The Yardbirds, For Your Love

We started with crows this week, first by counting them and then by tagging along with one and a “vending machine repair man.” And just when we thought we were done with crows, they got “Jealous again.” So, the next logical step was to look for more yard birds. I don’t know if you get crows in your yard. Our black yard birds are usually starlings and grackles. Today I had robins, house finches, and even waxwings (for the first time since last year!) in the berry bushes.

Image from Bradford Timeline

What kind of yard birds do you have? I’d love to know in the comments. When we went to visit Jeff in Gainesville, we saw Boat-tailed Grackles, Anhinga, and even Mississippi Kites near the hotel. One of the main reasons for my wanting to play music by today’s band, though is because it takes me back to my childhood by reminding me of the mix of rock, blues, and psychedelic music that my older brothers listened to.

“For Your Love,” was their first hit that charted in the top ten in both the US and the UK. It’s also the song that marks the beginning of the change over from Eric Clapton to Jeff Beck on guitar. Rumor is that Beck disliked the song and the general move away from their originally more bluesy sound.

Speaking of sound, when they asked Brian Auger to play on this single, he wasn’t expecting that the only keyboard in the studio would be a two-tiered harpsichord, but he played it anyway. The whole session only lasted a few hours and on the way home Auger said to himself, “Who in their right mind is going to buy a pop single with harpsicord on it?”

And here we are. The Yardbirds from 1965 and their biggest hit, “For Your Love.”

Immigrant Song, Thor meets Led Zeppelin

We’ve done a few deep dives this week, so I’ll try to make our Friday Song of the Day intro more simple. When I brought this song up at work, it was Atticus Ross’s version with Trent Reznor and Karen O that came to mind for Mitch. That amazing cover appeared in 2011 over the credits of the film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Over the previous decade, the Led Zeppelin original from 1970, highlighting Jack Black’s participation, was featured in the movie School of Rock in 2003, and in 2007 it was a battle cry in Shrek the Third.

So, this number has had some serious staying power in popular culture. It’s most recent reappearance was in 2017 with Thor, his “friend from work,” The Hulk, Loki, and a cast of . . . is it thousands or hundreds? I don’t remember, let’s watch the scene. Happy Friday. Remember, as the students at the library like to tell me, “You slay.”