The song was written by Crosby in early 1967 at his home in Beverly Glen in Los Angeles. A demo of the song dating from this period, featuring Crosby accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, was included in the KPFA program The Crosby Connection, during the radio station's February 3, 2001 Grateful Dead marathon. The Byrds' recording of the song has a quick tempo and features chiming guitars, complex vocal harmonies, and brass, resulting in the fastest and rockiest single the Byrds had released up to that point. Crosby closely oversaw the protracted recording of the song, much to the consternation of his bandmates Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. Tensions in the band increased in the late stages of production when Crosby replaced Hillman and McGuinn's backing vocals with his own vocal overdubs. Crosby was hopeful that "Lady Friend" would return the Byrds to the upper reaches of the chart, but the record received insufficient airplay and media exposure, despite the band performing it on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and, ultimately, it failed commercially. Crosby was bitterly disappointed by the single's lack of success and cited producer Gary Usher's mixing of the song as a contributing factor, stating in a contemporary interview with disc jockey B. Mitchel Reed, "The final mix of 'Lady Friend' sounds like mush." The Byrds performed the song during their appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival and a recording of this performance can be found on the 1992 The Monterey International Pop FestivalCDbox set. The song was omitted from the Byrds' next album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, partly due to its lack of commercial success as a single and partly due to Crosby having been fired from the band by McGuinn and Hillman midway through the recording of the album.
Stereo mixes
Having initially been mixed in mono for its release as a single in 1967, "Lady Friend" wasn't released in stereo until its inclusion on the 1987 compilation album, Never Before. However, this version of the song also featured the addition of overdubbed drums, played by an unnamed session musician. Reaction to the new drumming on the song among fans was almost universally negative, with many feeling that the addition of then-modern sounding drums was completely inappropriate and incongruous. Subsequently, this doctored version of the song has not appeared on any other album release. A new stereo remix of the song, without the drum overdubs, was released on The Byrds box set in 1990. The song was also added as a bonus track to the 1996 Columbia/Legacy reissue of the Younger Than Yesterday album. In addition to its appearance on the expanded reissue of Younger Than Yesterday, "Lady Friend" also appears on several Byrds' compilations, including History of The Byrds, , The Essential Byrds, and There Is a Season.
Cover versions
"Lady Friend" has been covered by Little John, on their 1971 album, Little John, and by the Flamin' Groovies, on their 1979 album, Jumpin' in the Night. The song was also covered by Static on the 1989 Byrds' tribute album, Time Between – A Tribute to The Byrds. In 2001, the Posies released a version of the song as part of their Nice Cheekbones and a Ph.D EP. In addition, Kenny Howes has also recorded a version of the song as the title track of his 2004 album, Lady Friend. Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood also covered the song on their 1968 self titled album.
