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For Your Love (WORD)
For Your Love (PDF)
YOU CAN PLAY ALONG IN THE SAME KEY AS THE FIRST RECORDING - just be aware of the tempo change in the bridge! The 2nd video is in Dm.
"For Your Love" almost didn't get recorded by The Yardbirds. Gouldman, 18 at the time, wrote it for his own group The Mockingbirds, but their demo was turned down by Columbia. It's also believed that producer Mickie Most turned it down on behalf of Herman's Hermits and that the Animals also turned it down. The song found its way to The Yardbirds after their manager ran into the fledgling songwriter Gouldman when the Yardbirds were opening for The Beatles at a 1964 Christmas show. Gouldman loved how The Yardbirds would change tempo in the middle of a song, which is how he wrote "For Your Love." On The Yardbirds official site, bass player Chris Dreja said: "We owe a lot to that song because it sort of pulled us out from national to international and set the template for us - that time change in the middle, the weirdness of it."
The Yardbirds recorded "For Your Love" at the IBC Studios in London on 1 February 1965. The majority of the song was recorded with singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty backed by session musician Ron Prentice on bowed bass, Denny Piercy on bongos, and Brian Auger on harpsichord. Guitarists Eric Clapton and Chris Dreja perform only during the song's middle break section. This is one of the most famous rock songs to feature a harpsichord, which was arranged by Yardbirds bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, who made wholesale changes to Graham Gouldman's original demo. Gouldman observed to Uncut magazine August 2009: "The harpsichord was an absolute stroke of genius. The record just had a weird, mysterious atmosphere about it."
Released in March 1965, it was the Yardbirds first top ten hit in both the UK and the US. The song was a departure from the group's blues roots in favour of a commercial pop rock sound. Guitarist Eric Clapton disapproved of the change and it influenced him to leave the group. The Yardbirds didn't have a lot of hits, but were one of the most influential and original bands of the '60 and an easy pick for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which they entered in 1992.