If You're Gone (The Byrds song)

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"If You're Gone"
Song by the Byrds
from the album Turn! Turn! Turn!
ReleasedDecember 6, 1965
RecordedOctober 20, 1965,
Studio Columbia Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre Folk rock
Length2:45
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Gene Clark
Producer(s) Terry Melcher

"If You're Gone" is a song written by Gene Clark that was first released on the Byrds' 1965 album Turn! Turn! Turn! .

Contents

Music and lyrics

"If You're Gone" is one of several songs written by Clark whose lyrics reveal his emotional insecurity and vulnerability. [1] [2] Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the melody as rising and falling gracefully but music critic Johnny Rogan feels it lacks the "melodic grace" of some of Clark's other compositions. [1] [2] It uses a triple meter, with a snare drum accent on the first beat of every other bar. [3]

An unusual feature of the song is the harmony, in which a Gregorian chant-like vocal functions as a drone, sounding like an extra instrument similar to a bagpipe. [1] [4] Producer Terry Melcher credits Byrds' lead guitarist Roger McGuinn for coming up with the drone concept, stating that McGuinn "had this good idea for using a fifth harmony to create a droning effect, like that of a bagpipe or drum. On the album it really does sound like another instrument." [2] Byrds biographer Christopher Hjort describes the backing vocal as "choir-like." [5] Theodore Gracyk credits the song with being one of the first to use this type of effect, a few months after the Kinks uses a similar effect on their song "See My Friends." [6] Melcher later adapted this drone idea for the Byrds' 1969 single "Jesus Is Just Alright." [2]

Recording

"If You're Gone" was recorded on October 20, 1965, at Columbia Recording Studio A in Hollywood, California. [5] Melcher produced it and Hjort suggests that Ray Gerhardt was most likely the engineer. [5]

Reception

Greenwald describes "If You're Gone" as a "fine example of Gene Clark's growth as a songwriter." [1] Fellow Allmusic critic Richie Unterberger describes it as a "strong composition." [7] Clark biographer John Einarson described it as "indicative of [Clark's] expanding poetic vision" and one of the highlights of Turn! Turn! Turn!. [4] Rolling Stone Album Guide contributor Rob Sheffield particularly praised the song particularly for its "devastated drone." [8] Something Else! contributor Beverly Paterson described "If You're Gone" and another Clark composition on Turn! Turn! Turn!, "Set You Free This Time," as "stark ballads aching with regret." [9] The song has also been described as "a song wholly in the conditional tense, a maze of lines that lead nowhere at all, a pointlessly remarkable achievement." [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Greenwald, Matthew. "If You're Gone". Allmusic . Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rogan, Johnny (1997). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited. Rogan House. pp. 146, 301. ISBN   095295401X.
  3. Grier, James (2010). "Ego and Alter Ego". In Spicer, Mark S.; Covach, John R. (eds.). Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. University of Michigan Press. pp. 50–51, 60. ISBN   9780472034000.
  4. 1 2 Einarson, John (2005). Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark. Hal Leonard. pp. 80–81. ISBN   9780879307936.
  5. 1 2 3 Hjort, Christopher (2008). So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star. Jawbone. p. 69. ISBN   9781906002152.
  6. Gracyk, Theodore (2001). Wanna be Me: Rock Music and the Politics of Identity . Temple University Press. p.  251. ISBN   9781566399036.
  7. Unterberger, Richie. "Turn! Turn! Turn!". Allmusic . Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  8. Sheffield, Rob (2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Fireside. p.  126. ISBN   0743201698.
  9. Paterson, Beverly (November 12, 2015). "The Byrds' Turn! Turn! Turn! offered a message of hope in troubled times". Something Else!. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  10. Bowker, R.R (1972). The Library Journal Book Review. University of Michigan Press. ISBN   9780835206204.