For Your Love – Today’s classic song and a couple of interesting covers. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #TheYardbirds #FleetwoodMac #TheGregKihnBand

Today’s song has the distinction of altering music history in a positive way. ‘For Your Love’ was a massive hit for The Yardbirds in 1965. Released 54 years ago today, it went to #1 in the U.K. and Canada. The song was a departure from The Yardbirds regular blues – based roots and as a result it drove Eric Clapton right out of the group. Clapton was heavily influenced by the blues and the idea of moving in a commercial direction, recently charted by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones was not something he wanted to explore. I will get back to Eric Clapton later. The evolution of this song is interesting, as commercial as it was, because it came from a relative unknown songwriter who wanted to follow the Beatles formula.

‘For Your Love’ was written by Graham Gouldman. Gouldman was a 19 year old aspiring songwriter who was inspired by the Beatles. He worked days in a men’s clothing shop and spent nights playing in a band, ironically called The Mockingbirds. During quiet time in the shop he would work at writing the next big hit single. He used the formula of the day as his guide. A simple hook for a title based on a man’s love for a woman combined with a catchy guitar riff and a driving beat. The result was ‘For Your Love’. When he finished the song he shopped it around to two local record companies, but received little interest. Graham Gouldman’s manager, Harvey Lisberg loved the song and his initial plan was to try to sell it to the Beatles. Gouldman was a little more realistic, thinking that the Beatles seemed to be doing alright on their own. Ultimately, they passed the song onto a publisher named Ronnie Beck of Friedman’s who had a plan that involved giving the song to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hammersmith Odeon. It was never presented to the Beatles but this pre-Christmas show in 1964 also included The Yardbirds. Ronnie Beck played the demo for their manager Giorgio Gomelsky and the members of the band. As the saying goes, the rest is music history.

The Yardbirds had some reservations about the recording. The bands organist Brian Auger is on record as to wondering;

Who in their right mind is going to buy a pop single with harpsichord on it?”

Brian Auger

Eric Clapton played a limited role in the recording and based on his concern related to the direction of the group, left between the time the song was recorded and its ultimate release. Clapton’s replacement would be none other than Jimmy Page.

Clapton would go on to join the legendary John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. This would give way to Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos and multiple groundbreaking solo releases with musical collaborations that are jaw dropping in their display of talent.

As much as ‘For Your Love’ created a bit of controversy within the Yardbirds world it did go on to be a monumental song in terms of production and the potential of the rock and roll sound. Like Brian Auger said…the harpsichord? But it worked and that sound took off for a period. ‘For Your Love’ was covered by some interesting acts down through the years. Here is the 1973 edition of Fleetwood Mac doing their version. This pre – Buckingham/Nicks release features Bob Weston and Christine McVie on vocals and Weston on slide guitar and Bob Welch on lead guitar. One of many incarnations of the ongoing Fleetwood Mac journey. This is fantastic though.

In 1980 the Greg Kihn Band release a handful of catchy rock songs. They received some reasonable airplay but they never quite got over the hump. Here is their version of ‘For Your Love’.