A jingle-jangle look back with the Byrds

The Byrds would never be as popular as the Fab Four, but their sound -- driven by Roger McGuinn's jangly, 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, and the voices of McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman -- earned them an important moniker: the American Beatles. They're known for a range of work, from their electrified folk hits (``Turn! Turn! Turn!" and ``Mr. Tambourine Man") to their sonic experimentations, whether on the then-primitive Moog synthesizer or with country rock. Next week, Sony Legacy releases a four-disc set of the group's music, along with a DVD of television appearances. We spoke with former members and admirers about the Byrds, and put together this oral history of the band's rise, collapse, and early '70s rebirth:

Chris Hillman, bassist and singer: I came from a very traditional, roots-oriented and folk-music background. The other guys had more of a commercial, Kingston Trio background. If you saw the Chris Guest movie, ``A Mighty Wind," that's the kind of stuff the other guys played.

In 1965, Jim Dickson, hired to manage the band, wanted the Byrds to record ``Mr. Tambourine Man," a then-unreleased Bob Dylan song.

Jim Dickson , former manager: It had, to me, everything. It had all the pop things, plus it had great lyrics. It starts out with the name of the song, which you can't forget. And it had a phrase Johnny Mercer had used, ``jingle jangle." David [Crosby] was dead set against it. When I first brought it in, we started to rehearse it. David talked Gene [Clark], who was then the lead singer, out of doing it. He told him, ``Your songs are better than that." To everybody else, he said, ``Gene's songs are no good." When Gene wouldn't do it, McGuinn said, ``I'll try it."

On June 26, 1965, ``Mr. Tambourine Man" hits number one. A few months later, another Byrds cover, of Pete Seeger's ``Turn! Turn! Turn!," topped the charts.

Roger McGuinn, guitarist and singer: We were just kids on the street. Starving musicians, sort of, and we went from 0 to 60 in two seconds. It was just an amazing thrill to get a number one, to hang out with Dylan and beat the Beatles.

Success brought conflict. By 1966, Clark had left the band. Some speculate that the other Byrds were upset he was being paid more as the band's primary songwriter. Dickson also left.

Carla Olson, Texas singer who recorded with Clark in the 1980s: When they first got their publishing checks, everybody's check was like $6,000, and Gene's was 36 grand. So the hatred started pretty early.

Crosby left soon after, and McGuinn and Hillman hired a Southern-born Harvard dropout named Gram Parsons. In his short life, Parsons, who died of an overdose in 1973, would become famous for his recordings with Emmylou Harris and his friendship with the Rolling Stones. During his short tenure in the band, the Byrds recorded 1968's ``Sweetheart of the Rodeo" album, the first time a mainstream rock band embraced country music. Parsons was kicked out of the band when he refused to go on a tour.

Hillman: Bringing Gram in, hiring him as a sideman, gave us new blood. We were already old men, had gone around the block. Gram gave us a sense of energy.

McGuinn: (He had been asked to appear in a Gram Parsons documentary in recent years.) I declined. I didn't really want to be up there and say anything negative. [Pause] I liked him; actually, we got along fine. We rode motorcycles together and played pool and it was fine.

Hillman: Roger had a real bad experience with the Parsons family in that Gram's supposed daughter, Polly, hit everybody with a frivolous lawsuit about Gram being cheated out of his royalties. What Polly didn't know was that Gram was never a member of the Byrds. He was a hired hand, a sideman.

After Hillman left in 1968, the band's unsung hero became the late guitarist Clarence White, whose distinctive country and bluegrass style defined this later version of the Byrds.

John York, bassist, 1968-69: Roger was the guy who saw people come and go. It did have that feeling that you were stepping into a family business and he was that cornerstone.

Gene Parsons, drummer, 1968-72: We jumped into this band that was basically dying on the vine and we made it into the most popular live band of that time, of that era. And in large part because of Clarence White's phenomenal genius with the guitar.

McGuinn: When Clarence was touring with us, we'd go out onstage and just kill the audience and get three or four encores every night.

Parsons dismisses the new boxed set, arguing that the best material from White's Byrds tenure remains unreleased and in the possession of a former manager.

Parsons: He has the tapes and he's not going to let loose with them until there's an agreement that Clarence's estate be paid and [former member] Skip [Battin]'s estate be paid and I be paid. And the re-release of all this old stuff, why do it? It's just for the money.

McGuinn: [Gene Parsons] signed on as a sideman, a workman for hire when I engaged him in 1968. Chris Hillman and I had decided that we wouldn't have any new business partners after Gene Clark, David Crosby, and [original drummer] Michael Clarke had left. . . . The [ manager's] tapes are terrible sounding. I heard them a few years ago and refused to let Sony Legacy release them because of out-of-tune vocals.

In 1973, the Byrds broke up for good. Clark died in 1991; Clarke in 1993. McGuinn and Hillman insist the three living original Byrds will never get back together.

Hillman: I could retire on my net for six weeks of work. David would do it in a minute. He was saying, last time we talked about it, ``do it just for the music." But Roger didn't want to. Initially I was sort of upset because I like the music. Then I realized he was a little smarter than us. He said, ``two guys are gone, we don't look the same. We can perform the songs as good or a little better." But getting back together would open a door that's been shut.

McGuinn: I'm happy to leave it as a good memory. This is a wonderful body of work, and it's there on the four-CD set. Paul McCartney was once asked about reforming the Beatles, and he compared it to reheating a soufflé.

Five essential songs

``Eight Miles High," 1966. Thumping bass, Coltrane-inspired guitar licks, and those gorgeous harmonies. Hard to believe the Byrds were only months removed from ``Turn! Turn! Turn!"

``So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star," 1967. A major sign of Chris Hillman's emergence, it sarcastically chronicles manufactured fame, with mariachi trumpets.

``Goin' Back," 1968. David Crosby supposedly quit over this song. Good riddance. Chamber pop at its best.

``Positively 4th Street," 1970. This Dylan cover, recorded live, showcases guitarist Clarence White, a high point of the band's later incarnation.

``Full Circle," 1973. Often his own worst enemy, Gene Clark's the only Byrd who brought his best songs to the table for the group's now forgotten reunion album.

GEOFF EDGERS

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.