THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,430) The Byrds — Everybody’s Been Burned”
This ’67 B-side (to “So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star”) and track on Younger Than Yesterday is David Crosby’s “ravishing ballad[]” (David Fricke, liner notes to the CD reissue of Younger Than Yesterday) and his “crowning achievement as a singer-songwriter” (davesigmon8144, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Uh8933Jvs&pp=ygUjRXZlcnlib2R54oCZcyBiZWVuIGJ1cm5lZCB0aGUgYnlyZHM%3D), with a “spine-tingling” guitar solo by Roger McGuinn and “compelling” bass by Chris Hillman (Johnny Rogan, additional liner notes to the CD reissue), “a masterpiece of psychedelic folk-rock highlighted by [Crosby’s] exquisite, crooning hippie vocals and drowsy acid guitar work”. (streetmouse, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the-byrds/so-you-want-to-be-a-rock-n-roll-star-everybodys-been-burned/)
Thomas Ward writes:
One of the most haunting songs in The Byrds’ catalogue, and one of David Crosby’s finest compositions, [it] contains a melody, lyric and arrangement in perfect synthesis. Lyrically, it’s typical Crosby – unspecific, vague yet beautiful – “Everybody knows and me/I know that door that shuts just before/You get to the dream you see”. The music is similarly gentle, with a gorgeous, Eastern sounding guitar part from McGuinn and some great bass playing from Chris Hillman. However, it’s David Crosby that’s the star of the show – his vocal is tender, searching and immaculate. Arguably the highlight of Younger Than Yesterday.
https://www.allmusic.com/song/everybodys-been-burned-mt0040967564
Ross Palmer:
[It] had . . . been written as far back as 1962 in Crosby’s folk-club days . . . and had been demoed several times already for previous Byrds records. . . . [T]he take that made its way on to Younger than Yesterday is among the very best things the band ever did, with one of Crosby’s finest vocals, and instrumental performances by McGuinn and Hillman of intuitive genius. It’s not exactly jazz, but the sensibility is close – Hillman seems less concerned with what Crosby’s chords are than he is with burrowing down deep into the song’s emotional core. . . . [I]n terms of empathy and understanding with a singer and songwriter, this is Hillman’s most shining moment as a bass player . . . .
https://songsfromsodeep.wordpress.com/tag/everybodys-been-burned/
Here’s Crosby’s demo:
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