Another song recorded during these sessions was McGuinn's "King Apathy III", a comment on political apathy and a championing of the rural idyll as an antidote to the excesses of the L.A. rock scene. The October recording sessions also saw the band attempting the traditional song "Old Blue", which McGuinn had originally learned from watching Bob Gibson and Bob Camp at Chicago's Gate of Horn club back in April 1961. "Old Blue" is the first of three dog-related songs to be recorded by the Byrds: the second and third being "Fido" from the "Ballad of Easy Rider" and "Bugler" from "Farther Along". "Old Blue" features the first appearance on a Byrds' recording of the Parsons and White designed StringBender, an invention that allowed White to duplicate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his Fender Telecaster.