A Conversation with Roger McGuinn

Stuart Rosenberg from the Leon Hess Business School interviews Rock N Roll Hall-of-Famer Roger McGuinn. McGuinn is best remembered for his work in the 1960's with the psychadelic folk-rock group The Byrds whose hits like "Turn Turn Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" helped define the genre of folk rock.
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[@PutDownTheBunny]

I saw Roger McGuinn only once in concert, by accident. He was opening for Bob Dylan in Munich, Germany in 1987. After Roger came out Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Then Bob. Then EVERYONE. I remember how Roger really connected with this European crowd. He did a nice version of "Chestnut Mare". It was a great night.

[@peterjordan2738]

Roger is a very humble man....and very talented. And yes, Stuart needs to up his interviewing skills.

[@LongTallYamlaJay]

This interviewer is unbelievable.

[@jake105]

I'm happy Roger came out and said that firing David Crosby from the Byrds was a mistake.

[@folkmusicgirl]

I think the interviewer did a great job and I really liked all the questions he asked Roger.I liked his style of interviewing and asked interesting questions.

[@chriswalton7020]

Boy the interviewer is a real gem.

[@1greggie]

clearly irony---he seems so restrained, uncomfortable, stiff, and unlike the music he says he likes.

[@michaelcelani8325]

@@1greggie He is trying to compete with Roger....not good for a good interview.

[@toadmanblues5466]

Can't believe that I'm the first person to comment on this great interview. This is good because it's hard to find full interviews with Roger McGuin,or any of the former Byrds.Love hearing Roger's influences in music.WOW! The Full Story Of The Byrds!! Meeting The Beatles must have been great for him.The Byrds and The Beatles traded song ideas back then.Liverpool meets San Fran. PEACE,LOVE,AND MUSIC!!

[@samrector1715]

Roger Mcquin is so underated The best of them all. Including Bob Dyan.

[@davidgraham9577]

Seems to me elephant in room here is The Beatles. Roger McGuinn mentioned them many times during the interview, and the interviewer mentioned them once in passing despite their mutual admiration, early influence, meeting, etc.

[@kmslegal7808]

go to one of his concerts. He tells the same stories

[@wellitskonrad9292]

YOU ARE AMAZING!!!! LOVING THE INTERVIEWER!!!! LIVING ICON!!!!

[@MrHairyNeck]

Great interview. Thanks.

[@anerishah296]

Amazing Interview! The interviewer really asked important questions and did such a great job!! He should be President

[@Coolcatkilla5]

Unbelievable interview, watched it start to finish twice, great work

[@RH421939]

i saw roger play at monmouth 2 times he was great

[@dennisgurley4622]

RH421939 ....I seen him recently and he didn't wear the hat....he still has plenty of hair!

[@randypotter7379]

where?

[@drbonesshow1]

Roger was a good interviewee. By contrast, the interviewer has to brush up on interviewing skills and to have some passion for the task.

[@paulklee]

Such an awkward interviewer but Roger is so good at basically conducting the interview for himself !

[@steveshattah]

@@paulklee it's like when I was a kid I went to summer camp. When they put me on that horse the first time I didn't know what to do but the horse looked back and said kid don't worry I've been doing this for years and gently trotted me around the ring.

[@yahudiprince]

the interviewer is little too full of himself. he uses 'i' a lot. but mcguinn is great!

[@Hklbrries]

Love McGuinn. Always. Still.

[@janfreidun]

I think it is great that one can tell he is such an accomplished fine detail kind of intrumentalist, his guitar playing is well refined and it is like this, I have heard Turn Turn Turn with just the guitar on here and I was pretty taken by that in fact it he is skilled and can deliever like that in the middle of an intreview, As an arranger and is the richness and refinement, he is known for that but here he just proves what a professional he is! now his debut album that low key production was a dire dirge, all he wanted at that time was just to make his own descisions at that perticular time, but my has he got talent

[@paulhendricks7967]

the interviewer is thinking about the next question/statement rather than absorbing what McGuinn is trying to convey.

[@PutDownTheBunny]

Also, just have to add. New Jersey universities are the BEST to conduct interviews like this.

[@louismarucci9056]

Great interviewer & Really interesting Roger McGuinn stories. Thanks

[@kellygonzalez5145]

Watched for the extra credit stayed for the interviewer.

[@clarkebrian25]

McGuinn very interesting. Interviewer is dry as toast and seems to want to show his knowledge,

[@tallthinkev]

I saw McGuinn, Tom Petty and Dylan in '87 in London. Roger, great. Heartbreakers, great. Dylan, well.....

[@winterwillows2056]

Dylan is Dylan... Not much other way to put it. Great song writer, but... performer... ? I love Roger McGuinn! He is awesome!

[@pageribe9412]

@@winterwillows2056 I don't know. I saw Dylan live twice. One time he was just fabulous. The second time was one of those tours with a gimmick - it might have been the white face tour - I'm not sure - but, regardless, there was a gimmick of some sort. Anyway, Dylan had rearranged every song .... in every inconceivable way! The melodies were unrecognizable; the timing structure was different; and, since I can't - just right off the bat - understand the words Dylan sings on a brand new song, anyway, without a recognizable beat & melody to guide me on the established songs, I had no idea what he was singing on well known tunes, either -- song after song after song after song after song........ ad infinitum! It was awful, awful, awful! People started filing out before halftime. But, believe it or not, to this very day, I would go see him again at the drop of a hat because the other concert was so unbelievably wonderful. You just never really know what you're going to get with some of those folks.

[@TheTubbeater]

''Um hum' I know/'' me too'' let me interupt'' ...interviewer is toolish.....Roger is such a nice man.

[@marksander7788]

I might be missing something, but I would have KILLED to write in the Brill building

[@xrxs1020]

Excellent!

[@thefilmandmusic]

McGuire and Richard Thompson should get a band together. They are made for each other, vocally and instrumentally...

[@mardijohns]

I think Roger is a bigtime evangelical christian these days....

[@musicdevil5401]

stellar work

[@jamesbond4633]

Definitely a very talented guy. He did his apprenticeship for sure and learned his craft!!!! Interesting to hear Roger talk about Terry Melcher and the Los Angeles scene. Dave McGowan's book on Laurel Canyon comes to mind when Roger talks about Jane Fonda's birthday party and the "dance group" that came along with them. Also David Crosby wanting to join his band and having a "friend" that would let them record for free. It adds to McGowan's theories. Very Interesting. I think Roger knows a lot more than what he says publicly. Just like Terry Melcher before his passing. Tom O'Neill in his book Chaos tried to get Terry Melcher to talk about Charles Manson but he was like a wall.

[@PAULLONDEN]

"He was like a wall" ......Can understand that. No use in giving that Manson bunch any more publicity , which they don't even need..... Poor Dennis Wilson ...he had a lot to answer for.

[@GreenManalishiUSA]

Roger McGuinn is awesome and legendary, but man, I wish he would lose the hat. He and Richard Thompson. Come on guys, take a lesson from Peter Frampton, and let it shine.

[@thisistheworldtoday]

Ben Moses you wish you could look that cool in a hat

[@ardalla535]

I've been trying to remember who first started wearing the wire rimmed glasses, Lennon or McGuinn. I Remember it being McGuinn because I saw the album cover and went wow I want those glasses. But nobody carried that style at the time.

[@winterwillows2056]

I think I remember McGuinn saying when he first met Lennon, he (Roger) was wearing his small, round, blue sunglasses. They were also his prescription glasses... Anyway, he said Lennon remarked cool glasses, or something like that. So I think you're right in thinking McGuinn.

[@nikkiejanee1972]

I luvs him;)

[@karyluhernandez5966]

Excellent

[@flautalee3090]

Yeah!

[@gowest8397]

Roger seems cool as fuck in this interview......unfortunately the interviewer seems like he was absent and lacked any emotional connection to what Roger was talking about. It was as if he would rather have not even been there. One seriously fucking drab bloke. He definitely wasn't King of the Hill. Roger, on the other hand, always great.

[@ClintonCaraway]

Whoever this guy is interviewing Roger thinks he knows more about the L.A. rock scene of the mid 60s than someone who created it. He wants to discuss Charles Manson instead of listening to a Rock and Roll hall of fame member.

[@tombrody4400]

This is about the interviewer. Apparently, he was recently embalmed, but the formaldehyde had only partially taken effect. All he does is grunt. Is that any way to treat rock-royalty? The answer is, "no." The partially embalmed man simply has no interest, no knowledge, and no passion, for rock'n'roll or for folk music. I saw the Byrds in 1968, at a roller skating arena in San Leandro, California on East 14th Street. During the show, a girl jumped on stage and gave Mr. McGuinn a hug. If I had been the interviewer, I would have asked what caused the transition in musical style from the pre-5D album, to 5D and subsequent albums. Also, I would have suggested that, in his contemporary performances, Mr.McGuinn should sing songs like WILD MOUNTAIN THYME and 5D and CHANGE IS NOW and JOHN RILEY, and not just Tambourine Man over and over and over.

[@845callaway]

Tom Brody Yeah...the interviewer is giving Roger such an attitude!!

[@michaelcelani8325]

@@845callaway Well...the interviewer is an Academic... problematic.

[@cristianpacheco1572]

My Man Rosenburg

[@PAULLONDEN]

Which year ? I suspect somewhere late 90's ?

[@thefilmandmusic]

I wanted to know how ‘Why’ and ‘What’s Happening’ came about on 5D .. ..

[@jimmyneck2854]

Saw Rodger at the Irvington Town Hall in Irvington New York solo was amazing, but he really should give Gene Clark more credit than he does he was obviously jealous of genes songwriting Talent

[@matthewhochfelder9675]

The interviewer was hostile

[@RG-hf4et]

Love, love love Roger! The interviewer - meh!

[@brucehauge1391]

Jane Fonda was born in 1938 so He's mistaken with the age.

[@billm.3449]

Who cares?.. you creep

[@essie9028]

@@billm.3449 Hahahaha

[@davehuxley4840]

Roger seems to be a cool dude, too bad he doesn't want to reform The Byrds a second time.

[@jonprude2557]

This wasn't bad at all... I've yet, though, too see Roger asked, "Dude, what was your daily-intake of drugs around '67... and, even, worse, at the time of the '73 reunion album when Cros was the superstar?" And this after Clarence White was run-over and Gram was about to O.D.; love, McGuinn, but his 70's solo stuff is pretty awful: I wanna ask, "WTF were you on?" Respectfully...

[@johnvalencia9927]

Reported as spam - misleading text. Not really an interview.

[@kmslegal7808]

Interviewer is terrible.

[@dropover]

Ridiculous comment. Great interview. He let Roger talk. He asked good questions

[@beastieboy9286]

Uh-huh u-huh

[@terenceboris851]

chubby little fella? LOL

[@mardijohns]

Burn...I guess that is why David wore those batwing coats on stage.

[@jimmyneck2854]

If David Crosby could only keep his mouth shut

[@jimmyneck2854]

Rodger was jealous of Gene Clark's prolific songwriting ability! David Crosby was a great talent but he fucked up every band he was in

[@jimmyneck2854]

David Crosby what a waste of talent

[@pg9144]

overrated

[@Elvis-Pelvis03]

Roger has a 7 string acoustic... Weird

[@NewFalconerRecords]

Those 7 string acoustics are really cool, they've got a second G string an octave higher so you get a bit of that jangle like a 12-string.

[@michaelcelani8325]

@@NewFalconerRecords That is a top of the line Martin guitar !! The Best there is . Made in Pennsylvania.