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The Byrds — All I Really Want To Do
Album: Younger Than Yesterday
Avg rating:
6.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1172









Released: 1967
Length: 1:59
Plays (last 30 days): 0
I ain't lookin' to compete with you
Beat or cheat or mistreat you
Simplify you, pacify you
Deny, defy, or crucify you
All I really want to do
Is baby be friends with you

No, I ain't lookin' to fight with you
Frighten you or uptighten you
Drag you down or bring you down
Chain you down or bring you down
All I really want to do
Is baby be friends with you

I don't want to fake you out
Take or shake or forsake you out
I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me
See like me or be like me

I don't want to meet your kin
Make you spin or do you in
Or select you or dissect you
Or inspect you or reject you
All I really want to do
Is baby be friends with you
Baby be friends with you
Baby be friends with you
Comments (87)add comment
Goodbye, David Crosby.  Passed January 19, 2023.

https://tinyurl.com/23hrft7e
Super......super.....super.....group!  A TWENTY!
If he really just wanted to be friends, he wouldn't have written a song.
Life Pro Tip: When wooing a potential girlfriend, itemize in lengthy detail all the ways you could hurt her, but you are choosing not to.
 
Also 1:59 playtime?  Holy crap, that's shorter than Del Amitri's "Roll To Me" at 2:12.
fucking awful
The Byrds / One of Tom Petty's Major influences 
 nance wrote:
great song.....I like the Byrds but seems like their biggest hits were Bob's songs
 

It's not a bad business plan.  When you recognize that your generation has one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and that said songwriter is pretty commonly disregarded for poor singing (not my opinion, just the common perception in pop culture), recycling his songs to sound... ahh... easier on the ears... is a great idea!  It worked for them, for sure.
Would rather hear Bob's.
 nance wrote:
great song.....I like the Byrds but seems like their biggest hits were Bob's songs
 

Not completely true.  Yes, many of their best sellers were a la Dylan. (Which amused Dylan a lot, since he and the song publishers made more money on the covers than they did...) But  Turn Turn Turn originated in the Bible (and the song is a classic in its own right, a high point of the '60s tune scape).  So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star was theirs/McGuinn, as was Eight Miles High.   And if you mean that their best songs were Dylan's, no, they wrote quite a good inventory of great and well known tunes in-house. 
 ExploitingChaos wrote:
Man do I love the Byrds...

That style of guitar playing must have WOWED people back then, I know it WOWS me now 
 

It did!
I think the pictured album (Greatest Hits)  was my first album purchase.
 michaelc wrote:
you just got moved to the friend zone.
 
hahahahaha
 wgsu_1978 wrote:
The Byrds could do bubblegum with the best of them.
 
here's some bubble
It's good that he reassured the "baby" about all the nasty shit he doesn't want to do. Seems like the basis of a solid friendship!
Man do I love the Byrds...

That style of guitar playing must have WOWED people back then, I know it WOWS me now 
you just got moved to the friend zone.
Dylan cover band?
"All I really want to doooooOOOOOO0000000 is play something different...."
great song.....I like the Byrds but seems like their biggest hits were Bob's songs
or ones with Gram Parsons
 wgsu_1978 wrote:
The Byrds could do bubblegum with the best of them.
 
I think some of the others did it better, but most other bubblegum bands thought better of doing covers of about twenty different Dylan songs.
The Byrds could do bubblegum with the best of them.
'login' worthy
 hippiechick wrote:
Another great Dylan tune covered by a great band. Don't we love the jangly 6-string? If I am not mistaken, I believe the Turtles covered this as well. 

 
Well, Roger played a 12-string Rickenbacker, acquired shortly after the group saw A Hard Day's Night. (And Lennon had bought his after seeing a photo of "Toots" Thielemans holding his, when the latter was with the George Shearing Orchestra.)

I don't know about the Turtles, but Sonny & Cher covered this song. 
Their harmony was incredible, and whether you like him as a person or not, David Crosby looms huge in making that harmony what it is.
 kcar wrote:
Sounding a little too earnest and twee at 4 am...

 
Too sincere?  It doesn't sound that way to me, more the opposite.


Ah...thanks for the nostalgia ...a cute and jingly of the great Bob's work
WOW--that takes me back to junior high, when I spent a lot of hours listening to my transistor radio!
 ChrisInSeattle wrote:
Wow, before today I've only known the version by World Party on Private Revolution. Never knew it was a cover.

 
Everything old is new again. 
Sounding a little too earnest and twee at 4 am...
Another great Dylan tune covered by a great band. Don't we love the jangly 6-string? If I am not mistaken, I believe the Turtles covered this as well. 
Wow, before today I've only known the version by World Party on Private Revolution. Never knew it was a cover.
This should totally be reworked as "God's Response" for Monty Python's prayer song from Meaning Of Life:

I ain't lookin' to burn you / Grill you or toast you or barbecue you / Bake you or boil you or fricasse you or roast you / Simmer you or braise you without fat / All I really want to do is, baby, sa-a-a-ave you

 tinamarie wrote:
Did Sonny Bono write this, Or did Cher just happen to record it alongside The Byrds?
 
My pal Google says Dylan wrote and recorded it first. This is a cover.
Very cool. 
Wish you could have been there too then you would understand.
15

How does new music enter the playlist if there are just using play listes from years ago?? Does anyone know?
Nina Simone - I Shall Be Released   ==>    
Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson   ==>    
The Byrds - All I Really Want To Do   ==>  
Solas - Dignity   ==>  
Ian Brown - Time Is Everything   ==> 
Calexico - Sirena   ==>  
Bob Marley - Forever Loving Jah  ==> 
Jackson Browne - For Everyman   ==>  
Pops Staples - World In Motion   ==>  
War - Slippin' Into Darkness   ==>  
Benise - Samba Samba   ==>  
Super Furry Animals - Moped Eyes   ==>  
Mazzy Star - I've Been Let Down   ==>  
Antje Duvekot - Dandelion   ==>  
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue.  

how old is this play list from 2009??

Nice set this morning!
 midreaming wrote:
or not.. ok, how a bout Sonny Bono song?
 
Heard "The Beat Goes On" the other day...hard to believe that Sonny and Cher were regarded as hippies when they first came up...From Wikipedia: "The two became a quick sensation, dressed in animal skins with Bono wearing knee high caveman boots and Cher going barefoot."
 midreaming wrote:

omg.. did sonny bono write this.? geessh, nevermind.. hey bill, why doncha just play a Dylan song by Dylan and get it over with?

  or not.. ok, how a bout Sonny Bono song?


 tinamarie wrote:
Love it - I'm 12 years old again! Did Sonny Bono write this, Or did Cher just happen to record it alongside The Byrds?
 
omg.. did sonny bono write this.? geessh, nevermind.. hey bill, why doncha just play a Dylan song by Dylan and get it over with?

Love it - I'm 12 years old again! Did Sonny Bono write this, Or did Cher just happen to record it alongside The Byrds?
And suddenly I'm transported back to high school!

{#Confused}
Great song! Not their best, but a good'n!
 Exene wrote:
Me too - I'm a sucker for that every time! More jangle!

"In my opinion, the Byrds' sound would have been impossible without the invention of the Rickenbacker twelve string electric guitar." — Roger McGuinn.

Rickenbacher

 peter_james_bond wrote:
I love the birds jangly Rickenbacher guitar sound...awesome!
 
Me too - I'm a sucker for that every time! More jangle!

Nina Simone - I Shall Be Released   ==>    
Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson   ==>    
The Byrds - All I Really Want To Do   ==>  
Solas - Dignity   ==>  
Ian Brown - Time Is Everything   ==> 
Calexico - Sirena   ==>  
Bob Marley - Forever Loving Jah  ==> 
Jackson Browne - For Everyman   ==>  
Pops Staples - World In Motion   ==>  
War - Slippin' Into Darkness   ==>  
Benise - Samba Samba   ==>  
Super Furry Animals - Moped Eyes   ==>  
Mazzy Star - I've Been Let Down   ==>  
Antje Duvekot - Dandelion   ==>  
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue.  



Nina Simone's I Shall Be Released - Wonderful version of one of the best Bob tune's ever

Byrds version of All I Really Want to Do - Dated version of one of the least Bob tune's ever
Sorry, but this is so cleanwashed in comparison to the original.
I love the birds jangly Rickenbacher guitar sound...awesome!
love their Dylan covers, especially My Back Pages.
{#Daisy}

Not their best, but no-one could do jangly guitar quite like the Byrds.
 ndad47 wrote:
cheese takes time to age.  these lyrics were really relevant when they were written.  we have made them trite over time.  it's kind of like Frankenstein.  Frankenstein was really scary when the movie first came out.  over time the monster has become an object of ridicule.
 

Up With People!   Context matters, for sure.  {#Yes}
cheese takes time to age.  these lyrics were really relevant when they were written.  we have made them trite over time.  it's kind of like Frankenstein.  Frankenstein was really scary when the movie first came out.  over time the monster has become an object of ridicule.
This song and style fit in perfectly in the time period and the pop songs. Great early Byrds.
Did The Who rip off this song with Mary Ann With the Shaky Hand?
This one never did it for me. Just too cloyingly sweet a rendition. If they weren't wearing the cool shades, they might have been mistaken for Harper's Bizarre. The Byrds broke new ground and had great harmonies, but "My Back Pages" is the only Dylan cover of theirs I've ever felt had any real bite.
Not the best song on the album. Other's more worthwhile dipping into... Overall, one of the best albums as a whole - This song equates to me like Aerosmith's Big 10" :P - It gets all the play, but the rest of the stuff on the collection's much better... Yep, it's the worst on the album... I had a Rickenbacher 12 that I used as a 6. Very thin necks for the time, using 2 rods, not one - Nice guitar - thinnest for the era. Older style pickups eventually worn out. The new stuff's much better, but I did not replace them with modern pickups - I'd use a fuzz box & a Crybaby to modify the sound & fill it out... Believe it or not, I did use a Treble booster on it for some leads! Screech your ears off. Take the simple trebly sound here, & boost it! :headache.gif:
trekhead wrote:
Cool. Like WP.
Cool indeed...
tomnam wrote:
World Party does a pretty niffty version of this song....
Cool. Like WP.
World Party does a pretty niffty version of this song....
Eul0gy wrote:
cheese is cheese no matter whos mind it originated from. listening to this makes me want to find a random hippie (past or present) and punch him/her in the face.
Hmmm . . . I think you need to change your location to read: "A little bit to the right." P.S. Better make it "A little bit to the far right"
I've just got to say, for all those Dylan-bashers out there, that this song is the palest of comparisons to the original. Dylan conveys so much more energy and brightness with his young voice than all the tinny treble of the Byrds. They remain a gaping hole in my appreciation of classic rock.
lily34 wrote:
Yeah, i can kind of see why you say that... i like both songs. they both remind me of the same past love.
I wonder if that connection might be in the sound... I see it, and I believe it might have something to do with Rickenbacher guitars.
Hummingbird wrote:
Hold it there. You can call Dylan's lyrics many things, but not cheesy! ;-)
cheese is cheese no matter whos mind it originated from. listening to this makes me want to find a random hippie (past or present) and punch him/her in the face.
Sicamic wrote:
Does this remind anyone else of that track off of the WHo Sell Out Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand? Perhaps the other way around...
Yeah, i can kind of see why you say that... i like both songs. they both remind me of the same past love.
Platypus wrote:
easily the cheesiest lyrics i have ever heard in my entire life its like a nightmarish pickup line from a bad 70s movie.
Hold it there. You can call Dylan's lyrics many things, but not cheesy! ;-) The Byrds version is fine but the one that really blew me out of my socks was the original, with Dylan yodeling "All I really wanna do-ooo". One of the many highlights from Another Side!
a sixties classic
Joyfulchristine wrote:
Huh. This is my first time hearing this song, and I was waiting for them to sing, "All I wanna do is make love with you." What a pleasant surprise that they just want to be friends! :)
Oh, you are so young, aren't you...
easily the cheesiest lyrics i have ever heard in my entire life its like a nightmarish pickup line from a bad 70s movie.
Huh. This is my first time hearing this song, and I was waiting for them to sing, \"All I wanna do is make love with you.\" What a pleasant surprise that they just want to be friends! :)
Originally Posted by red: BYRDS!
no red, it's THE BYRDS
ok the byrds man...yeah the byrds...YEAH THE BYRDS!
BYRDS!
the byrds are the best. all their music is great. truly a ground breaking band.