No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: “Mr. Tambourine” by the Byrds

June 26, 1965 - Hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 today was “Mr. Tambourine Man,” a recording by the Byrds of a Bob Dylan composition. Dylan’s song has four verses, of which the Byrds only used the second for their recording.

“Mr. Tambourine Man” was composed in early 1964, at the same approximate time as “Chimes of Freedom,” which Dylan recorded later that spring for his album “Another Side of Bob Dylan.” Dylan began writing “Mr. Tambourine Man” in February 1964, after attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans, during a cross-country road trip with several friends, and completed it sometime between the middle of March and late April of that year after he had returned to New York.

The Byrds’ version of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was recorded on January 20 at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, before the release of Dylan’s own version on his album, “Bringing It All Back Home.”

Due to producer Terry Melcher’s initial lack of confidence in the Byrds’ musicianship, as a result of them not having gelled musically yet, Jim McGuinn was the only Byrd to play on both “Mr. Tambourine Man” and its B-side, “I Knew I’d Want You.” Rather than using band members, Melcher hired the Wrecking Crew, a collection of top L.A. session musicians who (with McGuinn on guitar) provided the backing track over which McGuinn, David Crosby, and Gene Clark sang.

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