What\u2019s more, the song came at a time when, save for 1967\u2019s The Graduate, film soundtracks featured orchestral scores rather than contemporary music. Easy yet Rider\u2019s soundtrack was punctuated with songs of the day by Steppenwolf, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and McGuinn\u2019s own group, the Byrds. To that end, his \u201cBallad of Easy Rider\u201d drove home the point that Easy Rider was more than just another film \u2014 it was a work of art with a message.<\/p>\n
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McGuinn agrees. \u201cI think it’s great,\u201d he tells Guitar Player. I love Steppenwolf, and it’s really well done. You know, the songs they chose were really appropriate for the movie. And I thought the movie was a really good representation of the whole hippy thing, with LSD and pot.\u201d<\/p>\n
He used to come over to my house, and we\u2019d play guitars and shoot pool. So he handed the verse to me as a surrogate, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Roger McGuinn<\/p>\n
Of course, McGuinn wasn\u2019t alone in putting together \u201cThe Ballad of Easy Rider.\u201d He had help from Bob Dylan. The story goes that Peter Fonda<\/a> \u2014 who co-wrote, co-produced and starred in the film \u2014 gave Dylan a private screening of Easy Rider in New York City, and asked him to write a theme for the movie.<\/p>\n Dylan didn\u2019t like the film and was surprised to see it was a big-budget production. Rather than agree to write a song for it, he scrawled a verse on a napkin and told Fonda, \u201cGive this to McGuinn. He\u2019ll know what to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dylan\u2019s response was characteristically cryptic, but he was right: McGuinn did know what to do with it. \u201cI guess he knew I was able to take it and run with it,\u201d McGuinn says with a shrug.<\/p>\n As for why, McGuinn credits his friendship with the enigmatic songwriter. \u201cHe and I had been friends,\u201d McGuinn says. \u201cWhen I lived in Malibu, he used to come over to my house, and we\u2019d play guitars and shoot pool. So he handed the verse to me as a surrogate, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n Dylan performs with the Byrds at Ciro’s, in Los Angeles, 1965. His friendship with McGuinn dates back to the Byrds’ cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” from this same year. (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Once McGuinn finished the song, he, Fonda, Byrds drummer Gene Parsons and Dennis Hopper \u2014 Fonda\u2019s cowriter and costar in Easy Rider, as well as its director \u2014 hit the studio at Columbia Records to cut the simple track, which features McGuinn on guitar and vocals, and Parsons on harmonica.<\/p>\n McGuinn says he never got to talk with Dylan to see if he liked the song, nor did he have input from him while writing it. All he had was his prior experience and a hunch about what would work.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn’t really a prolific songwriter,\u201d McGuinn says. \u201cI had a whimsical attitude about writing songs. Gene Parsons had turned me on to sea shanties around that time.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I wasn’t really trying to convey a big message or anything like that. I wasn’t a protest songwriter. I just wrote songs that appealed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n He called me up at about three o\u2019clock in the morning a couple of weeks later. Bob said, \u2018What\u2019s this credit? I don\u2019t need the money. You can take it off.\u2019 <\/p>\n \u2014 Roger McGuinn<\/p>\n Once he learned he\u2019d received a songwriter credit for the song, Dylan insisted his name be taken off it. \u201cHe called me up at about three o\u2019clock in the morning a couple of weeks later,\u201d McGuinn says. \u201cBob said, \u2018What\u2019s this credit? I don\u2019t need the money. You can take it off.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Okay.\u2019 He didn\u2019t want any association with it because he didn\u2019t like the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n Like most who participated in the making of Easy Rider, Dylan and McGuinn had no sense that the film and its music would become halcyon. But it did, and while Dylan may have disliked it, McGuinn is proud of their work and the film.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had no idea it was going to be a blockbuster,\u201d McGuinn says. \u201cBut that\u2019s the way it was.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like the people who didn\u2019t go to Woodstock<\/a>, and then they saw what it became. I think Bob didn\u2019t think it was going to be a successful movie and didn\u2019t want his name associated with it. But people like it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dennis Hopper (left) and Peter Fonda on the set of Easy Rider. The 1969 film was a powerful statement about divisions between the established order and the pro-peace counterculture. (Image credit: Sunset Boulevard\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n You worked closely with Peter Fonda on Easy Rider. How did you two become friends?<\/p>\n I first met Peter back when I was working with Bobby Darin in Las Vegas. I used to do my 15-minute folk segment with him and then leave, and I\u2019d walk up and down the strip in Vegas and go to different shows and stuff.<\/p>\n One night, Bobby said, \u201cI\u2019d like to take you out after the set, so stick around tonight because my wife and this young actor are coming over to see us, and it\u2019s his first movie.\u201d<\/p>\n So I stuck around, and [Darin\u2019s wife, the film actress] Sandra Dee showed up with Peter Fonda. It turned out that Peter and I had a common friend, [Eugene] Stormy McDonald. Stormy had been a friend of mine since high school, and he was one of Peter\u2019s best friends in college when they were in Tucson, Arizona. So that\u2019s when I met Peter. It was around 1962, probably. And we maintained a friendship the whole time ever since then.<\/p>\n For the film, Peter wanted to use Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Alright Ma (I\u2019m Only Bleeding)\u201d but couldn\u2019t get copyright clearance, which led him to ask Bob to write the theme song for Easy Rider. How did it become a co-write between you two?<\/p>\n Peter flew to New York and screened the movie in a private screening room for Dylan. And Dylan wrote down some notes on a paper napkin, and said, \u201cHere\u2026 give this to McGuinn. He\u2019ll know what to do with it.\u201d And then Peter flew back, gave me the napkin, and I finished the song.<\/p>\n Dylan didn\u2019t think Peter and Dennis should have gotten shot like that at the end. And I think he thought it was going to be a low-budget B-movie.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2014 Roger McGuinn<\/p>\n Why do you think Bob had that sort of faith in you, considering how vague his direction was?<\/p>\n I guess he realized that I was a good arranger of his material, like I\u2019d done with \u201cMr. Tambourine Man<\/a>,\u201d and so on. I wrote the tune, and then I wrote the second verse, and of course, he got a credit for it.<\/p>\n Do you know the origin of Dylan\u2019s lyrics for the verse he gave you? Did they come from him watching the film?<\/p>\n Yeah, he saw the film. He saw the movie in that private screening room, and he didn\u2019t like the ending of it. He didn\u2019t think Peter and Dennis should have gotten shot like that at the end. And I think he thought it was going to be a low-budget B-movie. [laughs]<\/p>\n So the scale of the movie put Bob off?<\/p>\n Yeah. He didn\u2019t want his name to be associated with it. So he just wrote down, \u201cThe river flows\u2026\u201d and if you look at the end of the movie, there\u2019s a helicopter shot of a river around the place where Peter gets shot.<\/p>\n His verse goes, \u201cThe river flows, it flows to the sea, wherever that river flows, that\u2019s where I want to be, flow river flow.\u201d He wrote that, like, sort of chorus: \u201cLet your water wash down.\u201d And then I came up with the second verse: \u201cAll they wanted was to be free, and that\u2019s the way it turned out to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Roger McGuinn – Ballad Of Easy Rider (Easy Rider) (1969) – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Is it true Dennis Hopper was initially confused by your meaning?<\/p>\n Yes. Dennis and I were getting on the elevator at Columbia Studios, and he said, \u201cHey, what\u2019s that mean: \u2018All they wanted was to be free, and that\u2019s the way it turned out to be?\u2019\u201d I said, \u201cThink about it, Dennis.\u201d<\/p>\n And he went, \u201cOh, wow, man\u2026 that\u2019s heavy.\u201d [laughs]<\/p>\n You mentioned earlier that Bob received a writing credit for the song and that he wanted no association with it. But did he at least like the song?<\/p>\n No, no. I never\u2026 we never talked about the subject. But I figured it out\u2026 I mean, it was obvious what happened, and that even though he wasn\u2019t super happy with the credit, you know\u2026 Bob is not the kind of guy that you can have a normal conversation with. [laughs] He talks in abstractions. But I think that\u2019s natural because he\u2019s a poet. It\u2019s how he thinks.<\/p>\n What gear did you use on the film version of \u201cThe Ballad of Easy Rider,\u201d and how did that differ from the Byrds\u2019 re-recorded version that came later?<\/p>\n Dennis said, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s that mean: \u201cAll they wanted was to be free, and that\u2019s the way it turned out to be?\u201c\u2019 I said, \u2018Think about it, Dennis.\u201c\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u2014 Roger McGuinn<\/p>\n The guitar that I used on that, I think, was a Martin<\/a> 12-string. But on the soundtrack, first of all, it was just Gene Parsons on harmonica, and me with the acoustic guitar<\/a> and on vocals. That was it. It was just two instruments.<\/p>\n All I remember is that Dennis and Peter showed up when we recorded it. We booked a studio at Columbia Records, and it was just me and Gene Parsons. We did that because it was supposed to be like an acoustic thing, so we really didn\u2019t need the whole band for it.<\/p>\n But on the Byrds’ version, I definitely used different gear. It\u2019s a whole other recording. That was my Rickenbacker 12-string, and Clarence White<\/a> had his Telecaster<\/a> with the B-Bender. And then, we had bass and drums, and everything.<\/p>\n It also featured an orchestra.<\/p>\n Yes. Our producer, Terry Melcher, added an orchestra, which sounded pretty. I remember Candice Bergen and Terry were a couple at the time, and so Candice came and listened to the playback of the orchestrated version of \u201cEasy Rider.\u201d And she said, \u201cOh, that\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n The weariness of the lyrics seem to represent that the \u201960s revolution was taking too long to come. Was that your intention?<\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s kind of too philosophical for me to comment on. [laughs] I was just happy to be working, be on the road, and be recording. I was having a good time. So I didn\u2019t really feel the weariness that you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n![\"Rock](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/miyjvhDcrmMxjDcZYQEC9Q.jpg\")
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