I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better
Encyclopedia
"I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" is a song by the Los Angeles folk rock
band The Byrds
that was first released in June 1965 on the B-side
of the band's second single, "All I Really Want to Do". It was also included on The Byrds' debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man
. Written by Gene Clark
, who also sings the lead vocal
, "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" features some of The Byrds' early musical trademarks, including Jim McGuinn
's jangling 12-string Rickenbacker
guitar; Clark's pounding tambourine
; McGuinn, Clark and David Crosby
's complex harmony
singing; and a country
-influenced guitar solo
. Although it was initially released as a B-side, "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" was itself heavily promoted by Columbia Records
during the time that "All I Really Want to Do" spent on the Billboard charts
and as a result, the song actually managed to chart in its own right at #103. Since its release, the song has become a rock music
standard
, inspiring a number of cover versions over the years. It is also considered by many critics to be one of the band's, as well as Clark's, best and most popular songs, with Rolling Stone
magazine ranking it at #234 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
nightclub
in L.A. as Clark explained during an interview: "There was a girlfriend I had known at the time, when we were playing at Ciro's. It was a weird time in my life because everything was changing so fast and I knew we were becoming popular. This girl was a funny girl, she was kind of a strange little girl and she started bothering me a lot. And I just wrote the song, 'I'm gonna feel a whole lot better when you're gone,' and that's all it was, but I wrote the whole song within a few minutes."
The song is built around a pounding riff
that Clark later admitted was based on "Needles and Pins" by The Searchers
. The song's refrain of "I'll probably feel a whole lot better when you're gone" betrays Clark's uncertainty about ending the relationship and whether such an act would be the answer to his problems or not. The use of the word "probably" in the song is key, giving the track a depth of subtext that was unusual for a pop song at the time. Jim Dickson, The Byrds' manager, has noted that this level of subtext was not unusual in Clark's songs of the period: "There was always something to unravel in those songs, the non-explanation of the complex feeling. For instance, if you remember I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, it doesn't say: "I'll feel a whole lot better", but "I'll probably feel a whole lot better." For me, that makes the song. There's a statement followed by a hesitation." Dickson would later work as a producer
on Clark's 1984 album Firebyrd, which featured a re-recorded version of "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better".
covered the song on his 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever
. The Israeli band Hazvuvim (The Flys) performed a version of the song translated into Hebrew on their debut album Bzzz.... The Hebrew version was titled "Hasiba hi she...", which means "The Reason Why," the first line of the song.
San Francisco band The Flamin' Groovies also released a cover of the song on their 1978 Sire Records
release, Flamin' Groovies Now. Paisley Underground
band The Three O'Clock
covered the song on their Baroque Hoedown E.P.
Reportedly, Gene Clark sings backing vocal
on this version of the song.
Argentinian rock musician Charly García
covered the song on his 1990 album, Filosofía Barata y Zapatos de Goma. The track was named "Me Siento Mucho Mejor" and the lyrics were translated into spanish.
Country pop
artist Juice Newton
covered the song on her 1985 Old Flame album but the song is slightly retitled as "Feel a Whole Lot Better". Newton's version also alters some of the song's verse lyrics. Likewise, The Crust Brothers
covered the song on their 1998 live album, Marquee Mark
, under this slightly altered title.
Johnny Rivers
covered the song in 1973 on his Blue Suede Shoes album and the song was also included on his 2006 compilation album
, Secret Agent Man: The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology.
Dinosaur Jr. did a grungy
cover on The Byrds tribute album
, Time Between – A Tribute to The Byrds. Reportedly, this version was Gene Clark's favorite cover of the song because he felt that the band had captured the essence of the lyrics, but successfully made the music even more uptempo.
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
band The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
that was first released in June 1965 on the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of the band's second single, "All I Really Want to Do". It was also included on The Byrds' debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man
Mr. Tambourine Man (album)
Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...
. Written by Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
, who also sings the lead vocal
Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" features some of The Byrds' early musical trademarks, including Jim McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
's jangling 12-string Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
guitar; Clark's pounding tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
; McGuinn, Clark and David Crosby
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
's complex harmony
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
singing; and a country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-influenced guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
. Although it was initially released as a B-side, "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" was itself heavily promoted by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
during the time that "All I Really Want to Do" spent on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
and as a result, the song actually managed to chart in its own right at #103. Since its release, the song has become a rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
standard
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
, inspiring a number of cover versions over the years. It is also considered by many critics to be one of the band's, as well as Clark's, best and most popular songs, with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine ranking it at #234 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Background and content
Lyrically, "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" takes a sardonic view of romance, with Clark undecided about whether to break off a relationship with a woman who hasn't been entirely honest with him. The song dates from The Byrds' pre-fame residency at Ciro'sCiro's
Ciro's was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip, opened in January 1940, by entrepreneur William Wilkerson. Herman Hover took over management of Ciro's in 1942 until it closed its doors in 1957...
nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in L.A. as Clark explained during an interview: "There was a girlfriend I had known at the time, when we were playing at Ciro's. It was a weird time in my life because everything was changing so fast and I knew we were becoming popular. This girl was a funny girl, she was kind of a strange little girl and she started bothering me a lot. And I just wrote the song, 'I'm gonna feel a whole lot better when you're gone,' and that's all it was, but I wrote the whole song within a few minutes."
The song is built around a pounding riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
that Clark later admitted was based on "Needles and Pins" by The Searchers
The Searchers (band)
The Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
. The song's refrain of "I'll probably feel a whole lot better when you're gone" betrays Clark's uncertainty about ending the relationship and whether such an act would be the answer to his problems or not. The use of the word "probably" in the song is key, giving the track a depth of subtext that was unusual for a pop song at the time. Jim Dickson, The Byrds' manager, has noted that this level of subtext was not unusual in Clark's songs of the period: "There was always something to unravel in those songs, the non-explanation of the complex feeling. For instance, if you remember I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, it doesn't say: "I'll feel a whole lot better", but "I'll probably feel a whole lot better." For me, that makes the song. There's a statement followed by a hesitation." Dickson would later work as a producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
on Clark's 1984 album Firebyrd, which featured a re-recorded version of "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better".
Cover versions
Tom PettyTom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
covered the song on his 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever
Full Moon Fever
Full Moon Fever is the first solo album by Tom Petty, though it features contributions from several members of his backing band, the Heartbreakers, along with fellow members of the Traveling Wilburys. The record shows Petty exploring his musical roots with nods to his influences...
. The Israeli band Hazvuvim (The Flys) performed a version of the song translated into Hebrew on their debut album Bzzz.... The Hebrew version was titled "Hasiba hi she...", which means "The Reason Why," the first line of the song.
San Francisco band The Flamin' Groovies also released a cover of the song on their 1978 Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
release, Flamin' Groovies Now. Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground is an early genre of alternative rock, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s.- History :...
band The Three O'Clock
The Three O'Clock
The Three O'Clock were a United States alternative rock group associated with the Los Angeles 1980s Paisley Underground scene. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term "Paisley Underground" to describe a subset of the 1980s L.A...
covered the song on their Baroque Hoedown E.P.
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Reportedly, Gene Clark sings backing vocal
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
on this version of the song.
Argentinian rock musician Charly García
Charly García
Charly García is a singer-songwriter, pianist and keyboardist from Argentina with a long career in rock music, forming successful groups such as Sui Generis and Serú Girán, cult status groups like La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, and as a solo musician.-Early years:Charly García was the eldest son in...
covered the song on his 1990 album, Filosofía Barata y Zapatos de Goma. The track was named "Me Siento Mucho Mejor" and the lyrics were translated into spanish.
Country pop
Country pop
Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to...
artist Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...
covered the song on her 1985 Old Flame album but the song is slightly retitled as "Feel a Whole Lot Better". Newton's version also alters some of the song's verse lyrics. Likewise, The Crust Brothers
The Crust Brothers
The Crust Brothers, a band formed by Stephen Malkmus and members of Silkworm , released one album, Marquee Mark, a live recording of their December 5, 1997, show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, Washington. The show was a benefit for the Washington Wilderness Coalition...
covered the song on their 1998 live album, Marquee Mark
Marquee Mark
Marquee Mark, the Crust Brothers' only album, was released by the small Telemomo label on October 15, 1998. It is a live recording of the band's December 5, 1997, show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, Washington. The bulk of the repertoire is drawn from songs associated with Bob Dylan and The...
, under this slightly altered title.
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
covered the song in 1973 on his Blue Suede Shoes album and the song was also included on his 2006 compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Secret Agent Man: The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology.
Dinosaur Jr. did a grungy
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
cover on The Byrds tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
, Time Between – A Tribute to The Byrds. Reportedly, this version was Gene Clark's favorite cover of the song because he felt that the band had captured the essence of the lyrics, but successfully made the music even more uptempo.