Byrds – Tiffany Queen

Back in the 80s I bought some compilation Byrds tape with this song on it. I had never heard it before but I liked it right away. It does borrow from 50’s rock and roll just a little bit just enough to give it flavor.

Tiffany Queen was written and recorded live in the studio and it is a fun song. The song was on the album Farther Along and was released in 1971. The album peaked at #152 in the Billboard Al bum Charts and #41 in Canada.

FartherAlongCover.jpg

Farther Along was not their best album…their next album would be the reunion of the original members in 1973. That album was called Byrds and it peaked at #20 in the Billboard Album Charts, #19 in Canada, and #31 in the UK.

Roger McGuinn: “We wouldn’t really write at a session, because studio time was so expensive. Usually the writing would take place at someone’s house, either my house or the other guy’s house. We’d sit down at a table and chairs with a legal pad and start working on it. And you know, it definitely is work, it’s a lot more perspiration than inspiration! Once in a while you get a tune that’s pretty fully formed, like you wake up having heard it in a dream or something, but that’s only happened once in a while to me. An example of that would be the song Tiffany Queen: I dreamed that song and went in and recorded it the next day. I can’t think of any others.”

Tiffany Queen

Happiness hit me on the first day that we met
She was sitting in my kitchen with a face I can’t forget
She was looking in my direction and calling with her eyes
I was trying to do and interview and telling them all lies
Last year in the summer with a tiffany lamp over her head

They asked me what I thought about the 50’s rock n roll
Then they got into a limousine and fell into a hole
I moved into the kitchen and I quickly fell in love
The warden came along and asked me what I was thinking of
Last year in the summer with a tiffany lamp over her head

Well I grabbed her by the hand and with a few things I could
The warden said your leaving you better leave for good
I made it to Tasmania to buy a devil dog
We met a handsome prince who turned into a frog
Last year in the summer with a tiffany lamp over her head

Now we’re living out in Malibu the ocean by our side
Laying in the sunshine drifting with the tide
Happiness hit me on the first day that we met
She was sitting in my kitchen with a face I can’t forget
Last year in the summer with a tiffany lamp over her head
Over her head

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

31 thoughts on “Byrds – Tiffany Queen”

  3. Sounds pretty good… that gave me an idea – I need a Byrds compilation. I like ’em, many of my favorite bands love them but I really only “know” maybe five songs of theirs.

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    1. They really have some good songs. Try to get one that covers their career…although the last part isn’t as well known…there are some good ones.

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      2. Yes and I want to see him again…I saw him at a festival in Nashville in 1989. His guitar playing is just incredible.

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      4. I was a huge fan then but even more now….yes he was/is. One of my good friends went to school with his son.

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      6. Yes I would have…and the thing is I heard he didn’t talk about him much because…in the 80s this music was probably at it’s lowest ebb…I’m sure he did some though.

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    1. I have also Mike…this version of the band were fantastic musically. When you have Clarence White…it doesn’t get much better than that.

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  7. My taste for Byrds music is narrow and doesn’t stray far from the ‘My Back Pages’ sound. So this is a way-different listen for me, but it’s a fun listen.

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    1. Christian….I knew this song when I was about 16-18 and I thought I saw a post on it in the past year….the more I thought about it… I thought it was you who wrote the post. I was going to ask you the other day… but I don’t guess you did!

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      2. Oh I have done that before! I have post a couple of songs twice by mistake…forgetting that I did them before. That is why I built an index lol.

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    1. It does have that sound. You probably know this but when Mcguinn heard American Girl for the first time he thought it was himself with an old outtake.

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