“Over Under, Sideways Down” by The Yardbirds
I wanted to choose “Over, Under, Sideways, Down” for my first song in the theme because Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton were all in the Yardbirds at one time. I had no idea they were until I started listening to Jeff Beck and did some research.
5songpjct: I would think that the Yardbirds would have gotten some radio play, but the rest of the songs you chose sound pretty obscure to be played on mainstream radio. How did you hear these songs for the first time?
Dad: The Yardbirds were pretty mainstream. We were getting most of our music off of AM radio in Chicago. The Beatles we heard from a countdown on WLS, I think it was. It was a top three countdown and for a long time the top three songs were always the Beatles. After awhile other bands would break into this top three. I am not sure if the Yardbirds ever made the top three, but their songs were good for the radio because they never did anything that was too long. Anything over three minutes was too long for the radio, they just didn’t get played. AM radio is how I was exposed to all of the music I listened to then.
5songpjct: Was it a Dick Clark type of format on AM or was it like how AM is now, where it is a random person who plays music that they like for an hour?
Dad: AM was an industry. The stations had music that they had to play. I think it was Dick Biondi that was the DJ that had the top three countdown. It was on at nine o’clock at night. This is how I heard the Yardbird’s “Shape of Things.” It was one of their first songs on the radio in the States. I liked “Over Under Sideways Down” more than all of the songs they did at that time. It was the British Invasion. American musicians weren’t playing music like that. The British bands kept sending music to the U.S. and it was mostly good. The Yardbirds were a different breed. They exposed me to British guitarists. Looking back it was interesting that three of the best guitarists came out of that group.
5songpjct: I kind of went down a Yardbirds rabbit hole last night. I only remember hearing “For Your Love” before you gave me your five songs. I saw the video on YouTube, of them in a scene from Antonioni’s Blow Up performing “Stroll On,” I really like that song.
Dad: It is really hard to pick a song from them, I think what spoke to me the most in “Over Under Sideways Down” is the guitar riffs. Most guys my age wanted to be the lead guitarist in a band. So when I heard that music it was air guitar city. That sound got me hooked on good guitarists. The Yardbirds did a ton of good music.
5songpjct: Do you feel like the Yardbirds were a gateway band to the stuff that you like now?
Dad: They were a gateway band to the guitarists who ended up starting their own groups. Jimmy Page in Zeppelin, Eric Clapton was Cream and Blind Faith, and Jeff Beck had the Jeff Beck Group with several different line-ups. The Yardbirds were a gateway to them, the guitarists. Once I listened to the Yardbirds and they broke up, I started following Beck, Page, and Clapton.
Jeff Beck changed what a guitar could sound like, that is why “Over Under Sideways Down” has that tinny kind of whiny sound. But I liked it. Back then I am sure they were using less sophisticated equipment. It wasn’t like now where you can just push a button to change the sound.
“Over Under Sideways Down” spoke to me “Cars and Girls are easy to come by in this day and age” when you are a fifteen year old kid you hear those lyrics and you were like “All Right!” That’s how the song starts out. It was a simple life, it isn’t a emotionally complex song, I think it is written for guys. Fifteen was about the time you started paying attention to girls and cars. I was close to getting my license when I first heard this song.
5songpjct: Now that you are rebuilding your record collection, do you have any Yardbirds albums?
Dad: I don’t. It was all singles we heard on the radio and not complete albums. I used to have the singles, but I got rid of them. They were mono, so they sounded tinny. I think I was more into the Beatles at that time, everybody was. I guess to start with these songs is odd because there are thousands and thousands of songs that I like and hundreds of groups that I think are great and so many genres of music that I listen to. I am sure now I will be adding The Yardbirds to my record collection 2.0.
NEXT UP…Clapton (Yardbirds member from 1936-1965)