" feel a whole lot better..."

GENE CLARK b NOVEMBER 17 1944
the 60s & the rock & roll business in general ate up a lot of astonishing talent. there were the big splashy stars that seem to have triumphed over death & still loom large but there was a lot of collateral damage along the way too. skip spence, syd barrett, gene clark, doug sahm. a lot of them made it out of the 1960s only to have their past excesses catch up w/them when they hit their 50s. i have to say i'm feeling that a bit at this point myself, down a gallbladder & feet that don't function & all. mainly, it's just a drag that these guys couldn't be around a little longer to produce the kind of music they were capable of producing.

this is a lovely lovely song. it makes you want to curl up & bite into some deep painful regret & suck it dry.



It was more like a dream than reality
I must have thought it was a dream
While she was here with me
When she was near I didn't think she would leave
When she was gone it was too much to believe

So with tomorrow I will borrow
Another moment of joy and sorrow
And another dream and another with tomorrow

So if some day won't be time just to look behind
There won't be reasons
No descriptions for my place and mind
There was so much, I was told it was not real
So many things that I could not taste but I could feel

So with tomorrow I will borrow
Another moment of joy and sorrow
And another dream and another with tomorrow

"He was the songwriter. He had the 'gift' that none of the rest of us had developed yet…. What deep inner part of his soul conjured up songs like "Set You Free," "Feel A Whole Lot Better," "I’m Feelin’ Higher," "Eight Miles High"? So many great songs! We learned a lot of songwriting from him and in the process learned a little bit about ourselves. At one time, he was the power in the Byrds, not McGuinn, not Crosby — it was Gene who would burst through the stage curtain banging on a tambourine, coming on like a young Prince Valiant. A hero, our savior. Few in the audience could take their eyes off this presence." chris hillman

a great retrospective article is here.