You Showed Me - History

History

The song was composed by McGuinn and Clark in early 1964 at a time when the pair were performing as a duo at The Troubadour and other folk clubs in and around Los Angeles. McGuinn and Clark soon formed a trio with David Crosby and named themselves The Jet Set. The trio began rehearsing at World Pacific Studios under the guidance of their manager Jim Dickson, with Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman joining the group soon afterward. Dickson recorded many of The Jet Set's rehearsal sessions at World Pacific and it was during this time that demos of "You Showed Me" were recorded by the band. The song was soon abandoned by the group, who had now changed their name to The Byrds, and was not included on their debut album for Columbia Records, Mr. Tambourine Man. However, recordings of "You Showed Me" by the band, dating from 1964, were eventually released on the archival albums Preflyte and In the Beginning.

In 1968 the song was recorded by The Turtles as part of their album The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands and was also released as a single in 1969, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. "You Showed Me" had been introduced to The Turtles by their producer and former bass player, Chip Douglas, who had first become acquainted with the song after hearing Clark, McGuinn and Crosby perform it at The Troubadour in 1964. Douglas had also performed the song with Clark during 1966, while he was a member of The Gene Clark Group.

Although the song had originally been an uptempo number, Douglas first demonstrated it for The Turtles' vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman on a harmonium with a broken bellows, requiring him to play the song slowly. The slower tempo impressed Kaylan and Volman and consequently, The Turtles' recording of the song uses this slower arrangement.