For Your Love
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| "For Your Love" | ||||
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| File:For Your Love.jpg
Japanese single cover (the group name being ヤードバーズ in Japanese)
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| Single by The Yardbirds | ||||
| B-side | "Got to Hurry" | |||
| Released | February 1965[1] | |||
| Format | 7" 45 rpm | |||
| Recorded | December 1964 at IBC Studios, London, England[2] | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop[3] | |||
| Length | 2:30 | |||
| Label | Columbia (UK) Epic Records (US) | |||
| Writer(s) | Graham Gouldman | |||
| Producer(s) | Giorgio Gomelsky[2] | |||
| The Yardbirds singles chronology | ||||
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"For Your Love" is a 1965 single written by future 10cc member Graham Gouldman and performed by the British Invasion band The Yardbirds. It peaked at number three on UK Singles Chart,[4] and became their highest charting single in the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number six.[5]
Contents
Background
Gouldman wrote the song at the age of 19 while working by day in a gentlemen's outfitters near Salford Docks and playing by night with the semi-professional Manchester band the Mockingbirds. He said: "I was sleeping most of the time because I'd been gigging with the Mockingbirds the night before, and then during the day when I'd got any spare time I'd write in the shop. I used to shut up the shop at lunch time and sit in the back writing."[6]
Gouldman cited The Beatles as his influence by saying, "We went down to Denmark Street and went round all the publishers trying to find a song ... we didn't get any songs that we liked or we weren't given any songs period and the Beatles had started and I thought 'well, I’m gonna really have a crack at song-writing.' I had dabbled a bit, but they were really my inspiration and gave me and I think a lot of other people the courage to actually do it. We all wanted to be like the Beatles. I wrote two songs and the record company we were with turned down one of the songs. The song they turned down was 'For Your Love', which eventually found its way to the Yardbirds."[7]
Gouldman's manager, Harvey Lisberg, was so impressed by the song he told Gouldman they should offer it to the Beatles. "I said, 'I think they're doing alright in the songwriting department, actually," Gouldman recalled.[8] Undeterred, Lisberg gave a demo of the song to publisher Ronnie Beck of Feldman's, who took it to the Hammersmith Odeon, where the Beatles were performing. By coincidence the Yardbirds were also performing on a Christmas show at the venue and Beck played the song to their manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, and the band.[6]
In 1965, the Yarbirds began a regular warm-up spot for BBC TV’s Top of the Pops, transmitted from Manchester.[9] Gouldman recalled: "There was one strange moment when The Yardbirds appeared on the show doing 'For Your Love'. Everyone clamoured around them – and there I was just part of an anonymous group. I felt strange that night, hearing them play my song."[6]
Despite the success "For Your Love" gave the Yardbirds, it signalled the departure of guitarist Eric Clapton, who played on the track. Dismayed with the group's shift from R&B to pop, Clapton left to join John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.
Organist Brian Auger was asked to come in to play on the single. When he arrived at the recording studio they discovered that there was no organ, or even a piano, on site. They searched and all they could find was a two-tiered harpsichord. Auger crafted the intro and recorded the track. Upon leaving, he wondered, "Who, in their right mind, is going to buy a pop single with harpsichord on it."[10]
Cover versions
A cover version by Peter Blakely is featured in the 1990 film The Crossing.
The song was later recorded by Herman's Hermits, Humble Pie, The Greg Kihn Band, Nils Lofgren, Fleetwood Mac, Chilly, The Ace Kefford Stand, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Claudja Barry, Larry Williams, Tony Papa and the Theory[11] and Graham Gouldman himself.
Led Zeppelin played it several times during early concert tours between 1968 and 1969, which is audible on bootlegged material.
Krishna Das performs a kirtan version titled "Narayana/For Your Love" on his 2010 album, Heart as Wide as the World.
Chart performance
| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Singles (RPM)[12] | 1 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[13] | 3 |
| UK Singles (NME)[14] | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[5] | 6 |
| Ireland Irish Singles Chart | 10 |
Appearances in popular culture
The song was featured in the 1998 film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and in the 2009 film, The Boat That Rocked. The song was also performed by Chaka Khan and Michael McDonald as the opening theme song for the sitcom For Your Love.
See also
- "Bus Stop", also written by Graham Gouldman
- "Look Through Any Window", another Graham Gouldman penned song
References
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- ↑ Richie Unterberger, The Yardbirds: Profile, Allmusic. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
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- ↑ [1] Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
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- ↑ Video on YouTube
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- ↑ "April 1965/ Archive Chart: 17 April 1965" UK Singles Chart.
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