Their music bridged the gaps between the socially and spiritually conscious folk music of Bob Dylan, the studio trickery of The Beach Boys, and the sardonic rock of The Beatles. Some of their trademark songs include pop versions of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger’s Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season), and the originals I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, and Eight Miles High. Throughout their career they helped forge such subgenres as folk rock, raga rock, psychedelic rock, jangle pop, and – on their 1968 classic Sweetheart of the Rodeo – country rock inviting Gram Parsons on rhythm guitar.
The original and most successful lineup consisted of Chris Hillman, David Crosby, Michael Clarke, Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark. After several line-up changes (with lead singer/guitarist McGuinn as the only consistent member), they broke up in 1973.
In 1991 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and several band members launched successful solo careers after leaving the group. The most successful was David Crosby who was inducted again for his work with Crosby, Stills & Nash. Other than The Beatles, the only artist with all members inducted twice are, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
If You're Gone
The Byrds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If I have you, if I love you just the same
If you're here, the night is rightly gone before
If you're gone, I'll see the daylight and that's all
If I stand on understanding what is now
If I ever need someone to show me how
If the daylight can be hidden by the sun
If you're gone, then I know I will need someone
If I find the things you are then anywhere
If I know you, I may never know your name
If you're gone, then there is nothing that remains
The Byrds' "If You're Gone" is a meditative song about the importance of having someone to depend on. The song suggests that the singer is lost without the person he is singing about, and that life would not be worth living if that person was gone. The first lines, "If I need you, it's to me you're everything / If I have you, if I love you just the same," suggest that the person the singer is addressing is the most important thing in his life. The next line, "If you're here, the night is rightly gone before," suggests that when the person is with him, he is happy and fulfilled.
However, the song takes a melancholy turn in the chorus when the singer sings, "If you're gone, I'll see the daylight and that's all / If you're gone, then I know I will need someone." Here, the singer reveals that he is lost without the person he is singing about, and that he needs someone to guide him through life when that person is not around. The final lines, "If I know you, I may never know your name / If you're gone, then there is nothing that remains," suggest that even though the singer knows the person intimately, he may never truly know their name, and that without them, everything in life is meaningless.
In summary, "If You're Gone" is a song about the importance of having someone to depend on and how lost we can feel without them. The song suggests that even though we may never truly know the people we love, they are still the most important things in our lives, and without them, there is nothing that remains.
Line by Line Meaning
If I need you, it's to me you're everything
You are everything to me if I need you
If I have you, if I love you just the same
I love you just the same if I have you
If you're here, the night is rightly gone before
When you're here, the night seems to end quickly and rightly
If you're gone, I'll see the daylight and that's all
If you're gone, the only thing I'll see is daylight
If I stand on understanding what is now
I stand on my understanding of the present
If I ever need someone to show me how
If I ever need help understanding something
If the daylight can be hidden by the sun
Even the brightest things can be overshadowed
If you're gone, then I know I will need someone
If you're gone, I'll need someone to lean on
If I love you, if I know how much I care,
If I love you and know how much I care
If I find the things you are then anywhere
If I find someone with the same qualities as you
If I know you, I may never know your name
I may never learn your name, even if I know you
If you're gone, then there is nothing that remains
If you're gone, there is nothing else left
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Songtrust Ave
Written by: GENE CLARK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
psychoprosthetic
I think there are errors in the lyric listed above. I'd suggest:
If I need you, to me you're everything
If I have you, if I love you, just the same
If you're here the night is rightly gone before
If you're gone I'll see the daylight in, that's all
If I stand on understanding what is now
If I ever need someone to show me how
If the daylight can be hidden by the sun
If you're gone then I'll know why - with someone
If I love you, if I know how much I care
If I find the things you wanted anywhere
If I know you I may never know your name
If you're gone then there is nothing that remains
Edward Sabol
The only reason I'm commenting is that I believe this song has one of the greatest two lines in the music of this time and especially shows Gene Clark as a master poet and lyricist... "If you're here the night is likely going to fall... If you're gone I'll see the daylight dim that's all".
Pat Downs
Almost every line in this song is like that: brilliant composition.
Linda Hartman
Gene's voice and delivery was incredible. RIP
Boz Ajanovich
Bless him indeed. :) The Byrds management made him leave the band, they wanted McGuinn as the lead singer of their major hits. McGuinn could never really sing that well imo.
jenny_jenny_nc
+Linda Hartman Bless him ♥
Kimberly Mayfield
RIP in peace Gene Clark all of your songs are masterpieces.
Max Merry
As the years pass, Byrds aficionados find more unfamiliarity in the familiar... one of the most startling aspects of Byrds music! Lyrically, this song, in particular, is light years ahead of many of the Byrds' peers in the mid-60s. Yet, at the time, it seemed to me just another doleful love-song. Hell, I was 13/14... what did I know? I return to this album more frequently than their first, partly due to the delights of the 1996 CD reissue where hitherto overlooked nuances reveal more of the group's depth. Gene's vocal anticipates Michael Stipe, to these ears anyway. McGuinn's guitar work is some of his best, restrained and tastefully done. The drone that provides the backdrop is haunting, evocative, even mystical, and was used by McGuinn in later recordings like Bad Night At The Whiskey and the alternative reading of All The Things. Whew! I could go on...and on... and on....
roger murray
Little more gruffness in Michael's voice but both brilliant singers/composers. The Byrds had as many productive years as REM had decades of the same. Don't have to look any further than the spitey, despicable persoalities of the two leaders in The Byrds for the explanation as to why that was.
Max Merry
Thanks for your reply! Glad you agree re Stipe. Thought I might have been a lone voice!
John Clark
Max Merry Well said. This does sound like a 1980s REM song.