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.
The World Turns All Around Her
The Byrds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And if you think she's everything that could be
Well I still think the world turns all around her
And I still wish that she belonged to me
I don't know how I ever could thought that
I'd let her go and still be just the same
But I found out my world turned all around her
And every where I go I hear her name
I thought that I would want to let her go
But now whenever I see her with you I
Realize how much I didn't know
So if you tell her everyday you love her
And if you tell her everything she could be
You'll find out that your world will turn around her
You'll feel the same if you should set her free
The lyrics to The Byrds' song The World Turns All Around Her explore the themes of unrequited love and the realization of one's true feelings. The singer initially believes that the person they love is everything they could want or need, yet despite this, they can't help but feel like the world revolves around their love interest. The singer wishes that their love interest belonged to them, expressing a deep-seated desire for them. However, they also acknowledge that they were foolish for ever thinking they could let go of someone who means so much to them. Everywhere the singer goes, they hear their love interest's name, which only serves to reinforce their feelings.
As the song progresses, the singer reflects on the fact that they let their love interest go in the first place, and how much they didn't know or understand at the time. They realize that they weren't aware of their true feelings, and that they desperately want their love interest back.
The final lines of the song are a warning to the current love interest, urging them to cherish and appreciate the person they have. The singer suggests that the love interest will find their world turning around their partner, and that they will feel the same sense of longing if they should ever lose them.
Overall, The World Turns All Around Her is a poignant exploration of unrequited love, the pain of realizing one's true feelings too late, and the power of love to shape one's worldview.
Line by Line Meaning
Well if you think she's everything you could want
If you believe that she is the perfect person for you
And if you think she's everything that could be
If you believe that she has all the qualities you desire in a person
Well I still think the world turns all around her
I believe that everything in the world revolves around her and she is the center of attention
And I still wish that she belonged to me
I still desire to have her as my own
I don't know how I ever could thought that
I do not understand why I ever thought that I could let her go
I'd let her go and still be just the same
I believed that I could let her go and my life would continue as normal
But I found out my world turned all around her
But I realized that everything in my world revolved around her and she was the most important thing in my life
And every where I go I hear her name
I am reminded of her everywhere I go and her name is constantly on my mind
Somewhere along the way I don't know why
At some point in time, for reasons unknown to me
I thought that I would want to let her go
I believed that I would be content with letting her go
But now whenever I see her with you I
But now, every time I see her with you
Realize how much I didn't know
I realize how little I understood about my feelings and how much I truly want her
So if you tell her everyday you love her
If you express your love to her every day
And if you tell her everything she could be
And if you help her to realize her full potential
You'll find out that your world will turn around her
You will discover that everything in your world will revolve around her
You'll feel the same if you should set her free
You will understand how I feel if you were to let her go
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: GENE CLARK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Vito Tuxedo
Arman Ahari: Paul Maney is effusing his praise for a band whose music he loves, that’s all. It’s a personal preference, and therefore subject to a certain amount of hyperbole. It’s just the way people are about things they really like, I guess you haven’t figured that out yet.
The term “The Greatest...(anything)” is undefined, and therefore it’s nonsense. YouTube videos and comments are full of that particular abuse of the language.
IOW, it comes with the territory. If you’re inclined to let yourself get sucked into arguments over such semantic entropy, you’re in for a perpetual state of verbal warfare. Arguing about terms that you haven’t defined is an exercise in futility.
It’s your choice, of course, but repeating and perpetuating the semantic chaos resolves nothing. You can assert that The Beach Boys are “the greatest”, but you won’t have helped anyone understand what you mean. You’re not communicating.
Your comment, “Never understood the appeal” is fair enough. There are many bands about which I have the same opinion. For whatever reason, their music just doesn’t resonate. There’s no need to belittle them, or the folks who like their music. Musical taste is subjective. So far, so good.
The point where you lose credibility is where you degenerate into deprecating The Byrds in order to elevate your own opinion of The Beach Boys via a crude comparison with crap. If you have to tear someone else down to bolster your position, it’s not much of a position.
Smufter16
The song is so full of beauty and light that it makes me cry with joy. Majestically BEAUTIFUL!!!
notrombones
Great tune. Great harmonies. Classic.
And the Rickenbacker sounds marvelous!
John in Poughkeepsie
Two Ricks onn this one.
thefireorgan
Props to Gene Clark. Also, props to David Crosby for his amazing vocal harmony contribution (as always)!
terry hughes
Awsome song!,,bring back The Byrds,the world would be a better place with this kind of music.
Sam Re
This band was the Beatles competition.
Sam Re
A ridiculously good song and performance.
roger murray
Crosby took the worst job demotion in the history of rock by teaming up with a couple of Buffalo Springfields and a Hollie. He was overwhelmed in the songwriting department and buried in the mix as a performer. What The Byrds brought out in him was to emphasize again and again that he was absolutely the greatest high harmony vocalist in the history of rock music. Of that I'm sure every recording studio he ever worked in would agree. RIP Gene Clark.
Daniel Blore singer/songwriter
This song is a masterpiece..love gene...one of my favourite singer/songwriters..genius!!!
Gonzalo Páez Martínez
You summed all it up!