Gene Clark

I am currently in deep love with a man named Gene Clark. Yes deep love. I know I know--he died the year I was born--unfortunately. But his legacy lives on.

Who is Gene Clark you might ask? Well, personally I hope you do not ask this question. I hope that you already know that Gene Clark was one of the founding member of the infamous and amazing band The Byrds. That he wrote many songs in their early days, and along with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, created the sound that we all know and love--or at least you should know and love. But Gene Clark is often forgotten as he is the only original member deceased--but as he wrote the majority of their songs that they didn't cover (Bob Dylan wrote the other half) I think he deserves much credit to this amazing band--and I intend to give him just that.

My favorite songs by Gene Clark

I would have to begin with one of the Byrd's most famous songs "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better"--this song is just all around a great, fun song with some crazy vocal harmonies and a strong vocal lead by none other than Clark himself. This video is a rare gem from a live tv dance show in 1965. Gene is front and center! Great Version. Crazy dancing.

The next song I want to talk about would be a more unknown song called "If You're Gone." For some reason when I first heard this song, I was just struck by the vocals--they are sung so passionately and so believably. It is one of those songs that I just keep listening to and keep putting it on all of my ipod playlists. Beautiful. Follow the link to hear an sample mp3--unfortunately I couldn't find a full version online. But it's worth the download!

http://ilike.myspacecdn.com/play#The+Byrds:If+You%27re+Gone:257405:s28219803.8083252.14006272.0.1.78%2Cstd_63426c8bc0a917301255bf92d119d9e4

Lastly--and this is hard pick--I will talk about a Byrd's song that Clark sings with Crosby called "Here Without You." This is honestly one of my all time favorite Byrd's songs. It is just absolutely perfect in my opinion. The version that I prefer, is the one off of their preflyte album which is earlier than the one they released on Mr. Tambourine Man. Just because I am that obsessive, I am going to put both versions so you can decide for yourself which one you prefer. They're both great. The first is from Mr. Tambourine Man, and just happens to be a collage of who? Gene Clark? How fitting. And the second is from Preflyte--with a weird palate of colors. So enjoy!

The last thing I want to touch on pertaining to Gene Clark, because this cannot go unsaid considering it is the truth, is just how amazingly attractive he is? Can we all agree on this? I think we can.

                                  Yes. I think we can all strongly agree on this point.

There is so much more to be said about this talented musician--go check him out for yourself. I am sure that I will at some point in the future cover more ground on this man as well--so keep checking.

Thanks- Rockwell