Song of the Day 8/17: Roger McGuinn, “Ballad of Easy Rider”
Actor Peter Fonda died yesterday at age 79, 50 years after the release of his most famous film project, “Easy Rider.”
Fonda asked Dylan to write the film’s theme song. Though Dylan declined, he did give Fonda a few lines on a napkin and told him, “Give this to McGuinn. He’ll know what to do with it.” Obviously, he did — he started with the words on the napkin, “The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that’s where I want to be/Flow, river, flow,” using it as the chorus and writing the music and the rest of the lyrics himself. Dylan was initially listed as the co-writer, but after seeing the film Dylan demanded his name be removed. Nobody really knows why.
The version used in the movie features just McGuinn on acoustic guitar and fellow Byrd Gene Parsons on harmonica.
The song was re-recorded with the full band and served as the title track of the next Byrds album.
Fonda actually recorded a single himself back in 1968, the Gram Parsons tune “November Nights.”
Fonda also inspired one of John Lennon’s best songs, “She Said, She Said,” when he told Lennon, during an LSD trip, “I know what it’s like to be dead,” referring to the time he accidentally shot himself on his 11th birthday.
