The Bells Of Rhymney 📀 The Byrds {Stereo} 1965

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 20:02:53 +0000

1965......From the album "Mr. Tambourine Man". Recorded April 14, 1965 and released June 21, 1965.
Original video edited and remastered with HQ stereo sound.
"The Bells of Rhymney" is a song by the folk singer Pete Seeger, which consists of Seeger's own music accompanying words written by the Welsh poet Idris Davies. Seeger first released a recording of the song on a live album in 1958, but it is the American folk rock band the Byrds' 1965 recording that is the best known version of the song.
Arguably the most famous rendition of the song is the version recorded by the American folk rock band the Byrds. The Byrds' recording of "The Bells of Rhymney" was committed to tape on April 14, 1965, and released as part of the band's debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man.
At the time of recording, the song was a relative newcomer to the Byrds' repertoire, having first been performed during the band's March 1965, pre-fame residency at Ciro's nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Lead guitarist Roger McGuinn (at that time known as Jim McGuinn) had brought the song to the band after becoming familiar with it as an arranger on Judy Collins' third album, Judy Collins 3, which itself included a cover version of "The Bells of Rhymney". Although the Byrds were anxious to correctly pronounce the Welsh place-names in the song's lyrics on their recording, they, like Seeger, actually mispronounced the name Rhymney as "Rimney" (it should be pronounced as "Rumney").
Author Chris Smith has made mention of the presence of a number of the Byrds' early musical trademarks in their recording of "The Bells of Rhymney", including their complex harmony singing and McGuinn's jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar playing. In his book Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, author Scott Schinder has noted that the band's rendition of the song "managed to craft the dour subject matter into a radio-friendly pop song without sacrificing the song's haunting message."
The Byrds' recording of "The Bells of Rhymney" was also influential on the Beatles, particularly George Harrison, who constructed his song "If I Needed Someone" around the same guitar riff that the Byrds had used in the song.