Bob Lind's Message Board

Hi Frank,
Welcome to the board. Good question.
To answer you: When I wrote butterfly, I wrote it on my acoustic guitar and played it that way in clubs for more than a year before cutting the record in late '65.
All the credit for those breathtaking arrangements on the DON'T BE CONCERNED album belongs to Jack Nitzsche, the musical genius who produced it. He always heard a depth and power in my songs that I didn't.
As I recall, we cut the basic tracks in the first session at Sunset Sound, then overdubbed my vocal and the strings a few days later.
But the songs on the album that followed "DBC" (PHOTOGRAPHS OF FEELING) were cut at RCA Studios and that room is huge. So Jack did record the basic tracks and strings together.
Those were funny sessions because of the complete dichotomy between the rhythm players and the string musicians.
The rhythm guys were the wrecking crew -- hip dudes who cut their teeth on jazz and loved to laugh and party. I"m talking about good-time people like Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye and Don Randi...) They showed up in jeans and funky T-shirts and had a great time.
The string section fellows were a serious, somber lot, bitter and a little pissed off that they had to be there. These were guys who had dreamed of playing first chair in Carnegie Hall and here they were, reduced to sawing away in the background on a folk rock record. They wore tuxes and didn't laugh at all.

Anyway, I take credit for the song, but not the record.

Bob Numbers (as we refer to him here), above, beat me to the punch in letting you know, but he's right. I do an acoustic version of "Butterfly" on BOB LIND LIVE AT THE LUNA STAR CAFE -- available right here on this web site.

Good to have you with us, Frank. Stay close to the board.

I'm Bob, but I'm not the Bob to whom the question was posed, so I can't answer the question about the recording mix...

I can tell you though that Bob does an acoustic version of Butterfly on his "Live at the Luna Star Cafe" CD.

Hi Bob! My name is Frank. I've been a fan since Elusive butterfly. In fact I purchase the 45 AND the printed music for it so I could learn it on the guitar. Your rhythm style really impressed me and is still melded into my personal style from time to time. Thanks for the turn on!

Anyhow...
On to the question: Based on the quality of your voice, the quality of your playing and especially your lyrics I imagine your best performances would be by yourself. As someone trying to start out as a musician in the late 60's, I got more than a glimpse of how the business works especially for a beginner. My question is actually a musical one though; Is the production of Elusive Butterfly what you envisioned when you first wrote it? I imagine that Elusive Butterfly would sound amazing with just a band consisting of just two acoustics, one electric guitar, bass and light drums. Is that how you performed it in the studio and "sweetening" was added later, or did you play iy live with the entire orchestra?

I know back then that record companies did pretty much whatever they wanted with an artist's material, so if you did perform as a small group with sweetening added later did the ask you? Did they tell you? And how did you like it?

However you slice it, it's a great record. It certainly inspired me as a 16 year old that was into learning guitar.

The only reason I thought that the strings and stuff may have been added later was because of the mix. The orchestral elements are all panned hard right, leading me to think that they were added on another track at another time.

I hope my question isn't too personal but I find that kind of stuff fascinating!

Thanks for reading Bob. Thanks for Butterfly too.
Wouldn't it be cool to do a totally acoustic version of Butterfly?
Frank Clum