On Wed, 3 Mar 1999, Barry Mazor wrote:
> "The Christian Life" continued to stress the religious theme, and to hear
> the Byrds celebrating the virtues of godliness seemed, to many listeners,
> almost ironic. This was one of the tracks that had to be reerecorded with
> McGuinn replacing Parsons on lead vocal. Roger clearly attempts to imitate
> Parsons' vocal style and the entire effect is bizarre. What is,
> presumably, meant to be a serious song, in celebration of the Christian
> faith, comes across as unintentionally parodic; with McGuinn sounding as
> though he's mimicking rather than imitating Parsons' vocal phrasing."
That, I think, is they key about that song, and I'm glad Barry posted
this. If you listen with one ear, the McGuinn version doesnt sound all
that different, but out of the other ear it's all corn. It's very
similar to what Tweedy does to "Warefare" on UT's "March 16-20, 1992."
If you've ever heard the original from which they got the song, the
singing isnt too much different, and yet it's light-years away in effect.
These are unfortunate because these versions are otherwise pretty good. I
personally dislike the pop smugness of "Hey, here's a good song but we're
too chickenshit about what you might think if you thought we really took
it seriously, so we're going to fuck it up a little and have a good time
stomping all over it." I think, OK, fine, but why'nt ya just skip it.
Will Miner
Denver, CO
