 Contemporary reviews for the single were mostly positive , with Billboard magazine describing the song as a " Big beat rhythm rocker with soft lyric ballad vocal and off @-@ beat instrumental backing . " Record World magazine also praised the song , commenting " It 's an eerie tune with lyrics bound to hypnotize . Will climb heights . " In the UK , Music Echo described the song as " wild and oriental but still beaty " . The publication also suggested that with the release of " Eight Miles High " the Byrds had jumped ahead of the Beatles in terms of creativity , stating " [ By ] getting their single out now they 've beaten the Beatles to the punch , for Paul [ McCartney ] admitted recently that the Liverpool foursome are working on a similar sound for their new album and single . " In recent years , Richie Unterberger , writing for the Allmusic website , has described " Eight Miles High " as " one of the greatest singles of the ' 60s . " 
