Take Five: Yardbirds Greats You Might Have Missed

The Yardbirds came together in 1963. The band’s original run – not counting reunions and that time they changed their name to New Yardbirds and then to Led Zeppelin – was ‘63 to 1968. During that time, the band released two albums in its home United Kingdom, and four (or five if you count a best-of) in the U.S. Despite their messy and confusing discography and revolving-door membership, the group turned out more than its share of enduring classics. The band’s second, third and fourth lead guitarists would all go on to greater fame, but the music that Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page helped create has stood the test of time. On the occasion of the 60-year anniversary of the release of For Your Love (the band’s U.S. debut LP), here are five great tracks you might have missed from The Yardbirds.

“Turn Into Earth” from Roger the Engineer (1966)
Early Yardbirds tracks emphasized the band’s blues roots; guitarist Clapton left the group when he felt The Yardbirds were turning into a more commercial outfit with songs like “For Your Love.” But after Clapton left, the group pursued both mainstream and adventurous directions. “Turn Into Earth” features a haunting, psychedelic arrangement – and more of the Gregorian chant-styled vocals found on “Still I’m Sad”. The tune was also memorably covered by singer-songwriter Al Stewart as a b-side to his 1966 single “The Elf.” (Fun fact: Jimmy Page played guitar on Stewart’s recording.)

“White Summer” from Little Games (1967)
By the time of Little Games, Page was leading the group. Included on the album was a guitar-and-Indian instrumentation piece, “White Summer.” The song would become a live showpiece; Page played it often in Led Zeppelin concerts; he even featured it as a solo spot years later when touring with his ‘80s group The Firm.

“Think About It” B-side of “Goodnight, Sweet Josephine (1968)
The final release from The Yardbirds’ original run was a non-charting 1968 single. Its B-side featured a song that strongly hinted the direction which Jimmy Page would pursue with the group he initially called The New Yardbirds. “Think About It” even features some licks that would turn up on a song they didn’t release, “I’m Confused” aka “Dazed and Confused.” The track finally surfaced as an album track on an expanded reissue of Little Games in 1992.

“You Stole My Love” from Cumular Limit (2000)
Graham Gouldman was never a member of The Yardbirds, though the band recorded songs he wrote. The most well-known is “For Your Love,” featuring Brian Auger on harpsichord. Another great Gouldman tune the band worked on – but did not finish nor release while together – was “You Stole My Love.” Small-world fun fact: the song was first recorded by Gouldman’s group The Mockingbirds, with memorable backing vocals from Julie Driscoll, Auger’s band mate in The Trinity.

“Dazed and Confused” from Cumular Limit (2000)
While “Dazed and Confused” is best known as an epic-length Led Zeppelin song, it dates from Page’s time with The Yardbirds. At that point it was sung by Keith Relf, and featured very different lyrics. The songwriter credit tells us the song was written by Jimmy Page, though in recent years that credit has been amended to note that it’s “inspired” by Jake Holmes, who also wrote for Frank Sinatra, The Four Seasons and others.