Before “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, The Byrds Were About to Cover Another Bob Dylan Song Before It Was Ultimately Rejected

As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, which might have been how The Byrds felt after two successful singles, both of which Bob Dylan penned. In the summer of 1965, the American rock band was looking to recreate the success of “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “All I Really Want to Do”, and, unsurprisingly, they considered the idea of keeping up their tradition of using Dylan songs. After all, it worked twice already.

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The Byrds were eyeballing “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, a song from Dylan’s fifth studio album, Bringing It All Back Home, which Dylan released in March of that year. The American rock band tried to record their rendition of this classic Dylan track multiple times, but in the end, they scrapped the idea. Instead, they opted for a song that one of Dylan’s musical mentors, Pete Seeger, wrote: “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Of course, history would show that The Byrds made the right choice in the end.

The Seeger tune became one of The Byrds’ biggest hits. The title track to the band’s second album topped the U.S. and New Zealand charts and reached No. 3 in Canada and No. 8 in Germany. Making the feat all the more impressive, The Byrds cut and released “Turn! Turn! Turn!” as a single in just around a month.

Why The Byrds Chose Pete Seeger Over Bob Dylan

While one could hardly blame The Byrds for perusing the Bob Dylan catalogue for another hit, the band’s decision to look elsewhere for a single helped solidify their status as folk-rock pioneers. By covering a Pete Seeger folk standard, The Byrds were able to prove that it wasn’t just Dylan’s music they could revamp into something distinctly their own. And indeed, they were never so sure of this ability to transform the folk tradition into something new, exciting, and electric in the 60s than they were during an improvised jam on “Turn! Turn! Turn!” mid-tour.

According to Johnny Rogan’s biography of The Byrds, Jim McGuinn played a cover of “Turn! Turn! Turn!” while traveling through the Midwest with the band and their partners. McGuinn’s version had a distinct rock ‘n’ roll edge that everyone on the bus noticed. Around that time, the band was already aware that their versions of Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” weren’t working. This Seeger standard seemed like a suitable replacement, and the rest is folk-rock history.

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