Do What U Want

"Do What U Want" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga, featuring R. Kelly. The song was released on October 21, 2013, as the second single from Gaga's third studio album Artpop (2013). The singers wrote the song with DJ White Shadow, Martin Bresso, and William Grigahcine. DJ White Shadow first presented Gaga with the song's initial concept two years prior to its release. Production on "Do What U Want" was completed in 2013, with Kelly's vocals added soon after. Its sudden popularity upon premiering led to the song becoming the album's second single.

It is a synth-pop, electropop and R&B song featuring 1980s-style synthesizers and an electronic instrumental track. The song's lyrics discuss the media's appetite for publishing opinion and critique, with Gaga telling detractors that her thoughts, dreams, and feelings are her own, no matter what one does with her body. Critics praised the song's simplicity and production. The single cover for "Do What U Want", a close-up of Gaga's buttocks in a floral thong, was photographed by Terry Richardson who had also directed the song's music video. The clip was planned to be released through BitTorrent in December 2013 but was cancelled for unknown reasons.

"Do What U Want" reached number one in Hungary while peaking within the top 10 in Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Norway, Scotland, South Korea, Spain and the United Kingdom as well as the top 20 in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Live performances of the song were televised on the 2013 American Music Awards, Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Saturday Night Live, America's The Voice, and Britain's The X Factor. Several remixes of the song were released, including ones with vocals from Christina Aguilera and Rick Ross.

On January 10, 2019, Gaga decided to have the single removed from music streaming services after the airing of a television documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, exposed new allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by Kelly, who had previously been charged regarding similar accusations in 2002 but was acquitted in 2008. The song was removed from new vinyl and CD pressings of the album in November 2019.

## Writing and development

"Do What U Want" was co-written by Lady Gaga, Paul Blair, R. Kelly, Martin Bresso and William Grigahcine. It was produced by Blair and Gaga and features vocals by Kelly. Gaga had been living in Chicago and completing the songs for Artpop, which was being influenced by the R&B and hip hop music predominant there. One day, the singer came to know about an article discussing her weight and she was angered with such news. She decided that it was through her music that she could take a stance against "shallow journalism". After the release of the first single from the album, titled "Applause", the singer was also determined to create something different and unfamiliar to her past hit singles, and "Do What U Want" stemmed from these thoughts.

Blair recalled how in 2011 his friend Martin was playing him a particular beat from his own remix project. Blair liked the music and presented it to Gaga who had begun writing the song's lyrics while on the Born This Way Ball tour. Blair described its beat as "some space age George Jetson R&B sound". After the lyrics were completed in September 2013, Blair suggested bringing Kelly on board as a collaborator. Kelly was in the process of completing his album, Black Panties, and agreed to participate following a telephone conversation with Gaga. Kelly told Billboard that working with the singer was "natural jelling". Gaga told MTV News about the song:

> I've been living in Chicago and spending a lot of time there, and that's where R. Kelly hails from. I was working on Artpop and I wrote ['Do What U Want'] on tour. It was about my obsession with the way people view me. I have always been an R. Kelly fan and actually it is like an epic pastime in the Haus of Gaga that we just get fucked up and play R. Kelly. This is a real R&B song and I [said 'I] have to call the king of R&B and I need his blessing.' It was a mutual love.

## Recording and composition

"Do What U Want" is a mid-tempo synth-pop, electropop and R&B track, drawing influence from 1980s-inspired throbbing synths and an electronic beat. Eric R. Danton of Rolling Stone described it as a "muscular club beat". James Montgomery from MTV News said that a "lurching, lascivious beat" was the main backbone of the song, interspersed with Gaga's loud-voiced vocals, a "corky" chorus and Kelly's "cool, coital" singing. The song's chorus is built around arpeggios. Complex described its "Do what you want, what you want with my body" hook as "catchy and somewhat raunchy". The song's lyrics represent Gaga telling off detractors that her thoughts, dreams, and feelings are her own, no matter what one says about her. Jim Farber of New York Daily News suggested "Do What U Want" to be a response to "everyone who ever made a tart comment about her — which, by now, involves half the planet". Gaga and Kelly alternate singing the lines "Do what u want/ What u want with my body/ Do what u want/ What u want with my body/ Write what you want, say what you want about me/ If you want you know that I'm not sorry".

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Do What U Want" is set in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 96 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A major with Gaga's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of E3 to F5. The song follows a basic sequence of D–E–Fm–E–D–E as its chord progression. "Do What U Want" was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, California and at PatchWerk Recording Studios, in Atlanta, Georgia. Gaga's vocals were recorded by Dave Russell and Bill Malina, while Kelly's by Abel Garibaldi and Ian Moonness. Russell held primary mixing of the track at Record Plant, with additional support from Benjamin Rice, Ghazi Hourani, Zane Shoemake, and Dino "SpeedoVee" Zisis. The song's instrumentals include guitars by Tim Stewart, programming by Rick Pearl, and audio mastering done by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California.

## Release and promotion

On September 3, 2013, Gaga asked her fans through Twitter to help her choose the second single: options given were "Manicure", "Sexxx Dreams", "Aura" and "Swine". On September 20, 2013, Gaga announced that "Venus" had been chosen as the second single, and that it would be released before the album. A snippet of "Do What U Want" debuted in a US commercial for Best Buy/Beats on October 17, 2013. It was also used in promotion for British mobile company, O2, as part of their "Be More Dog" campaign. Because of how popular "Do What U Want" quickly became upon its premiere on October 21, 2013 when topping various iTunes charts, Gaga and her label decided to release that as the second official single from Artpop, instead of "Venus". "Do What U Want" officially impacted Italian radio stations four days later, and on October 30, 2013 in the UK. The song impacted mainstream and rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States six days afterwards. Lipshutz compared the song's last-minute release to that of "Judas" from Born This Way in April 2011. After quick commercial success, the label soon decided to rush a single release.

The first promotional artwork features Gaga naked with moss covering her genitals. The single's official cover art was released on October 21, showing Gaga's backside, wearing a floral thong. The cover art was shot by photographer Terry Richardson. In an interview with German television station ProSieben, Gaga explained that the explicit imagery for the cover art was due to the constant criticism and discussion surrounding her, adding that "When I look at how society has changed, I feel like this is a good time to show you my ass, because it's all I choose to give you."

According to Digital Spy's Catherine Earp, the shoot resembles a polaroid. Leigh Silver from Complex magazine compared it to Andy Warhol's polaroid series, where the artist shot pictures of blonds and their rear. Hilary Hughes from Esquire called the cover art "awful" but felt that the image paved way for much imagination in lieu of the suggestive theme of the song. The night before the song's release, Gaga tweeted lyrics of "Do What U Want" in reference to critics and rumors that had surfaced throughout her career, including those claiming the singer to be a hermaphrodite, gaining weight in 2012, and her drug addiction. She also addressed media fabrications on her alleged negative relationships with Madonna and Katy Perry. Alex Camp from Slant Magazine felt Gaga's stunt cheapened the song's intent, pointing out how it highlighted the singer's preoccupation with social media and her public image.

## Critical reception

Upon release, "Do What U Want" received generally positive response from reviewers. Lars Brandle of Billboard, Slant Magazine contributor Alexa Camp, and Kevin Fallon from The Daily Beast compared Gaga's vocals to those of Aguilera. Camp describes the track as "a measured electro banger that smartly doubles as a love song." Brandle complimented the song as "radio-friendly" and concluded that "Gaga is in good form." Lipshutz, also from Billboard, the same publication wrote that the song and its lyrics were a "thrilling listen, intoxicatingly defiant". Fallon was highly enthusiastic toward the song, calling it "pure pop heaven" and giving his praise to its "chorus that will make it a radio hit..... and driving, danceable beat throughout." Carl Williot of Idolator website summarized the song as "a pretty flawless piece of R&B." Dharmic X from Complex praised "Do What U Want" as "catchy". Latifah Muhammad from Black Entertainment Television felt that "Between the two, Kelly seems the furthest of his sonic comfort zone but nestles into a groove over the dance beat" and described the track as "musical genius".

Jim Farber of New York Daily News gave the song four out of five stars, saying that the "music provides its own quirk. To match the R&B-style beat — and the guest appearance by R. Kelly — Gaga finds a new soul edge to her voice. She belts, scoring a hit in every sense." Slate magazine's Aisha Harris felt that Gaga and Kelly's efforts worked "surprisingly well". Nidhi Tewari of International Business Times said that Gaga sounded her "rebellious best" on the upbeat song. Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars, stating that its "ear-snagging melody revives some of her earlier pop perfection." Hilary Hughes from Esquire felt that Kelly's guest appearance on the song, improved its quality much more than the preceding single "Applause". Hughes added that Gaga's Whitney Houston-esque vocals are elevated further by Kelly's "standard, soaring tenor". "Do What U Want" was listed as one of the 100 Best Songs Of 2013 by Rolling Stone, ranked at number 17.

A mixed review came from Kyle Anderson from Entertainment Weekly, who felt that Gaga and Kelly's vocals track did not "come together" since Gaga's singing style interfered with the composition of the song as well as Kelly's R&B vocals. Anderson also felt that the lyrics sung by Kelly were rehash and subpar. He concluded saying that the song is "an intriguing mind-meld nonetheless". Marc Hogan from Spin magazine said that the song was "as usual" about fame but felt that the cover art complemented the theme the song portrayed. In 2015, Daisy Jones of Dazed said "Do What U Want" was one of the most controversial songs ever because of its theme and Kelly's involvement. Jones said the song provoked controversy "for all the wrong reasons."

## Chart performance

In the United States, Nielsen SoundScan reported that "Do What U Want" entered the Hot Digital Songs chart at number three with 156,000 digital downloads in its first week, becoming Gaga's 14th top ten on that chart. Consequently, it debuted at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is Kelly's 52nd Hot 100 entry and highest rank since "I'm a Flirt" peaked at number 12 in 2007. The song fell to number 58 the following week. In its third week, "Do What U Want" climbed to number 48 on the chart, aided by its move upwards on the Radio Songs chart, from number 64 to 51, with an audience impression of 23 million, up by about 22% from the second week. Following the release of Artpop, the song returned to the top twenty of Hot 100, moving into number 18. The song has sold 1.3 million copies in the US as of February 2018, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). On the Pop Songs chart, "Do What U Want" debuted at number 39 for the issue of November 11, 2013, and moved up to number 29 the next week with a spin increase of 991 on the US radio stations. Next week, the song acquired a further 1,096 spins and moved to number 23 on the chart. It has reached a peak of number seven on Pop Songs, with 9,237 spins. The song also peaked at number eight on the Rhythmic chart with 2,662 spins. "Do What U Want" became the second single by Gaga—the first being her debut single "Just Dance"—not to reach the top of the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, where it stalled inside the top-ten at number seven.

In Australia, "Do What U Want" entered the Australian Singles Chart at number 21; also debuting on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number twelve. The song entered the Irish Singles Chart at number nine and the Netherlands' Mega Single Top 100 at number 27. It also entered the Finnish Download Chart at number two. In South Korea, the song sold 10,576 digital downloads, reaching number eight in the Gaon Digital Chart. It fell to number 13 the next week, selling a further 7,184 copies. Following the album release, the song sold 20,309 copies and reached a new peak of number two. "Do What U Want" reached the top of the charts in Greece, and also reached the top-ten in Finland, France, Italy, and Spain. The song debuted at number 50 on the Japan Hot 100, and rose to a peak of number 26 after two weeks. "Do What U Want" also debuted at number seven on the Canadian Hot 100 and in its eleventh week on the chart, the song reached a new peak of number three. It was certified gold by Music Canada, for selling over 40,000 digital downloads.

In the United Kingdom, "Do What U Want" was deemed ineligible to enter the UK Singles Chart. The Official Charts Company released a statement explaining that the song would be allowed to chart only after the associated album's pre-order offer ended. The rules of the Official Chart Company "allow one 'instant grat' promotion per album, i.e a single track download given away as an album pre-order incentive. 'Do What U Want' is the second track [following 'Applause'] to be delivered to fans who pre-order Artpop". Thus the song was not eligible to enter the chart until the promotion finished and the album was released. According to Alan Jones from Music Week, in the week following its release the single sold 22,915 copies in the UK. After the release of Artpop, "Do What U Want" debuted at number nine on the UK charts with sales of 29,657 copies becoming her 11th top-ten single there. It also entered the Scottish Singles Chart at the same position. "Do What U Want" has sold 383,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of April 2021, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for 400,000 copies of streaming equivalent units. It has been streamed 8.5 million times, becoming Gaga's highest streamed song in the country.

## Live performances

Gaga performed the song live along with "Venus" on the tenth series of The X Factor (UK) on October 27, 2013, at Fountain Studios in Wembley. Jason Lipshutz from Billboard denoted it as "intoxicatingly weird". ITV, which aired the performance, and Ofcom, the British media regulator, received around 260 complaints regarding the performance, due to Gaga's costume and the suggestive lyrics of the track, which was broadcast before the 9pm watershed. A spokesperson from the channel released a statement that they did not believe the performance to be inappropriate. During her ArtRave party for the release of Artpop, Gaga performed eight songs from the album, closing the set with "Do What U Want". The performance ended with the singer mirroring the pose of the album cover art—a Jeff Koons sculpture—on the stage, by sitting down and spreading her legs apart, while cupping her breasts. On November 16, 2013, Gaga performed "Do What U Want" at episode 751 of the 39th season of comedy show Saturday Night Live. Kelly appeared as the guest vocalist, doing the similar routine with Gaga, and picking her up from the stage on his shoulder. There was also sex simulations, dry humping and they ended the performance in an embrace. According to Zach Johnson from E!, the performance drew mixed reaction from the media.

Gaga had revealed during ArtRave that she and Kelly would perform "Do What U Want" at the American Music Awards of 2013 on November 24. During the performance, Gaga enacted the role of a secretary for the President of the United States, which was played by Kelly, pantomiming fellatio that invoked the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. The stage was set up to be reminiscent of the Oval Office. Gaga belted out the final chorus of the song alone, as the backdrops displayed a video of the singer playing a piano as a child. The epilogue featured self-depreciating newspaper headlines in the backdrops, proclaiming "Lady Gaga is Over" and "Lady Gaga is Fat". Jason Lipshutz of Billboard called it "the most elaborate performance" of the ceremony and found parallels with Kelly's own rap opera Trapped in the Closet in its storytelling.

At the British chat show, Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Gaga performed another acoustic version of the track. Wearing a Kansai Yamamoto bodice with an iPad attached to it, Gaga belted out the song while playing the piano. Another performance took place at the 2013 Jingle Bell Ball on December 8, 2013, where she sang "Do What U Want" along with other songs from her discography. It was first announced that Gaga would perform on the fifth-season finale of The Voice on December 12, 2013, with the assumption that R. Kelly would accompany her during a performance of "Do What U Want". However, a television commercial aired on December 17, the evening of the finale, teased that "Christina [Aguilera] joins Lady Gaga for one epic performance"; they sang "Do What U Want" as the final performance of the evening. Both appeared in "matching clothes" with few differences, Gaga wore a "jumpsuit all sharp, off-kilter angles", while Aguilera was dressed in a "slinky-sexy gown emphasizing her smooth curves". A writer from Rap-Up praised it as an "over-the-top" performance. Los Angeles Times writer Amy Reiter commended the pair's vocal ability as "triumphant". On the 2014 ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour, the song was performed after "Paparazzi". Gaga perched atop a silver chair shaped like a hand, and sang the song. Kelly's verses were removed from the live rendition. Eric Leijon from The Gazette praised the song saying that it had "earned [its] place alongside crowd pleasers 'Paparazzi' and 'Bad Romance'" from Gaga's catalogue of hits.

## Music video

Gaga confirmed Richardson as the director during her ArtRave party. Richardson had previously shot the "Cake Like Lady Gaga" snippet video, featuring the singer playing with cake. He had been wanting to do music videos for some time, and started his work in the medium with the video for Miley Cyrus' single "Wrecking Ball" and Beyoncé's "XO". After her provocative performance of the song on Saturday Night Live, many interviewers had questioned Gaga regarding her chemistry with Kelly, leading the singer to tweet the following message: "Many interviewers quelped today about my 'SHOCKING' performance w/ R Kelly on SNL I'm beginning to think y'all aren't ready for the video."

On November 26, 2013, Interscope announced that the video would be released through file sharing service BitTorrent and Vice, sometime in December 2013. This is BitTorrent's second initiative, following a similar release for singer Madonna and her secretprojectrevolution video. The bundle would consist of the music video, pictures, a separate clip in 4K resolution documenting the making of the release, and interviews with Gaga and director Richardson. Interscope described the bundle as a means of "explor[ing] the link between open expression and open technology; providing an inside look at the creative process, with original film, music, archival content and behind-the-scenes footage direct from artists."

On December 4, 2013, Gaga tweeted that she was intent on making the video "perfect" since it was unlike her previous endeavors, adding that it was "very personal". Two days later, Richardson posted a black-and-white photo from the set of the video, which showed Gaga being held by Kelly; with her legs wrapped around his waist. She wore nothing but a black bikini, while Kelly gestured his middle finger towards the camera in a leather pant/kilt dress. One week later, a colored behind-the-scenes photo was released, showing the singers in the same garments as the previous image, while Kelly stood with his legs spread apart as Gaga crawled in between them.

However, the bundle as well as the video was not released in December; Gaga later released a statement in her social networking website Little Monsters that the video was delayed since the singer was given just one week to plan and complete it, like the video for "Applause". She added that it was unlike her since she preferred planning her videos over a period of time to honor her creativity. The clip remained unreleased and on June 19, 2014, celebrity news website TMZ published footage from the video showing sexually suggestive scenes. In one of them, Kelly, playing a doctor, reaches under a sheet covering a naked Gaga, causing her to moan. In another scene, Richardson appeared to be photographing Gaga as she writhes on newspapers, which was compared to Jelena Karleuša's 2013 artwork for "Baš je dobro biti ja". Pitchfork described the video as "Kelly hosting a softcore orgy with Gaga's anesthetized body". According to the TMZ report, the video was cancelled possibly due to weariness and fear of backlash for Kelly's past trial on child pornography, as well as sexual harassment claims by several models who had previously worked with Richardson. According to Page Six's unnamed source, "[She] had a video directed by an alleged sexual predator, starring another sexual predator [...] With the theme, 'I'm going to do whatever I want with your body'? It was literally an ad for rape." Daisy Jones of Dazed said it was for the better that the video was not released. She opined the song's lyrics, Kelly's and Richardson's involvement, and the music video's concept were "bad ideas all around."

## Remixes

### DJWS Remix

The DJWS Remix of "Do What U Want" featuring R. Kelly and rapper Rick Ross was released on December 20, 2013. Ross told in an interview with MTV that he was not prepared for collaborating with Gaga. The remix starts with Kelly's vocals with a new introduction, followed by Ross rapping on a verse, adding new lines like "Photos of the Bawse just to post 'em on a blog/Get alotta views cause they know we be the top/Jean Basquiats in the hall, she my work of art so I pin her to the wall." During Gaga's vocals, the "groove" of the song is updated which was described by Fuse as "nostalgic, banging, sex-freaky and new all at the same time. It's a 2013 ode to another era of synth R&B." Molly Wardlow from the channel was however dismissive of Ross' verse, calling it unnecessary. Spin magazine's Chris Martin noted that Ross' contribution to "Do What U Want" sounded "awkward" and found similarity with Jay-Z's rap verse in singer Beyoncé's song, "Drunk in Love". Mike Wass from Idolator commented that the remix felt unnecessary, following controversy in the media surrounding Ross' lyrics in the song "U.O.E.N.O." about date rape, and recapitulation of Kelly's child-sex abuse case.

### Remix featuring Christina Aguilera

An alternate studio version of "Do What U Want" featuring Christina Aguilera was released on January 1, 2014; it marked Gaga and Aguilera's first collaboration. The song was released in the United States, Canada and Mexico on January 1, 2014, and then released a day later worldwide. Days before, on December 24, 2013, Aguilera tweeted that she was "working on something special" and attached an image of her singing in a recording studio. The session took place in the living room of singer Carly Simon's home at Martha's Vineyard, with assistance from Oak Bluffs-based producer Jimmy Parr. The following week, it was announced that a revised studio version of "Do What U Want" would be released, where the original vocals by Kelly are substituted for a verse performed by Aguilera.

The final version was digitally released shortly after midnight on January 1, 2014. On February 11, 2014, Gaga uploaded four other remixes of the version with Aguilera, all commissioned by Interscope and mixed by Steven Redant. The Aguilera remix received generally favorable reviews from music critics; Melissa Locker from Time magazine felt that the re-recorded version of the track "will allow more sales of the track without the moral dilemma that comes with supporting Kelly", who had previously been charged and acquitted for child pornography in the 2000s, and also complimented Gaga as a "savvy marketer" for releasing "two versions of a hit song with two different megastars". Attitudes Jamie Tabberer considered the original version of "Do What U Want" to be Gaga's "most problematic", "worst-ever" single, but noted that it was "somewhat redeemed by the Christina-featured remix", which he thought was "elegant".

## Removal

Gaga initially defended her collaboration with Kelly, saying that they both have had "sometimes [...] very untrue things written about" them. However, on January 10, 2019, Gaga spoke out after the release of the Lifetime series, Surviving R. Kelly, which documented the sexual abuse allegations against Kelly. The singer confessed her regret about working with Kelly, explaining that her thinking was "explicitly twisted" and that she had "poor judgment" at that time. Gaga vowed to support women who had been through abuse and by the next day had the track removed from iTunes and all streaming services. Keith Caulfield from Billboard reported that even the remixes featuring Kelly were not playable on Spotify and other platforms, only the version featuring Aguilera was present. He theorized that since changes to digital music services take time, Gaga's management were working and removing the song from every medium gradually. Following Gaga's statement and just hours before the song's removal, sales of "Do What U Want" rose by 13,720% in the US to 2,000 music downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The song was removed from new vinyl and CD pressings of Artpop in November 2019.

## Track listing and formats

Digital download

1. "Do What U Want" feat. R. Kelly – 3:48

Digital download – remix single

1. "Do What U Want" feat. R. Kelly and Rick Ross (DJWS Remix) – 4:19

Digital download – remix single

1. "Do What U Want" feat. Christina Aguilera – 3:36

Digital remixes EP'''

1. "Do What U Want" feat. R. Kelly (DJ White Shadow Remix) – 4:03
2. "Do What U Want" feat. R. Kelly (Samantha Ronson Remix) – 4:27
3. "Do What U Want" feat. R. Kelly (Kronic Remix) – 5:12
4. "Do What U Want" feat. Christina Aguilera (Steven Redant Madrid Radio Remix) – 4:00
5. "Do What U Want" feat. Christina Aguilera (Steven Redant Madrid Club Remix) – 7:31
6. "Do What U Want" feat. Christina Aguilera (Steven Redant Barcelona Remix) – 6:28
7. "Do What U Want" feat. Christina Aguilera (Red Ant & Amp Lexvas Deep House Remix) – 6:50

## Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Artpop''.

### Management

- Recorded at Record Plant Studios, Hollywood, California and PatchWerk Recording Studios, West Midtown, Atlanta, Georgia
- R. Kelly appears courtesy of RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
- Stefani Germanotta P/K/A Lady Gaga (BMI) Sony ATV Songs LLC / Haus of Gaga Publishing, LLC / GloJoe Music Inc. (BMI), Maxwell and Carter Publishing, LLC (ASCAP)
- Administered by Universal Music Publishing Group, Etrange Fruit (SACEM), Fuzion (SACEM), Administered by Get Familiar Music (ASCAP), R. Kelly Publishing Inc. / Universal Music – Z Music LLC (BMI)

### Personnel

- Lady Gaga – songwriter, lead vocals, producer, synth arrangement
- Paul "DJ White Shadow" Blair – songwriter, producer
- R. Kelly – songwriter, guest vocals
- Christina Aguilera – guest vocals
- Martin Bresso – songwriter
- William Grigahcine – songwriter
- Dave Russell – recording (Lady Gaga), mixing
- Bill Malina – recording (Lady Gaga), additional recording
- Abel Garibaldi – recording (R. Kelly)
- Ian Moonness – recording (R. Kelly)
- Ghazi Hourani – additional recording, mixing assistant
- Benjamin Rice – recording and mixing assistant
- Zane Shoemake – recording assistant
- Dino "SpeedoVee" Zisis – additional recording
- Tim Stewart – guitars
- Donnie Lyle – musical director for R. Kelly
- Ivy Skoff – union contract administrator
- Gene Grimaldi – mastering

## Charts

### Weekly charts

### Year-end charts

## Certifications and sales

## Release history

Music videos directed by Terry Richardson


Fauna of Scotland

The fauna of Scotland is generally typical of the northwest European part of the Palearctic realm, although several of the country's larger mammals were hunted to extinction in historic times and human activity has also led to various species of wildlife being introduced. Scotland's diverse temperate environments support 62 species of wild mammals, including a population of wild cats, important numbers of grey and harbour seals and the most northerly colony of bottlenose dolphins in the world.

Many populations of moorland birds, including the black and red grouse live here, and the country has internationally significant nesting grounds for seabirds such as the northern gannet. The golden eagle has become a national icon, and white-tailed eagles and ospreys have recently re-colonised the land. The Scottish crossbill is the only endemic vertebrate species in the UK.

Scotland's seas are among the most biologically productive in the world; it is estimated that the total number of Scottish marine species exceeds 40,000. The Darwin Mounds are an important area of deep sea cold water coral reefs discovered in 1998. Inland, nearly 400 genetically distinct populations of Atlantic salmon live in Scottish rivers. Of the 42 species of fish found in the country's fresh waters, half have arrived by natural colonisation and half by human introduction.

Only six amphibians and four land reptiles are native to Scotland, but many species of invertebrates live there that are otherwise rare in the United Kingdom (UK). An estimated 14,000 species of insect, including rare bees and butterflies protected by conservation action plans, inhabit Scotland. Conservation agencies in the UK are concerned that climate change, especially its potential effects on mountain plateaus and marine life, threaten much of the fauna of Scotland.

## Habitats

Scotland enjoys diverse temperate environments, incorporating deciduous and coniferous woodlands, and moorland, montane, estuarine, freshwater, oceanic, and tundra landscapes. About 14% of Scotland is wooded, much of it in forestry plantations, but before humans cleared the land it supported much larger boreal Caledonian and broad-leaved forests. Although much reduced, significant remnants of the native Scots pine woodlands can be found. Seventeen per cent of Scotland is covered by heather moorland and peatland. Caithness and Sutherland have one of the world's largest and most intact areas of blanket bog, which supports a distinctive wildlife community. Seventy-five per cent of Scotland's land is classed as agricultural (including some moorland) while urban areas account for around 3%. The coastline is 11,803 kilometres (7,334 mi) long, and the number of islands with terrestrial vegetation is nearly 800, about 600 of them lying off the west coast. Scotland has more than 90% of the volume and 70% of the total surface area of fresh water in the United Kingdom. There are more than 30,000 freshwater lochs and 6,600 river systems.

Under the auspices of the European Union's Habitats Directive, 244 sites in Scotland covering more than 8,750 square kilometres (3,380 sq mi) had been accepted by European Commission as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). Scotland's seas are among the most biologically productive in the world and contain 40,000 or more species. Twenty-four of the SACs are marine sites, and a further nine are coastal with marine and non-marine elements. These marine elements extend to an area of around 350 square kilometres (140 sq mi). The Darwin Mounds, covering about 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), are being considered as the first offshore SAC.

## Mammals

Scotland was entirely covered in ice during the Pleistocene glaciations. As the post-glacial weather warmed and the ice retreated, mammals migrated through the landscape. However, the opening of the English Channel (as sea levels rose) prevented further migrations, so mainland Britain has only two-thirds of the species that reached Scandinavia. The Hebridean islands off Scotland's west coast have only half those of Britain. Sixty-two species of mammal live wild in and around Scotland including 13 species found in coastal waters. The populations of a third of the land mammal species are thought to be in decline due to factors including environmental pollution, habitat fragmentation, changes in agricultural practices, particularly overgrazing, and competition from introduced species. No mammal species are unique to Scotland, although the St. Kilda field mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensi, is an endemic subspecies of the wood mouse that reaches twice the size of its mainland cousins, and the Orkney vole or cuttick, Microtus arvalis orcadensis found only in the Orkney archipelago, is a sub-species of the common vole. It may have been introduced by early settlers about 4,000 years ago. There are various notable domesticated Scottish mammal breeds including Highland Cattle, the Shetland Pony, Eriskay Pony, Soay Sheep and Scottish Terrier.

### Carnivores

The representation of the weasel family (Mustelidae) in Scotland is typical of Britain as a whole save that the polecat is absent and that Scotland is the UK's stronghold of the pine marten, although the purity of the latter breed is threatened by a release of American martens in northern England. Scotland hosts the only populations of the Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris) in the British Isles with numbers estimated at between 400 and 2,000 animals, and of the red fox subspecies Vulpes vulpes vulpes, a larger race than the more common V. v. crucigera and which has two distinct forms. The wild cat is at risk due to the inadequacy of protective legislation and is now considered at serious risk of extinction. In 2013 it was announced that the island of Càrna is to provide a sanctuary and breeding station in order to protect the species. Exterminations of the population of feral American mink, which were brought to Britain for fur farms in the 1950s, have been undertaken under the auspices of the Hebridean Mink Project and the Scottish Mink Initiative, which hopes to create a mink-free zone in a large area stretching from Wester Ross to Tayside.

Other than occasional vagrants, among the seals only the Phocidae, or earless seals, are represented. Two species, the grey seal and harbour or common seal, are present around the coast of Scotland in internationally important numbers. In 2002 the Scottish grey seal population was estimated at 120,600 adult animals, which is around 36% of the world population and more than 90% of the UK's. The Scottish population of the common seal is 29,700, about 90% of the UK and 36% of the European total.

### Rodents, insectivores and lagomorphs

Seventy-five per cent of the UK's red squirrels are found in Scotland. This species faces threats that include competition from the introduced grey squirrel, and the 'Scottish Strategy for Red Squirrel Conservation' provides a framework for supporting its long-term conservation. Research in 2007 credited the growing population of pine martens with assisting this programme by preying selectively on the grey squirrels. Scotland has no population of the edible or hazel dormouse, or of the yellow-necked mouse, and the harvest mouse's range is limited to the southern part of the country. The St Kilda mouse and Orkney vole (see above) are endemic, but otherwise population distributions are similar to the rest of mainland Britain. Colonies of black rats remain only on the island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth and on the Shiant Isles.

Mainland insectivore populations are generally similar to the rest of Britain. Recent steps by Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Executive and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to remove European hedgehogs from the Outer Hebrides, where their introduction has caused declines in internationally important breeding populations of wading seabird such as dunlin, ringed plover and redshank, has caused considerable controversy, and hedgehog culls were halted in 2007. The trapped animals are now relocated to the mainland. The programme has reduced this population; only two individuals were caught in 2007.

Of the lagomorphs only hares and rabbits are represented in Scotland. The mountain hare is the only native member of the hare family and is the dominant species throughout most of upland Scotland. The European hare and European rabbit are both present, the latter having been brought to Britain by the Romans but not becoming widespread in Scotland until the 19th century.

### Artiodactyls

Landseer's painting of a red deer stag, Monarch of the Glen, is one of the most notable images of Victorian Scotland. The species, a member of the biological order artiodactyla or "even-toed ungulates", is still 400,000 strong, although its existence in the pure form is threatened by hybridisation with introduced sika deer. Very much a hill-dwelling species in Scotland (and so typically smaller in stature than its European forest-loving cousins), it is generally replaced by roe deer in lower-lying land. Although found elsewhere in the UK, no wild populations of Chinese water deer and no or very few Chinese muntjac exist in Scotland. It has isolated populations of feral goats Capra hircus and feral sheep (Ovis aries), such as the herd of 1,000 Soay sheep on St Kilda. Since 1952 a herd of reindeer have lived in the Cairngorm National Park, the species having become extinct in Scotland after it was recorded as having been hunted in Orkney in the 12th century.

### Other mammals

Only nine of the sixteen or seventeen bat species found elsewhere in Britain are present in Scotland. Widespread species are common and soprano pipistrelles, the brown long-eared bat, Daubenton's bat and Natterer's bat. Those with a more restricted distribution are the whiskered bat, noctule, Leisler's bat and Nathusius's pipistrelle. Absences include the greater and lesser horseshoe bat, the greater mouse-eared bat and Bechstein's bat. No bats reside in the Shetland Islands; the only records there are of migrants or vagrants.

Twenty-one species of cetacean have been recorded in Scottish waters within the last 100 years including Cuvier's beaked whale, killer whales, sperm whales, minke whales and common, white-beaked and Risso's dolphins. The Moray Firth colony of about 100 bottlenose dolphins is the most northerly in the world. As recent dramatic television coverage indicated, this species preys on harbour porpoises; a third of the porpoise carcasses examined by pathologists from 1992 to 2002 indicated that death resulted from dolphin attacks. However, conservationists expressed dismay that the UK government decided to allow oil and gas prospecting in the Moray Firth, putting these populations of cetaceans at risk. In response, the government have placed seismic surveys "on hold" during 2009 pending further research. The introduced marsupial, the red-necked wallaby, is confined to a colony on an island in Loch Lomond.

### Extinctions and reintroductions

During the Pleistocene interglacials, arctic animals that are no longer extant occupied Scotland, including the woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, polar bear, lemming, Arctic fox and the giant deer Megaloceros giganteus. Other mammals that used to inhabit Scotland but became extinct in the wild during historic times include the Eurasian lynx, which lived in Britain until 1,500 years ago, the European brown bear, subspecies Ursus arctos caledoniensis, which was taken to entertain the Roman circuses but died out in the 9th or 10th century, and the elk, which lasted until about 1300. The wild boar and wild ox or urus died out in the subsequent two centuries, although the former's domesticated cousin, the grice, lasted until 1930 in Shetland. The last known wolf was shot on Mackintosh land in Inverness-shire in 1743, and the walrus is now only an occasional vagrant. St Kilda also possessed an endemic subspecies of the house mouse, Mus musculus muralis, which was longer, hairier, coloured differently and had a skull shape at variance to the norm. It became extinct in 1938, just eight years after the evacuation of the native St Kildans.

A joint project of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Forestry Commission Scotland have successfully re-introduced the European beaver to the wild in Scotland using Norwegian stock. The species was found in the Highlands until the 15th century, and although the then Scottish Government initially rejected the idea, a trial commenced in May 2009 in Knapdale. Separately, on Tayside, deliberate releases or escapes have led to up to 250 animals colonising the area. Although it was initially planned to remove these unofficially reintroduced beavers, in March 2012 the Scottish Government reversed the decision to remove beavers from the Tay, pending the outcome of studies into the suitability of re-introduction. Following receipt of the results of the studies, in November 2016 the Scottish Government announced that beavers could remain permanently, and would be given protected status as a native species within Scotland. Beavers will be allowed to extend their range naturally from Knapdale and along the River Tay, however to aid this process and improve the health and resilience of the population a further 28 beavers will be released in Knapdale between 2017 and 2020.

By means of escapes or deliberate releases, wild boar (Sus scrofa) have been re-introduced to several places in Scotland including a wide area of Lochaber and West Inverness-shire. Various other schemes are under consideration. For example, the owner of the Alladale estate north of Inverness has expressed a desire to reintroduce wolves as part of a wilderness reserve, the first of its kind in Britain.

## Avifauna

The history of mammals suggests three broad overlapping phases: natural colonisation after the ice age, human-caused extinctions, and introduction by humans of non-native species. The greater mobility of birds makes such generalisations hard to substantiate in their case. Modern humans have done great damage to bird species, especially the raptors, but natural variations in populations are complex. For example, northern fulmars were present at Skara Brae during the Neolithic period, but in medieval times their breeding range was restricted to St Kilda. Since then they have spread throughout the British Isles.

Most of about 250 species of bird regularly recorded in Britain venture into Scotland, and perhaps up to 300 more occur with varying degrees of rarity. A total of 247 species have been assessed and each placed onto one of three lists, red, amber or green, indicating the level of concern for their future. Forty species are red-listed, 121 are amber-listed and 86 are green-listed.

The Scottish crossbill, Loxia scotica, which inhabits the coniferous forests of the Highlands, is Britain's only endemic bird and, with only 300 breeding pairs, one of Europe's most threatened species. Its shape, red/green hue and habit of hanging upside down has led to comparisons with parrots. St Kilda has a unique subspecies of wren, the St Kilda wren Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis, which has adapted to perching on the rocks and cliffs of this treeless Atlantic island, and consequently has developed larger and stronger feet than the mainland variant. It is also slightly larger, has a longer beak, a drabber though more varied colouring, and a "peculiarly sweet and soft" song. The subspecies was recognised in 1884 and was protected by a special Act of Parliament in 1904 to prevent its destruction "at the hands of ornithologists, egg-collectors, taxidermists and tourists".

### Raptors

All but a few pairs of Britain's approximately 600 golden eagles are found in Scotland as are most of the breeding peregrine falcons. The hobby, marsh harrier and Montagu's harrier although found in England and Wales are generally absent.

In 1916 an English vicar stole the last native white-tailed sea eagle eggs on Skye, and the last adult was shot in Shetland two years later. However, the species was reintroduced to the island of Rùm in 1975. The bird spread successfully to various neighbouring islands, and 30 pairs were established by 2006. Despite fears expressed by local farmers, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) are in process of releasing up to 100 young eagles on the east coast in the Forth and Tay estuaries. The red kite was exterminated in Scotland in 1879, and a reintroduction programme was launched by the RSPB in the 1980s. Although the species has made significant advances, it is estimated that 38% of the 395 birds fledged between 1999 and 2003 were poisoned and a further 9% shot or otherwise killed by humans. The RSPB stated: "it may take a custodial sentence before people engaged with this activity begin to take the matter seriously".

After an absence of nearly 40 years the osprey successfully re-colonised Scotland in the early 1950s. In 1899 they had bred at the ruined Loch an Eilean castle near Aviemore and at Loch Arkaig until 1908. In 1952 they claimed a new site at Loch Garten. There are now 150 breeding pairs.

Other raptor species found in the UK such as the kestrel, hen harrier, goshawk, sparrowhawk, tawny owl, and barn owl are widely distributed in Scotland, although the little owl is confined to the south. Buzzards have displayed a remarkable resilience, having recovered from human persecution and the myxomatosis epidemic of the 1950s, which reduced their food supply. Numbers more than trebled between 1978 and 1998. At the other end of the population scale, a single pair of snowy owls bred on Fetlar from 1967 to 1975.

In 2009 it was reported that the Scottish Government have decided to proceed with a controversial plan to relocate sparrowhawks found near pigeon lofts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, Stirling and Dumfries at a cost of £25,000.

### Seabirds

Scotland's seas host almost half of the European Union's breeding seabirds including about half of the world's northern gannets and a third of the world's Manx shearwaters. Four seabird species have more than 95% of their combined British and Irish population in Scotland, while a further fourteen species have more than half of their breeding population in Scottish colonies. St Kilda, which is a World Heritage Site, is a seabird haven of great significance. It has 60,000 northern gannets, amounting to 24% of the world population, 49,000 breeding pairs of Leach's storm petrel, up to 90% of the European population, 136,000 pairs of puffin and 67,000 northern fulmar pairs, about 30% and 13% of the respective UK totals. The island of Mingulay also has a large seabird population and is an important breeding ground for razorbills, with 9,514 pairs, 6.3% of the European population.

Sixty per cent of all breeding bonxies nest in Scotland, mostly in Orkney and Shetland, even though they did not arrive at all until the 18th century. Scotland is the breeding station for about 90% of the UK's Arctic terns, the majority of which make use of colonies in Orkney and Shetland. A similar percentage of the UK's tysties breed on Scottish islands including Unst, Mingulay and Iona. Scotland also hosts 1,000 pairs of Arctic skua and 21,000 breeding pairs of shag, 40% of the global population of the species.

In excess of 130,000 birds inhabit Fowlsheugh nature reserve in Aberdeenshire at the peak of the breeding season, making it one of the largest seabird colonies in Britain. There are significant numbers of kittiwake, Atlantic puffin, razorbill, fulmar, herring gull and great black-backed gull. The Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth hosts upwards of 40,000 pairs of northern gannets and is the largest single rock gannetry in the world. The bird's scientific name Morus bassanus, derives from the rock.

### Game birds, waders and water fowl

Red-listed western capercaillie and ptarmigan breed in Scotland and are absent elsewhere in the British Isles. The former became extinct in Scotland in 1785 but was successfully reintroduced from Swedish stock in 1837. There are significant populations of other Galliformes including blackcock and the famous red grouse. Common quail, grey partridge and pheasant are well-distributed, although the red-legged partridge is less so. A small colony of the introduced golden pheasant exists in the southwest.

Among the waders, avocet, stone-curlew, little ringed plover and Kentish plover are absent, but most of the 100 or so pairs of dotterel in the UK spend their summers in Scotland as do all of the breeding Eurasian whimbrel, greenshank and red-necked phalarope, (although the latter two species also breed in Ireland). In summer the shallow lochs of the machair lands in the Uists and Benbecula provide for a remarkable variety of waders and ducks including shoveler and eider. The rare Slavonian grebe and common scoter breed on a small number of lochs in Highland region. Goldeneye have colonised an area centred around the Cairngorms National Park since the 1970s, and about 100 pairs breed there. The majority of the roughly 25,000 whooper swans in the British Isles winter in Scotland and Ireland.

About half of the 80,000 barnacle geese, which breed in Greenland, arrive on Islay for the winter, with further flocks wintering on other Scottish islands (e.g. Uists, Tiree, Colonsay) and many thousands wintering in Ireland. Tens of thousands of pink-footed geese use the Montrose Basin as a winter roost in October and November as they do Loch Strathbeg and various lochs and reservoirs in Tayside and the Lothians. The amber-listed black and red-throated diver's freshwater breeding strongholds in the British Isles are in the north and west of Scotland.

### Other non-passerines

Considerable efforts have been taken to conserve the shy corncrake, and summer numbers of this red-listed species have recovered to over 1200 pairs. The wryneck is now almost extinct in Scotland with one or two birds singing each summer, but not breeding. Of the Columbidae the turtle dove is largely absent, but in the British Isles the rock dove is confined to the north and west coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

### Passerines

Ravens are typically forest-dwelling birds in much of Europe, but in Scotland they are generally associated with mountains and sea coasts. In 2002 the hooded crow was recognised as a separate species from the carrion crow. Scotland and Northern Ireland host all of the approximately 190,000 UK territories of the former. A recent survey suggest that raven numbers are increasing but that hooded crows had declined by 59% while carrion crow numbers were essentially static. Concentrated on the islands of Islay and Colonsay, about 80 of Britain's 400 pairs of red-billed chough nest in Scotland.

In addition to crossbills (see above), crested tits exist as a fragmented population of 2,400 breeding pairs in remnant patches of Caledonian Forest and in some larger plantations such as the Culbin Forest in Moray. Ring ouzels have declined to around 7,000 pairs, possibly due to disturbance from the growing number of human visitors to their upland habitat. There are fewer than 100 breeding pairs of snow bunting, although in winter they are joined by migrants from continental Europe. A nest site near Dumfries is thought to have been in use by dippers since 1881. Scotland has 95% of the British breeding population of red-listed twite, about 64,000 pairs. However, a recent RSPB survey found a sudden and dramatic fall in winter numbers from 6,000 in 1998 to only 300 in 2006 in the counties of Caithness and Sutherland.

### Vagrants

Scotland's position on the western seaboard of Europe means that a variety of birds not normally found in the country visit from time to time. These include accidental visits by vagrant birds that have wandered far from their normal habitations.

Fair Isle is an internationally renowned site for the observation of migrant birds. Rarities have included passerines such as the thick-billed warbler, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler and collared flycatcher. More than 345 species of bird have been recorded on this island, which measures only 7.68 square kilometres (2.97 sq mi).

Elsewhere, other rarities reported in 2006 include a white-billed diver at Gairloch, a black-browed albatross in the Western Isles, a laughing gull in Shetland and a buff-breasted sandpiper at Lossiemouth. Accidentals recorded in earlier years include an American bittern in 1888 and a purple heron in the same year, a Baikal teal in 1958, and a black stork in 1977. Birds are also presumed to have escaped from captivity, such as a lanner falcon in 1976, Chilean flamingos in 1976 and 1979, a black-necked swan in 1988, and a red-tailed hawk in 1989. These records are but a small selection from two counties in the north-east and give only a flavour of the complexity and diversity of avian life in Scotland.

### Extinctions

The common crane and great bittern were exterminated by hunters and the draining of marshes in the 18th century. The last great auk seen in Britain was killed on Stac an Armin, a rocky pinnacle in the St Kilda archipelago in July 1840.

## Fish life in the sea

Of the 42 species of fish found in Scottish fresh waters, only half have arrived by natural colonisation. Native species include allis shad, brown trout, European eel and river lamprey. Scottish rivers support one of the largest Atlantic salmon resources in Europe, with nearly 400 rivers supporting genetically distinct populations. Five fish species are considered 'late arrivals' to Scotland, having colonised by natural means prior to 1790. They are the northern pike, roach, stone loach, European perch, and minnow. Rarer native species include the endemic Salvelinus killinensis and the powan, the latter found in only two locations and under threat from introduced ruffe and the Arctic charr. The latter may have been the first fish species to re-enter fresh waters when the last ice age ended, and about 200 populations exist.

The freshwater pearl mussel was once abundant enough to support commercial activities, and Scotland is the remaining European stronghold with about half the global number present. There are populations in more than 50 rivers, mainly in the Highlands, although illegal harvesting has seriously affected their survival.

Scotland's seas, which constitute an area greater than that of the seas around the rest of the UK, are among the most biologically productive in the world. They are home to a third of the world's whale and dolphin species, most of the UK's maerl, (a collective term for several species of calcified red seaweed, and an important marine habitat), Horsemussel (Modiolus modiolus) and seagrass beds, and distinctive species like the tall sea pen, Funiculina quadrangularis. It is estimated that the total number of Scottish marine species exceeds 40,000. This includes 250 species of fish, the most numerous inshore variety being saithe, and deeper water creatures such as the dogfish, porbeagle and blue shark, European eel, sea bass, Atlantic halibut and various rays. There are four species of sea turtle, the leatherback, loggerhead, Kemp's ridley and green turtle. Scottish waters contain around 2,500 crustacean species and 700 molluscs and in 2012 a bed of 100 million flame shells was found during a survey of Loch Alsh.

The Darwin Mounds, an important area of cold water coral reefs discovered in 1988, are about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) deep in the Atlantic Ocean, about 185 kilometres (115 mi) north-west of Cape Wrath in the north-east corner of the Rockall Trough. The area covers approximately 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) and contains hundreds of mounds of about 100 metres (330 ft) in diameter and 5 metres (16 ft) in height, many having a teardrop shaped 'tail' orientated south-west of the mound. This feature may be unique globally. The tops of the mounds have living stands of Lophelia corals and support significant populations of the single-celled Syringammina fragilissima. Fish have been observed in the vicinity but not at higher densities than the background environment. Damage from trawler fishing was visible over about a half of the eastern Darwin Mounds surveyed during summer 2000, and the UK government is taking steps to protect the area. In 2003 the European Commission provided emergency protection and banned damaging fishing activity in the locality.

Further action on a much wider scale may be required. According to a recent report "Scotland's marine life could be almost wiped out within 50 years unless tough action is taken to manage the way humans use the seas". Fears were expressed by a consortium of environmental organisations that commercial fish stocks, including Atlantic cod are suffering from over-fishing, that fish farming, especially for salmon is damaging the aquatic environment, a reduction in coastal marsh habitats is affecting marine bird life, litter in densely populated estuaries such as the Firth of Clyde is affecting all forms of marine life and that the growth in off-shore tourism was deleterious to populations of, for example, basking shark. A call was made for a 'Scottish Marine Bill' to co-ordinate and manage human activity at sea and to provide more protected areas such as marine national parks. The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 was subsequently passed by the Scottish Parliament.

Calyptraea chinensis (L.) is a gastropod that has invaded the shores of Scotland and by 1998 had reached nearly as far north as Oban. One living specimen was found at Clachan Sound, and earlier records showed findings of gastropod shells.

### Riverine extinctions

Pollution and predation led to the extinction of both species of vendace from its very restricted range in south-western Scottish freshwaters in 1980. In the 1990s a successful attempt to reintroduce Coregonus vandesius to the Lochmaben area began. Coregonus albula remains absent.

Salvelinus inframundus, a rare char species that could be vulnerable to extinct, has been found in Loch Mealt, Isle of Skye, Scottish Highlands.

## Amphibians and land reptiles

Only six amphibians and four land reptiles are native to Scotland. The amphibians include three species of newt: the great crested, of which fewer than 1,000 individuals survive; the smooth, and the palmate. The other amphibians are the common toad, the natterjack toad, found in only four locations in the south-west, and the common frog. A single alien amphibian is known in Scotland, the Alpine newt, a recent escapee confined to the Edinburgh area.

The reptiles include the adder and the grass snake, the slowworm, which is a legless lizard, and the common lizard. Smooth snakes, found elsewhere in the UK are absent, and grass snakes are rarely reported.

## Terrestrial invertebrates

Seventy-seven species of land snail and an estimated 14,000 species of insect live in Scotland, none of them "truly" endemic. These include Pardosa lugubris, a species of wolf spider first found in the UK in 2000 at Abernethy Forest nature reserve, and the Scottish wood ant. These ants, which are the most numerous residents of the Caledonian pine forest, build mounds from the pine cones and needles they find on the forest floor and may inhabit the mounds for decades. A single colony may collect 100,000 insects a day to feed its half million citizens and produce up to 250 kilograms (550 lb) of honeydew per season.

In addition to the Scottish wood ant, several Scottish species of invertebrate exist that are otherwise rare in the UK and important enough to have a specific "Action Plan" to provide protection. These are five species of ant and bee, six moths and butterfly, five flies and a single beetle (the reed beetle) and snail (the round-mouthed whorl snail, Vertigo genesii). Northern colletes is a rare species of bee, the most significant British habitat for which is in the Outer Hebrides, where there are more than ten colonies. Scotland is also the UK stronghold of the Blaeberry bumblebee, and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust recently created the world's first sanctuary for this genus of insects at RSPB Vane Farm Nature Reserve near Loch Leven. The bumblebee Bombus jonellus var. hebridensis is endemic to the Hebrides. In 2010, a colony of the beetle Meloe brevicollis was found on the island of Coll. The species is otherwise extinct in Scotland and is also flightless, raising the question of how the colony arrived on the island. The northern February red stonefly (Brachyptera putata) has recently lost its range elsewhere in Britain and is now it considered to be a Scottish endemic.

Although many species of butterfly are in decline in the UK, recent research suggests that some, such as the pearl-bordered fritillary, marsh fritillary and chequered skipper, which are becoming rare in the rest of the UK, are moving north into Scotland in response to climate change. In June 2008 an adult Ethmia pyrausta moth was discovered in Easter Ross. This find was only the fifth sighting since its discovery in the UK at Loch Shin in 1853, and the species has gained "almost mythical status" according to Butterfly Conservation Scotland.

The most well-known invertebrate may be a species of midge (Culicoides impunctatus), a tiny flying gnat that is the scourge of summer visitors and residents alike. Its predations result in the loss of up to 20% of summer working days in the forestry industry. Others of significance include the pine weevil, black pine beetle, clytra beetle, and the timberman, a long-horned beetle. The archaeological site at Skara Brae provided the earliest known record of the human flea, Pulex irritans in Europe.

The islands of Colonsay and Oronsay are home to about 50 colonies of the only native species of honeybee in Britain–Apis mellifera mellifera. The Scottish Government introduced the Bee Keeping (Colonsay and Oronsay) Order 2013 to protect the species from cross-breeding and disease as the species has suffered serious declines on the mainland.

## Cryptozoology

A variety of exotic cats are rumoured to exist, including the 'Beast of Buchan'. The 'Kellas Cat' of Moray is a jet black, long-legged animal, and is probably the result of a modern wild cat/domestic cat hybrid, or a melanistic wild cat. In earlier times it may have spawned the legend of the Cat Sidhe or "Fairy Cat". The fabulous Loch Ness Monster, possibly a form of "water horse", has a long history; the first recorded sighting allegedly took place in 565 AD. More recently, the Stronsay Beast was an unidentified cryptid washed ashore in the Orkney islands in the 19th century.

## Nature conservation in Scotland

### Challenges

Conservation of the natural environment is well-developed in the United Kingdom. The resources of the organisations concerned may be insufficient to the challenge, but the contrast with earlier attitudes about the environment is striking. In Victorian times few animals became extinct in Scotland, but the scale of the slaughter on hunting estates was staggering. Richard Perry records that on a single estate in the Cairngorms between 1837 and 1840 the following "vermin" were exterminated by keepers purely in the interests of preserving the grouse population:

> 246 Martens, 198 Wild Cats, 106 Polecats, 67 Badgers, 58 Otters, 475 Ravens, 462 Kestrels, 371 Rough-legged Buzzards, 285 Common Buzzards, 275 Kites, 98 Peregrine Falcons, 92 Hen Harriers, 78 Merlins, 71 Short-eared Owls, 63 Goshawks, 35 Long-eared Owls, 27 Sea Eagles, 18 Ospreys, 15 Golden Eagles, 11 Hobbys, 6 Gyrfalcons, 5 Marsh Harriers, 3 Honey Buzzards,

and for reasons apparently unconnected to grouse shooting, a further

> 11 Foxes, 301 Stoats and Weasels, 78 House Cats, 1,431 Hooded or Carrion Crow, 3 Barn Owls, 8 Magpies and 7 "Orange-legged Falcons".

Writing in 1947, Perry stated that his "first reaction to this dreadful black-list was that of amazed incredulity. I still find the details incredible. However, they were supplied by the lessee himself." In several instances these extermination totals are larger than the current resident numbers for the entire country.

It remains to be seen if the destruction wrought by the Victorians continues to be the nadir for the fauna of Scotland. In addition to other difficulties the marine environment faces, climate change is a challenge facing all of Scotland's habitats. Among the birds, ptarmigan, dotterel and snow bunting in particular may be affected as they depend on high-altitude habitats, and populations are likely to decline if warmer weather brings competitors into their restricted ranges. Mammals and other vertebrates may fare better, although localised invertebrate populations are at risk. Marine life is already being affected. Planktonic species that prefer cold water are declining and are not able support the crucial food chains on which many seabirds depend. Further evidence of problems for marine species has been provided by the St Andrews University Sea Mammal Research Unit. An analysis suggests that common seal populations in Orkney and Shetland fell by 40% from 2001 to 2006, prompting the then Scottish Executive to announce the likelihood of a new protective conservation order.

The complexities involved in conserving Scottish wildlife are highlighted in an RSPB report, noting that pine martens have been found to be a significant predator of capercaillie nests. Both species are protected, providing conservation agencies with a challenging conundrum to address. In 2012 the Scottish Government published a "Code of Practice on Non-Native Species" to help people understand their responsibilities and provide guidance as to which public body has responsibility for the various habitats involved.

### Conservation organisations

Various public sector organisations have an important role in the stewardship of the country's fauna. Scottish Natural Heritage is the statutory body responsible for natural heritage management in Scotland. One of its duties is to establish national nature reserves (NNR)s. Until 2004 there were 73, but a review carried out in that year resulted in a significant number of sites losing their NNR status, and by 2006 there were 55. As of 2018 there are 43. Forestry and Land Scotland serves as the forestry department of the Scottish Government and is one of the country's largest landowners. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is the statutory adviser to Government on UK and international nature conservation.

The country has two national parks. Cairngorms National Park includes the largest area of arctic mountain landscape in the UK. Sites designated as of importance to natural heritage take up 39% of the land area, two-thirds of which are of Europe-wide importance. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park includes Britain's largest body of fresh water, the mountains of Breadalbane and the sea lochs of Argyll.

Charitable and voluntary organisations also have important roles to play. The National Trust for Scotland is the conservation charity that protects and promotes Scotland's natural and cultural heritage. With more than 270,000 members it is the largest conservation charity in Scotland. The Scottish Wildlife Trust is a leading voluntary conservation organisation, working to protect Scotland's natural environment. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is a learned society and registered charity that maintains Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park (a safari park and zoo near Kingussie, which specialises in native fauna). The Society is also involved in various conservation programs around Scotland and the world. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds promotes conservation of birds and other wildlife through the protection and re-creation of habitats. The John Muir Trust is a charity whose main role is as a guardian of wild land and wildlife, through the ownership of land and the promotion of education and conservation. The trust owns and manages estates in locations including Knoydart and Assynt, and on the isle of Skye. It has links with the Sierra Club in the United States, which also celebrates the legacy of Dunbar-born John Muir. Trees for Life is a charity that aims to restore a "wild forest" in the Northwest Highlands and Grampian Mountains.

## See also

- British avifauna
- Climate of Scotland
- Flora of Scotland
- Geography of Scotland
- Geology of Scotland
- Nature of the Outer Hebrides
- List of British amphibians
- List of British birds
- List of British butterflies
- List of British mammals
- List of British reptiles
- List of extinct animals of Britain
- List of fauna of the Scottish Highlands
- Lists of insects recorded in Britain
- List of moths of Great Britain (Arctiidae)
- List of moths of Great Britain (Geometridae)
- National nature reserve (Scotland)
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Scotland

Animals living in Scotland


Younger Than Yesterday

Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth studio album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released on February 6, 1967 on Columbia Records. It saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelia and jazz into their music, a process they had begun on their previous album, Fifth Dimension. In addition, the album captured the band and record producer Gary Usher experimenting with new musical textures, including brass instruments, reverse tape effects and an electronic oscillator.

The album also marked the emergence of the band's bass player Chris Hillman as a talented songwriter and vocalist. Prior to Younger Than Yesterday, Hillman had only received one shared writing credit with the Byrds, but this album saw him credited as the sole composer of four songs and a co-writer of "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star". Byrds expert Tim Connors has remarked that two of Hillman's compositions on Younger Than Yesterday exhibited country and western influences and thus can be seen as early indicators of the country rock experimentation that would feature—to a greater or lesser degree—on all of the Byrds' subsequent albums.

Upon release, the album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 37 on the UK Albums Chart. It was preceded by the "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" single in January 1967, which reached the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. Two additional singles taken from the album, "My Back Pages" and "Have You Seen Her Face", were also moderately successful on the Billboard singles chart. However, none of the singles taken from the album charted in the United Kingdom. Music critics Richie Unterberger and David Fricke have both remarked that although it was largely overlooked by the public at the time of its release, the album's critical standing has improved over the years and today Younger Than Yesterday is considered one of the Byrds' best albums. The title of Younger Than Yesterday is derived from the lyrics of "My Back Pages", a song written by Bob Dylan, which was covered on the album.

## Background

The Byrds had initially come to international prominence in mid-1965, when their folk rock interpretation of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" reached number 1 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart. Further commercial successes followed, with the band releasing two hit albums and reaching number 1 for a second time in the U.S., with a cover version of Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season)". Throughout the latter half of 1965, the band enjoyed tremendous popularity among teenage pop fans and their music received widespread airplay on Top 40 radio. In early 1966, the Byrds' principal songwriter, Gene Clark, departed the band, leaving Jim McGuinn, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke to complete the band's third album, Fifth Dimension, without him. Upon release, Fifth Dimension received a mixed critical reception and was less commercially successful than the band's earlier albums. As a result, the Byrds' popularity began to wane and by late 1966, they had been all but forgotten by mainstream pop audiences.

Shortly after the release of Fifth Dimension, the Byrds found themselves without a record producer, when Allen Stanton, who had worked with them on that album, left Columbia Records to work for A&M. The band chose to replace Stanton with Gary Usher, a former songwriting partner of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who had recently co-produced Clark's debut solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. In addition to producing the recording sessions for Younger Than Yesterday, Usher would produce the band's next two albums. The Byrds' biographer Johnny Rogan states that Usher's wealth of production experience and love of innovative studio experimentation would prove invaluable as the group entered their most creatively adventurous phase. Author David N. Howard has also remarked that despite the hodgepodge of styles and genres present on Younger Than Yesterday, Usher's studio expertise gives the album an impressively uniform consistency.

Following an intensive period of rehearsal at their Sunset Boulevard headquarters, the Byrds completed the entire Younger Than Yesterday album at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, during a work-intensive, eleven-day period, starting on November 28 and finishing on December 8, 1966. The original working title for the LP was Sanctuary, but ultimately this was dropped in favor of a title inspired by the chorus lyrics of the album's Bob Dylan cover, "My Back Pages":

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

Although Clark had left the Byrds prior to completion of the Fifth Dimension album, he did participate in the recording of the songs "Eight Miles High" and "Captain Soul" from that record. As a result, Younger Than Yesterday was the first album to be entirely recorded by the Byrds without Clark's participation. As on Fifth Dimension, guitarists McGuinn and Crosby continued to hone their songwriting skills in an attempt to fill the void left by Clark's departure.

However, the most surprising development within the Byrds at this time was the emergence of bass player Chris Hillman as both a lead vocalist and the band's third songwriter. Prior to the recording of Younger Than Yesterday, Hillman had never sung lead vocals on a Byrds' recording and his only writing contribution with the band had been a shared credit for the instrumental track "Captain Soul". On this album, however, he is credited as the sole songwriter of "Have You Seen Her Face", "Time Between", "Thoughts and Words", and "The Girl with No Name", with all four tracks featuring him as the lead vocalist. Hillman is also credited as the co-writer of "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star", which he sings with McGuinn and Crosby.

## Music

Younger Than Yesterday found the Byrds expanding their musical style in several different directions. Music critic John Harris has described the album as the Byrds' "West Coastified version of the Revolver aesthetic", with reference to the Beatles' 1966 album. Chris Hillman contributed two country rock-flavored songs with "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", the latter of which was inspired by a young lady with the unusual moniker of Girl Freiberg. "Time Between", on the other hand, was a Paul McCartney-influenced pop song and the result of Hillman's first ever attempt at writing a song on his own. Both songs featured the country-style guitar playing of session musician Clarence White, who would go on to become a full member of the Byrds' latter-day line-up from 1968 through to 1973. Byrds expert Tim Connors has suggested that the pop-country sound of "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name"—like "Mr. Spaceman" from the band's previous album—anticipated the experimentation with country music that would color the Byrds' subsequent albums.

In addition to these two country-tinged songs, Hillman also contributed the LSD-influenced "Thoughts and Words", a metaphysical meditation on human relationships that featured the sitar-like sound of backwards guitar effects. A fourth Hillman-penned song on the album, the British Invasion-influenced "Have You Seen Her Face", was considered commercial enough to be issued as a single in the U.S. some months after the release of the album. Tim Connors had remarked on his Byrdwatcher website that these four melodic, romantically themed Hillman songs brought to the album elements that had largely been missing from the band's recordings since Clark's departure.

Hillman also had a hand in writing the album's opening track, "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star". With its satirical and sarcastic lyrics, the song was an acerbic, but good-natured swipe at the success of manufactured pop bands like the Monkees. However, Connors has stated that "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" also suggests certain ironies due to pre-fabricated aspects of the Byrds' own origin, including drummer Michael Clarke having been initially recruited for his good looks, rather than for his musical ability. As a result of this, music journalist David Fricke has said that some fans have mistaken "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" for an autobiographical song. Hillman's driving bassline and McGuinn's chiming twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar riff form the core of the song, with the production being rounded off by the sound of screaming teenage fans, which had been recorded at a Byrds' concert in Bournemouth during the band's 1965 English tour. South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela contributed the trumpet solo featured in the song, which represented the first use of brass on a Byrds' recording. Masekela and the Byrds would later perform "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" together at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 17, 1967.

McGuinn and Crosby's songs, written both separately and together, represented an expansion of the jazz influences and psychedelia that had been featured heavily on the band's previous album. The song "C.T.A.-102", named after the CTA-102 quasar and written by McGuinn and his science-fiction-minded friend Bob Hippard, was a whimsical, but ultimately serious song that speculated on the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life. McGuinn explained the inspiration for the song in a 1973 interview with ZigZag magazine: "At the time we wrote it I thought it might be possible to make contact with quasars, but later I found out that they were stars which are imploding at a tremendous velocity. They're condensing and spinning at the same time, and the nucleus is sending out tremendous amounts of radiation, some of which is audible as an electronic impulse on a computerized radio telescope. It comes out in a rhythmic pattern ... and originally, the radio astronomers who received these impulses thought they were from a life-form in space." Although the band's earlier song "Mr. Spaceman" had been thematically similar, "C.T.A.-102" was a slightly more serious attempt at tackling the subject matter, highlighted by the extensive use of studio sound effects, simulated alien voices, and the sound of an electronic oscillator.

Crosby's songwriting skills had also developed rapidly, with Fricke citing "Renaissance Fair" (co-written with McGuinn) as an example of his increasingly wistful lyricism and writing style. The song was inspired by a visit to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California and Connors has described its dream-like medieval ambiance as being a thematic precursor to Crosby's later song "Guinnevere". Fricke has also praised the instrumental interplay between the "church bell peal" of Crosby and McGuinn's guitars, and Hillman's melodic, loping bass, while describing the song as "a radiant evocation of a medieval festival, and by extension the sensual idealism of the hippie dream". Writing for the AllMusic website, critic Bruce Eder attempted to sum up the song's contemporary relevance by suggesting that it was "a topical song every bit as tied to real events as Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth'". In addition, Eder also described "Renaissance Fair" as "a perfect synthesis of the group's original electric-folk sound evolved into a new, more contemporary form of music and songwriting, almost hippie-folk music".

Another of Crosby's songwriting contributions to the album was the moody, jazz-influenced "Everybody's Been Burned", a somber meditation on the need to find a balance between disillusionment and resolute perseverance in a relationship. Although the song was regarded by many critics as a leap forward in terms of musical sophistication upon its release, it was actually written in 1962, two years before the formation of the Byrds. Originally written as a nightclub torch song, Crosby had recorded demos of "Everybody's Been Burned" as early as 1963. An acoustic recording of the song by Crosby, dating from this pre-Byrds period, was eventually released on the archival album Preflyte Plus in 2012. Author Johnny Rogan has stated that the Byrds' recording of the song features one of Crosby's best vocal performances and one of McGuinn's most moving guitar solos, while critic Thomas Ward described it as "one of the most haunting songs in the Byrds' catalogue, and one of David Crosby's finest compositions". Cash Box called it "a slow-moving, blues-drenched soft-rocker."

Crosby's ambitions for artistic control within the band were expanding along with his compositional skill, and the resulting turmoil would ultimately lead to his dismissal from the group during recording sessions for the Byrds' next album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers. One source of discontent for Crosby during the recording of Younger Than Yesterday was related to the Bob Dylan cover "My Back Pages". The song had been suggested as a suitable vehicle for the Byrds by their manager, Jim Dickson, but since it was the fourth song from Dylan's Another Side of Bob Dylan album that the band had covered, Crosby felt that recording "My Back Pages" was formulaic and a step backwards artistically. However, since the album's release, critics have praised the song as one of the Byrds' strongest Dylan interpretations.

Meanwhile, Crosby insisted upon the inclusion of the contentious track "Mind Gardens", which was disliked by the other band members and derided by McGuinn as having no "rhythm, meter, or rhyme". In conversation with Byrds biographer Johnny Rogan in 1980, Crosby defended the song by stating, "it was unusual and not everybody could understand it because they'd never heard anything like it before. At that time everything was supposed to have rhyme and have rhythm. And it neither rhymed nor had rhythm, so it was outside of their experience. It was just a little story and what it said was true ... if you build walls around your mind to keep out the abuse and harshness of life and the pain, then you also shut out the joy and the love." Although "Mind Gardens" is often dismissed by critics and fans for being self-indulgent, Rogan has commented that its raga rock ambiance, symbolic lyrics and attractive backwards guitar effects capture the Byrds at their most creatively ambitious.

Crosby also fought to have the song "Why" (co-written with McGuinn) included on the album, despite it having already been issued as the B-side of the band's "Eight Miles High" single, some eleven months earlier. However, the version of "Why" included on Younger Than Yesterday was recorded during sessions for that album and is a totally different take from the previously released B-side version. Exactly why Crosby insisted on resurrecting the song, when there was newer original material in reserve, remains a mystery, although the Byrds' roadie, Jimmi Seiter, has speculated that it was an attempt to increase Crosby's share of the songwriting on the album. Author Peter Lavezzoli has remarked that "Why" features verses with a chord structure reminiscent of "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vandellas and a raga-flavored lead guitar solo inspired by the music of sitarist Ravi Shankar. However, Rogan has described the song's Indian classical music influences as being considerably watered down on the re-recording, when compared to the earlier B-side version.

## Release and reception

Younger Than Yesterday was released on February 6, 1967 in the United States (catalogue item CL 2642 in mono, CS 9442 in stereo) and April 7, 1967 in the UK (catalogue item BPG 62988 in mono, SBPG 62988 in stereo). It peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, during a stay of 24 weeks, and reached number 37 in the United Kingdom, spending a total of 4 weeks on the UK chart. The album's front cover featured a composite multiple exposure photograph of the band, taken by Frank Bez.

The album was preceded by the "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" single, which was released on January 9, 1967 and reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, but failed to chart in the UK. Two additional singles taken from the album, "My Back Pages" and "Have You Seen Her Face", reached number 30 and number 74 on the Billboard chart respectively, but again missed the UK chart. The "My Back Pages" single was the last single release by the Byrds to reach the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.

### Contemporary reception

Upon release, the album received mostly positive reviews from the music press, with Billboard magazine predicting that "the Byrds will be riding high on the LP charts again with this top rock package." Pete Johnson in the Los Angeles Times was more cautious, noting that "the album is a good one, but it would be sad if it served as a monument, marking the end of the Byrds' development. There is little to distinguish it from their previous LPs in terms of creativity." A resoundingly positive review came from the pen of Peter Reilly, writing in Hi-Fi/Stereo Review, who described the record as "an enjoyable and well-made album which, if listened to closely enough, explains a good deal about what is going on around us".

However, the burgeoning underground press in the U.S. was less complimentary, with Richard Goldstein of The Village Voice writing that "There is nothing new or startling on Younger Than Yesterday." A slightly more favorable review by Sandy Pearlman in Crawdaddy! expressed some reservations, but praised the album's musical eclecticism, while noting "This sound is dense, but not obviously and impressively complicated. That is, it is very coherent. It works because of its unity, not out of an accumulation of contrasting effects such as volume changes and syncopations."

In the UK, journalist Penny Valentine, writing in Disc magazine, described the album as a return to form for the Byrds, before declaring that the band were "back where they belong with a sound as fresh as cream and sunflowers". Melody Maker was also enthusiastic about the album, commenting, "if you ignore this album you are not only foolish – but deaf!" Record Mirror awarded the album four stars out of five, while Allen Evans of the NME enthused: "This is an exciting album, at times brash and noisy ('So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star', 'Have You Seen Her Face'), spooky (the science-fiction outer-space sounds on 'C.T.A.-102'), folksy ('Everybody's Been Burned'), weird (the irritating, monotonous backing to 'Mind Gardens'), and pleasant (the soft swinging of 'The Girl with No Name'). A lot of thought has gone into this album and it's good because of it."

Author Peter Buckley attempted to evaluate Younger Than Yesterday's contemporary impact more than 30 years after the fact in his 1999 book The Rough Guide to Rock: "The album had room for everything from Hugh Masekela's trumpet to droning sitar-like riffs, a brew that may've been too rich for the Byrds' rapidly shrinking teen audience, but was perfectly in tune with a new underground following who disdained hit singles but were coming to regard albums as major artistic statements."

### Modern reception

Although Younger Than Yesterday was somewhat overlooked by the record-buying public at the time of its release, achieving only moderate chart success as a result, its critical stature has grown substantially over the years. In his 2003 book Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock, Richie Unterberger states that Younger Than Yesterday "was [the Byrds'] best album besides Mr. Tambourine Man, and more progressive in many ways". The author goes on to say that the album and its follow-up are "now revered as two of the great 1960s albums by historians and fans", while also acknowledging that "at the time, though, the Byrds were considered by many to be waning." Unterberger also praised the album in his review for the AllMusic website, describing it as one of "the most durable of the Byrds' albums".

Rock critic David Fricke, writing for Rolling Stone magazine in 2007, called Younger Than Yesterday "the Byrds' first mature album, a blend of space-flight twang and electric hoedown infused with the imminent glow of 1967 yet underlined with crackling realism". Critic John Nork gave the album a glowing review on the Analogue Planet website, calling it "a scrumptious smorgasbord of eclectic musical styles and groundbreaking innovation", before concluding that "in every sense, Younger Than Yesterday is an utterly brilliant album, arguably the Byrds' best." Alan Bisbort, writing in the book Rhino's Psychedelic Trip, described Younger Than Yesterday as "an essential snapshot of an incense-scented, acid-drenched world in motion: a kaleidoscope whose every turn yielded some fantastic window on the age".

In 2003, the album was ranked at number 124 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. When the list was revised in 2012, to accommodate a number of albums released since 2003, Younger Than Yesterday was repositioned at number 127. It was voted number 197 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).

### CD reissues

Younger Than Yesterday was issued on Compact Disc for the first time by Edsel Records in 1987. It was later reissued by Columbia in the U.S. in 1989 and in the UK in 1993. It was then remastered at 20-bit resolution and reissued (with three of its tracks remixed) in an expanded form on April 30, 1996, as part of the Columbia/Legacy Byrds series. The Columbia/Legacy reissue featured six bonus tracks, including "Lady Friend" and "Old John Robertson", which had both been issued on a non-album single in July 1967. The remastered CD also included the David Crosby-penned track "It Happens Each Day", which had been omitted from the original album, and "Don't Make Waves", a song that had been written and recorded by the Byrds for the 1967 Alexander Mackendrick film Don't Make Waves. The final track on the Columbia/Legacy CD extends to include a hidden track featuring the guitar parts from "Mind Gardens", which were heard on the album playing backwards, but are presented here playing forwards, as they were recorded.

In 2011, the audiophile record label Audio Fidelity released the original mono mix of Younger Than Yesterday on CD for the first time, remastered by audio engineer Steve Hoffman. The mono version of the album was reissued again, along with its stereo counterpart and three bonus tracks, on a single Blu-spec CD in Japan in 2012.

## Track listing

### Side one

### Side two

### 1996 CD reissue bonus tracks

## Singles

1. "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" b/w "Everybody's Been Burned" (Columbia 43987) January 9, 1967 (US: number 29)
2. "My Back Pages" b/w "Renaissance Fair" (Columbia 44054) March 13, 1967 (US: number 30)
3. "Have You Seen Her Face" b/w "Don't Make Waves" (Columbia 44157) May 22, 1967 (US: number 74)

## Personnel

Adapted from So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-By-Day (1965–1973), The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited, the compact disc liner notes, and other online sources:

Credits include bonus tracks on CD and digital releases of the album.

The Byrds

- Jim McGuinn – lead guitar, vocals
- David Crosby – rhythm guitar, vocals
- Chris Hillman – electric bass, vocals (acoustic guitar on "It Happens Each Day")
- Michael Clarke – drums

Additional personnel

- Hugh Masekela – trumpet (on "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" and "Lady Friend")
- Cecil Barnard (Hotep Idris Galeta) – piano (on "Have You Seen Her Face")
- Jay Migliori – saxophone (on "Renaissance Fair")
- Vern Gosdin – acoustic guitar (on "Time Between")
- Clarence White – guitar (on "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name")
- Daniel Rey (Big Black) – percussion

## Release history

### Remix information

Younger Than Yesterday was one of four Byrds albums that were remixed as part of their re-release on Columbia/Legacy. The reason for these remixes was explained by Bob Irwin (who produced these re-issues for compact disc) during an interview with ICE magazine in 1996:

> The first four Byrds albums had sold so well, and the master tapes used so much that they were at least two, if not three generations down from the original. In most cases, a first-generation master no longer existed. They were basically played to death; they were worn out, there was nothing left of them.

He further stated:

> Each album is taken from the original multi-tracks, where they exist, which is in 95% of the cases. We remixed them exactly as they were, without taking any liberties, except for the occasional song appearing in stereo for the first time.