For the most part, Mr. Tambourine Man consisted of two types of songs: band originals, primarily penned by Clark, who was the group's main songwriter during its first eighteen months of existence, and covers of then-modern folk songs, composed primarily by Dylan. The album opens with the Dylan-penned title track, which had been a big international hit for the group, prior to the album's release. Band biographer Johnny Rogan has stated that the two most distinctive features of the Byrds' rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man" are the vocal harmonies of Clark, McGuinn, and Crosby, and McGuinn's jangling twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar playing (which complemented the phrase "jingle jangle morning" found in the song's lyric). This combination of 12-string guitar work and complex harmony singing became the band's signature sound during their early period. Music critic Richie Unterberger has also commented that the success of the Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" saw an explosion of Byrds imitators and emulators with hits on the American and British charts during 1965 and 1966. Another Dylan cover, "All I Really Want to Do", was the first song to be recorded for the album, following the "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "I Knew I'd Want You" session. Melcher felt confident that the band's then-unissued debut single would be, at the very least, a regional hit, so he brought the Byrds back into the studio on March 8, 1965 to record a follow-up. This March 8 recording session yielded the version of "All I Really Want to Do" that appears on the album, but the song was re-recorded on April 14, and it was this later take that graced the A-side of the band's second Columbia single release. Another cover that stressed the band's folk music roots was Idris Davies and Pete Seeger's "The Bells of Rhymney". The song, which told the sorrowful tale of a coal mining disaster in Wales, was a relative newcomer to the band's repertoire at the time of recording, having only been worked up in March 1965, during the Byrds' residency at Ciro's nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Rogan has written that although the song had a somewhat sombre theme, it became one of the band's most popular numbers during their residency at Ciro's. The band's version of "The Bells of Rhymney" was also influential on the Beatles, particularly George Harrison, who co-opted McGuinn's guitar riff and incorporated it into his composition