Sire: Lay Down Your Weary Tune

For our final look at Sire Records, we travel back to 1972 when McGuinness Flint released “Lay Down your Weary Tune.” Like Fleetwood Mac, McGuinness Flint was named for two members of the band – guitarist Tom McGuinness and drummer Hughie Flint.

Previously a five piece band, McGuinness Flint had been whittled down to four members that also included founding member Dennis Coulson and the band’s newest addition, Dixie Dean, on bass. When they issued the album “Lo and Behold: Words and Music by Bob Dylan,” the band was listed as Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint.

While the songs on the album were all written by Dylan, none had been released by the author at the time. “Lay Down your Weary Tune” was previously recorded by The Byrds for their “Turn! Turn! Turn!” album; however, McGuinness Flint’s version failed to chart. Even at that, it is a good interpretation of a song written by one of the premier songwriters of our era.