing of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.
As ever, Clarks all too personal and idiosyncratic songs
lacked the gut appeal of, say, Gram Parsons songs, although Robert Plant and Allison Kraus recorded two of
Clarks exquisite expositions of lost-love from the second
Dillard & Clark album on Raising Sand, Polly and title
track Through the Morning Through the Night.
The Dillard and Clark group collapsed by 1970, Clark
again teaming up fleetingly with the ex-Byrds, and also
recording with the Flying Burrito Brothers, these songs
eventually appearing on Roadmaster. Unfathomably released only in Holland in 1973, the bulk of Roadmaster
drew from Clarks final sessions for A&M, an unfinished
album thats definitely undercooked. It includes a funereal version of She Dont Care About Time but also some
of Clarks most forgotten songs, the graceful, nostalgic
In a Misty Morning and more abstract Shooting Star.
If Roadmaster was a case of A&M raking up Clarks
backlog of recordings, it followed what, in my mind, is his
true masterpiece, the harrowingly radiant White Light.
Clark began recording White Light in March 1971 with a
set of musicians hed not recorded with before, assembled
by guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. White Lights sparse arrangements wrap themselves around Clarks voice, acoustic
guitar and harmonica on what is his most cultured and
intensely poetic album. Almost Dylan-like in its imagery
(reminiscent of Blonde on Blonde), it includes one of the
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turned again, and So Rebellious a Lovers country-folkroots style positioned Clark at the heart of the Americana/
alt country movement of the day. The pair continued to
perform together, taping Silhouetted In Light at McCabes in Santa Monica just over a year before his death. His
voice is shot but this only makes his fractured singing on
Set You Free This Time and She Dont Care About Time
all the more moving and laced with resignation.
By now, Clark had begun to develop serious health
problems: he had ulcers, aggravated by years of heavy
drinking, and in 1988 underwent intestinal surgery. To cap
it all, he was diagnosed with throat cancer early in 1991
and died, on May 24th 1991, of natural causes brought
on by another burst ulcer.
They say the devil has all the best tunes, who am I to
argue with that? Well, Gene Clark had more than his share
of the best sad ones and plenty more that were simply
breathtakingly beautiful, captivating and uplifting. Chris
Hillman probably understood Gene Clark better than
most, and in John Einarsons highly recommended book
on Clark, Mr Tambourine Man, Hillman says Clark should
have just packed up in 1967, gone back to Missouri, settled down and raised a family: It wasnt supposed to be
for him. It killed him, it really killed him. Of all the people I
know, a sweet soul was just stomped on. Its a brutal place
for many people, Hollywood. It really sees them coming.
Mick Houghton is the author of Becoming Elektra: the True
Story of Jac Holzmans Visionary Record Label, published
by Jawbone Books, 2010.
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Barry Ballard
Barry Ballard is a UK music journalist and archivist, with
a particular interest in and extensive knowledge of the
Byrds and their numerous off-shoots.
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Tim Burgess
Andy Childs
Andy Childs has had a career in the music business spanning four decades, beginning as editor of Zigzag magazine and currently as a consultant to several artists and
record labels. Music and literature have always been his
joint passions and he continues to pursue projects that
combine both worlds.
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Stephen Cracknell
Aaron Fletcher
Silver Raven: Ever since I first heard this song it has held
an intense fascination for me. Its all about contrasts, with
the simple driving repetition of the country style acoustic
guitar contrasting with the spaced out psychedelic tones
of the slide guitar. The song builds and builds become
ever more intense and Clarks voice begins to soar, but as
he does the lyric becomes ever darker and more hesitant.
And when he sings Have you seen the silver raven / she
has wings that barely gleam / They barely gleam they
barely glimmer the genius of the song for me is clear. Its
that use of the word barely. In that one word he sums all
the fragile beauty of the natural world in danger. Theres
no moral conclusion to the song, just a sense of wonder,
struggle and fragility. Recurring notions in the wonderful music that Gene Clark made.
So You Say You Lost Your Baby: Ive got a comp called
Collectors Series: Early LA Sessions. The wonderful sleeve
notes talk about how this was a bunch of recordings that
were way ahead of their time. A period of regeneration
in rock and roll, where the creative London sound of the
sixties was being caught up and arguably bettered by the
Los Angeles sound so true. For me Gene Clarks sound
is like honey, it dont go bad.
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Bobby Gillespie
Primal Scream frontman
Barney Hoskyns
Writer, editor of Rocks Backpages
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Martin Kelly
Co-founder Heavenly Recordings.
Co-author Fender: the Golden Age
I grew up on a staple diet of Beatles records that my parents had kicking around the house so when my older
brother Paul got me into Bob Dylan at 15 it was a logical
move to check out the Byrds. In a pre CD, pre internet
1981 you couldnt buy the groups individual albums, let
alone download them and all that was available in my
local record store was The Best of the Byrds a single vinyl
14 track compilation.
That summer, that record blew me away and had a
huge influence on forming a band of my own. The stand
out track for me wasnt a Dylan cover or anything by
guitarists Roger McGuinn and David Crosby but a song
by Gene Clark titled Ill Feel a Whole Lot Better. Finding
information or even pictures of the band in the early 80s
was tough but I soon realised that Clark was the tall sultry tambourine player one cool motherfucker and the
groups main songwriter during his short stint with them.
Years of crate digging ensued as I gathered up every record by the Byrds and in turn even harder to find solo
albums by Gene with the Gosdin Brothers and Doug Dillard. It was the start of a fantastic voyage of discovery
that led me down many musical avenues and to meet
like minded souls most of whom have remained friends
for life.
Gene was an amazing songwriter who fused folk with
baroque pop, country and bluegrass. He wrote the most
poetic, haunting lyrics that stay with you long after the music ends. He sang with a heartfelt tenderness on songs like
She Dont Care About Time, Spanish Guitar and American Dreamer that one rarely hears in recorded music.
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It seems hard to believe that its 20 years since hearing the news of Genes death, a tragic and untimely loss.
I listen to his music often and it still gets me in a way that
no one else does. Like his friend and band mate Michael
Clarke this Byrd has flown but his legacy certainly lives on.
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Gerry Love
Musician, songwriter, Teenage Fanclub
Although I dont remember the exact date, I do remember, quite clearly, the moment I first heard a Gene Clark
record. I was visiting Eugene Kellys flat above the old
Canton Express on Sauchiehall Street on a classic midsummer evening in 1992, during one of those four hour
slow motion sunsets that occasionally unfold in the west
of Scotland. It was back in the time of grunge, and I was
slouching on the living room floor, 24 years old, with
the back of my head resting against the sofa. There was
smoke hanging in the air, a window was open, and outside Glasgow was gilded in that glorious transformative
light, the type of light that you hope for all through the
dark gloomy stretches of winter. There were a few of us
there, having a smoke, listening to some records before
we headed out for a drink at The Griffin. Eugenes flatmate, Richard, who was the guitar player with Perspex
Whiteout, said he had something he thought I might
like. After shuffling through a pile of CDs, he handed me
the cover of Roadmaster, placed the CD on the tray and
pressed play.
After a couple of empty seconds, Shes The Kind
of Girl began with its understated gentle stress on the
one: no big hyped beginning, no crashing cymbals, no
power chords; just a softly played hi-hat, a couple of
mellow-toned lightly tremeloed electric guitars, and a
rooted easy bass. The flute and the conga followed on
the two, weaving their way through the air of the studio, through the smoke in the living room, and into the
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Gary Lucas
Guitarist, composer, songwriter who played with Beefheart for five years in the Magic Band of the 80s. He plays
on Ice Cream for Crow. Also co-wrote Grace and Mojo Pin
with Jeff Buckley
Gene Clark to me is a largely unsung American treasure, a maverick who unfortunately as is often the case
with mavericks should be a lot better known, eclipsed
as he was in the public eye by Roger McGuinn and David Crosby despite a slew of excellent solo releases and
various collaborations (of which my favourites are the
albums he made with Doug Dillard). He epitomised in
both his chiseled good looks and forceful baritone the
rugged individualism of the Great Plains of America
from whence he sprang the first time I set eyes on The
Byrds on a TV appearance on Hullabaloo in 1965. Ill
Feel a Whole Lot Better is one of Genes earliest shining moment where it all came together in a beautiful
memorable song penned by him (which includes perhaps the earliest usage of the phrase putting me on
pre-dating Dylans Highway 61 Revisited Gene Clark
was a fantastic lyricist). He stands out from the swirl
of the go-go dancers iconic, towering over his band
mates even though he is hunching down to their height
to project an image of solidarity with the group immoveable, oblivious to the commotion around him, just
standing and delivering a classic song sincerely without
affected posing. I Knew Id Want You is another early Gene Clark masterpiece, the flip of Mr Tambourine
Man which the Moody Blues later appropriated most of
the chords and feel of for Nights in White Satin. And
of course he wrote and sang the blissful She Dont Care
About Time, the flip of Turn Turn Turn, with its Bachi36
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Craig Leon
Rich Machin
An American born record producer, composer and arranger, currently living in the English countryside, he
produced early recordings by the Ramones, Blondie and
Suicide but these days focuses on classical composition
and orchestration.
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Andrew Male
Deputy editor Mojo magazine
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Kris Needs
Creator of the Dirty Water compilation series
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Richard Norris
Musician and writer living in Lewes, Sussex. His projects
include The Grid, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve and The
Time and Space Machine
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Carla Olson
Kevin Pearce
Set You Free This Time: Its easy to forget that, for a
teenager in the early 80s, there was so little old music instantly available. So an LP of The Byrds Original Singles
196567 was a revelation in that Postcard-coloured age.
And Gene Clark singing Set You Free This Time was the
song I kept coming back to, because of the ache in his
voice. Id play that song, and The Kinks Set Me Free,
over and over, lost in melancholy daydreams. And Ive
kept that song of Genes close to my heart, maybe for the
line: I have never been so far out in front that I could
ever ask for what I want and have it any time
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Andy Roberts
Jim Sclavunos
Andy Roberts is a guitarist/songwriter who worked regularly with Roger McGough and was a founder member of
The Liverpool Scene in 1968. Hes recorded a number of
solo albums, including two for Elektra and also founded
Plainsong with Iain Matthews
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James Skelly
Neville Skelly
Musician, songwriter
Ill Feel a Whole Lot Better: Its class, a perfect pop tune.
I love its simplicity and that you cant help yourself singing along to it.
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John Tobler
John York
A key chronicler of American music for Zigzag, and numerous other magazines, Tobler has also supplied liner
notes for countless reissues. He currently runs the Road
Goes On Forever label in Tyneside, England.
John York replaced Chris Hillman in the Byrds in September 1968 and played on the Ballad Of Easy Rider and Dr
Byrds & Mr Hyde albums. He toured regularly with Gene
Clark in the 80s
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