How a song intended for The Beatles became The Yardbirds' biggest hit

23 August 2024, 13:08 | Updated: 28 August 2024, 16:00

The Yardbirds' 1965 breakthrough song 'For Your Love' was offered out to The Beatles first. Picture: Getty

By Thomas Curtis-Horsfall

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It's not exactly like they required any help in the songwriting department.

Safe to say, there were two kinds of worlds when it comes to music - the one before The Beatles and the world after The Beatles.

Together Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were a perfect storm of effortless charm, graft and dedication, and unrivalled natural talent when it came to songwriting.

The powerhouse songwriting partnership of Lennon and McCartney spurred the boys from Liverpool to international stardom, to Beatlemania and beyond.

They remain the best-selling act of all time, scoring an unrivalled twenty number one singles on the US Billboard charts and eighteen number ones in the UK.

So, it's unlikely that the likely lads from Liverpool needed to bring outside influence for their imitable oeuvre, or would even accommodate such a suggestion.

But that very nearly happened with one particular song that went on to become the biggest hit for another burgeoning British band in the sixties.

The song? 'For Your Love', which found its way to The Yardbirds who made it a number three single in the UK and broke through to the US at the same time.

Graham Gouldman wrote songs for a number of groups such as The Yardbirds, The Hollies, Herman's Hermits, and Ohio Express before forming 10cc. (Photo by David Cairns/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Picture: Getty

'For Your Love' was written by a spritely 19-year-old musician Graham Gouldman, who was in his own group The Mockingbirds at the time.

Most music aficionados would know Gouldman as the singer and bassist of soft rock stalwarts 10cc however, the band he'd later form.

Inspired by the British Invasion bands of the era, Gouldman penned 'For Your Love', after obsessing over The Animals' timeless hit 'House Of The Rising Sun'.

"I really responded to that, it resonated with me. I became so enamoured with the [chord] sequence that I used it on the first two chords of 'For Your Love.'"

Unfortunately, The Mockingbirds' demo of the song was rejected by Columbia Records, with Herman's Hermits and The Animals initially turning down the opportunity to record it, though the former later included 'For Your Love' on their debut album.

Gouldman's manager at the time then had the incredulous idea of proposing the song to The Beatles for them to record.

For Your Love - Yardbirds

In a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock magazine, Gouldman recalled: "Oh, yeah. I mean, it was a ridiculous idea, really."

Gouldman was in attendance at the Another Beatles Christmas Show in 1964, which saw them perform over the course of two weeks at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

One of the support acts was the blues group The Yardbirds, whose manager ran into Gouldman and took a chance on taking on 'For Your Love'.

"Although as you know, every cloud has a silver lining. What happened was that the Yardbirds were supporting the Beatles in a Christmas show," Gouldman remembered.

"I think that gave the idea to our publisher, 'Well, the Beatles aren’t going to do it, but as it happens, the Yardbirds are looking for songs'."

"Whether that’s connected or not, I don’t know, but it seems like quite a coincidence that my manager at the time would suggest trying to place a song with the Beatles."

"That would have changed the course of history, wouldn’t it? Maybe it wouldn’t have been a hit for the Beatles and then we’re all fucked!"

The Yardbirds in 1964. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images). Picture: Getty

The Yardbirds recorded and released 'For Your Love' the next year, which saw them transform into a much more commercial prospect.

Gouldman then wrote two more of the band's hits 'Heart Full Of Soul' and 'Evil Hearted You' which were also top five hits for the band.

Their newfound commercial success did impact The Yardbirds negatively however, though started one of the most unique chain of events in rock music history.

Unhappy with their departure from pure blues music, Eric Clapton left The Yardbirds as their lead guitarist and joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers instead.

Needing a replacement, they hired Jeff Beck, who was later replaced by Jimmy Page who went on to form Led Zeppelin.

It's a funny old world, and one that could've been very different if The Beatles recorded 'For Your Love', no matter how much wishful thinking it might've been.