Who Wrote That Song? The Yardbirds' "For Your Love"!

So there I was in the garage doing a little woodworking, blasting some tunes on the stereo.  My shop is renowned for having some of the dustiest records in the tri-state area, which some might view as a hindrance when listening to vinyl, but that just makes every record sound like a live album, if you ask me.

I had just finished the criminally-ignored self-titled debut by Riggs, which is one of my favorite records of all time, and decided to give Greg Kihn's Glass House Rock (1980) a spin.  Like most folks, my familiarity with Kihn does not extend too far beyond the two songs for which he is best known, "Jeopardy" and "The Break Up Song".  Thanks to Reckless Records, one dollar was all that kept me from changing that.

A quick scan of the titles and songwriting credits revealed a song called "For Your L"For Your ove" at the end of side two.  The writing credit "G. Gouldman" immediately jumped out at me.

It can't be THE G. Gouldman, as in Graham Gouldman, can it?  He, of course, is a member of 10cc, who didn't appear on the scene until 1973.  "For Your Love", after all, had been a hit for the Yardbirds in 1965, but a quick Wiki confirmed that, indeed, Graham Gouldman was the writer of arguably the Yardbirds biggest hit and signature tune.

It gets weirder.

Gouldman had written the song as a member of The Mockingbirds, who in 1965, landed the coveted slot of warm-up band for BBC's "Top of The Pops".  They were only a few shows into their tenure when the Yardbirds appeared on the show to perform...drumroll please..."For Your Love", which would go on to hit #1 on the UK charts (and #6 in the US).

The Yardbirds next single would come four months later and it, too, would go on to become one of their career-defining signature hits.  The song was "Heart Full Of Soul", which was written by...let's see here...hard to read while the record is spinning ...  "G. Gouldman".

Of course, being a child of the '80s, I was vaguely familiar with 10cc, but did put two and two together when I purchased the Ramones' Pleasant Dreams in 1981.  It was their first album after the lukewarm success of the Phil Spector-produced End Of The Century and continued the band's commercial slump despite being jam-packed with should-be hits like "We Want The Airwaves", "The KKK Took My Baby Away", "She's A Sensation", "Come On Now", and "Don't Go".