 Although the basic idea for the song had been discussed during the band 's flight to England , it didn 't actually begin to take shape until the Byrds ' November 1965 tour of the U.S. To alleviate the boredom of traveling from show to show during the tour , Crosby had brought along cassette recordings of Ravi Shankar 's music and the John Coltrane albums Impressions and Africa / Brass , which were on constant rotation on the tour bus . The influence of these recordings on the band would manifest itself in the music of " Eight Miles High " and its B @-@ side " Why " . 
