Music Blog

Eric, Jimmy & Jeff, Oh My!

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

This is Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag – Week 49 and we are
asked to choose a song by a group or solo artist whose
name begins with the letters X, Y or Z. This is my choice.

Short-lived but influential, my featured group blazed a trail for new genres and gave some of rock’s best guitarists their start. They began as a blues cover band, but their rave-ups and innovations in feedback and distortion shaped such diverse genres as psychedelic rock, prog rock and punk.

They were the progenitors of psychedelic pop. Their sound inspired young Americans to pick up their guitars and head for the garage. They launched the careers of three of rock’s most celebrated guitarists and set the stage, halfway through the 60s, for the album-oriented hard rock of the 70s. There’s only one group that fits that description: The Yardbirds.

Formed in London in 1963, the Yardbirds were noted for their exploration of blues, rhythm and blues, and rock music. The group consisted of Keith Relf on vocals and harmonica, Paul Samwell-Smith on bass, Chris Dreja on rhythm guitar (and later bass when Samwell-Smith left the band), and Jim McCarty on drums.

The quintet achieved notice on the burgeoning British rhythm and blues scene when they took over as the house band at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, UK, succeeding the Rolling Stones. Their repertoire drew from the greatest names in Chicago blues …. Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James …. covering such blues classics as “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”, “I’m A Man”, and “The Train Kept A-Rollin”, just to name a few.

A defining characteristic of The Yardbirds was its revolving lineup of lead guitarists, starting with Eric Clapton (1963-1965), Jeff Beck (1965-1966), and lastly, Jimmy Page (1966-1968).

If you’ve come this far in my post and still don’t know about The Yardbirds or who these three guitar legends are, this may be a good time to FIND OUT.

The Yardbirds’ approach to music was instrumental in pushing the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll, notably influencing the development of hard rock and psychedelic rock genres. Known for their high-energy performances, they popularized the “rave-up” style, where a song builds in tempo and intensity, a technique that later found its way into heavy metal.

It was my very good luck to have seen The Yardbirds perform at the Anderson Theater in NYC in 1968 where they recorded the somewhat controversial Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page. In 1992, The Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Under the leadership of original founding member Jim McCarty, the band continues touring, performing, recording and kicking it.

With Eric Clapton on lead guitar, this is The Yardbirds with “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”

This is “I’m A Man” featuring Jeff Beck on lead guitar

With Jimmy Page on lead guitar, this is “Train Kept A Rollin’”

But the The Yardbirds’ biggest hit and the first song most people think of is this one from March, 1965 …. “For Your Love” .… featuring Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

Mixed Music Bag 2024 – week 49 – The Mod-father

Big thanks to Glyn Wilton for hosting Mixed Music Bag every week. Please be sure to follow the link and check out Glyn’s site.

Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

34 thoughts on “Eric, Jimmy & Jeff, Oh My!”

  2. How cool you got to see them live! ‘Course, I was only four when you went 😉

    It’s amazing when a band keeps on rocking and rolling with revolving members like this one. I think it’s part of their success!

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  8. Classic rock & roll! Some day I want to see what you’d do with Garage Rockers Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.

    “I go to bakeries all day long. There’s a lack of sweetness in my life…”

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  9. Great choice! Often overlooked, I think. And what a stellar group of lead guitarists, too … though I have never bought into the Clapton is God ethos. Yarbirds = Underrated; Clapton = Overrated.
    (There! I’ve said it. Hate me if you must. 😀 )

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  11. I love the Yardbirds , my favourite tracks are Over, under, sideways down and Evil hearted you. They were an amazing group and as you say a starting point for so many great artists.

    As I have told you before I saw them as supporting group to the Stones at the Al

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    1. Thanks, Dawg! So pleased you enjoyed this! I was lucky to be born at a time when going to concerts was cheap and easy. Living in NYC, we had access to so many venues, especially the Fillmore East, and we saw more live performances that I ever thought possible. I’ve led a charmed and fun life with no regrets.

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