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Graham Gouldman
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| Two of the most memorable songs which legendary British band The Yardbirds recorded in the mid-'60s, namely FOR YOUR LOVE and HEART FULL OF SOUL, written by singer/songwriter/producer Graham Gouldman.
The Yardbirds, whose line-up included Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith, Eric Clapton, Chris Dreja & Jim McCarty, were signed by manager Giorgio Gomelsky to EMI's Columbia label in 1964. Disillusioned with the direction that the band appeared to be taking, Eric left in early '65, just days before their single of FOR YOUR LOVE made its debut on the British charts.
Graham Gouldman's EMI connections had also begun in '64 when Whirlwind, a group he'd joined in his native Manchester, signed to HMV for one 45 which became a cover of Buddy Holly's "Look At Me".
Around the same time, two of Graham's schoolfriends, Kevin Godley & Lol Creme were in a band called The Sabres and when the future of The Whirlwinds looked doubtful, Graham started another group called The Mockingbirds. He retained Whirlwind-members Bernard Brasso & Steve Jacobsen and poached Kevin from The Sabres to play drums. UK Columbia signed The Mockingbirds and released two singles in early '65, though ironically, they had rejected FOR YOUR LOVE, the song which then wound up on a Yardbirds session.
FOR YOUR LOVE is a fine pop ballad in classic lovesong tradition ("I'd give you ev'rything and more and that's for sure/I'd bring you diamond rings and things right to your door") which steered The Yardbirds down a commercial road which was, to the young Clapton's defense, in complete contrast to the band's R&B roots. Keith Relf sang lead and the harpsichord was played by Brian Auger with Denny Piercy on bongos. (Brian was a session player then, some three years before his group The Trinity backed up Julie Driscoll on their classic cover of Dylan's "This Wheel's On Fire"). Other versions of FOR YOUR LOVE have included Nils Lofgren (A&M), Fleetwood Mac (Reprise), Apolonnia (Warner Bros) plus the teaming of Larry Williams and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson on OKeh.
HEART FULL OF SOUL has a great lyric sung originally over strident guitar figures with a hauntingly-echoed chorus. The words are plaintive yet insistent: "And I know, if she had me back again, I would never make her sad/I've got a heart full of soul". All this, plus Jeff Beck's guitar coming on like a deranged sitar...wonderful stuff! The song will always be vintage Yardbirds territory, but there've been some standout covers, particularly Chris Isaak on his debut, self-titled album on Warner Bros. in 1987.
Graham Gouldman was and is an outstanding pop songwriter...some of his other hits in Britain were equally impressive (PAMELA PAMELA by Wayne Fontana, EVIL HEARTED YOU also by The Yardbirds, NO MILK TODAY and LISTEN PEOPLE for fellow Mancurians Herman's Hermits, TALLYMAN for ex-Yardbird Jeff Beck, plus two Hollies hits, BUS STOP and LOOK THROUGH ANY WINDOW...and that was just in the 1960's!
In the 70's, Graham, along with Kevin Godley, Lol Creme & Eric Stewart were the highly-successful 10CC whose treasure-chest of hit copyrights includes RUBBER BULLETS, I'M NOT IN LOVE, DREADLOCK HOLIDAY and THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE. And in the 80's on RCA, Graham formed Wax with former Asylum solo recording artist, Andrew Gold; their recording of RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES was #1 in Spain for an astonishing 16 weeks!
Other EMI-published Graham Gouldman songs include: STRONGER (Gouldman/Barlow): a 1999 UK hit for Take That's Gary Barlow and the song TREACHERY (Gouldman/MacColl) recorded by the late Kirsty MacColl on her 2000 album "Tropical Brainstorm". In addition his songs have been covered by Suggs, Billy Myers, Joe Cocker, Chris Isaac, Morrissey, Pretenders, Cher, Four Tops, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Peggy Lee and Tori Amos.
Most recently Graham co-wrote I'VE GOT YOU which was on the #1 album by McFly.Biography courtesy of Alan Warner |
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| Bus Stop |
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| Evil Hearted You |
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| For Your Love |
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| Heart Full Of Soul |
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| I'm Not In Love |
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| Right Between The Eyes |
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| Rubber Bullets |
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| The Things We Do For Love |
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| The Yardbirds: UK #2 & US #9 single Heart Full Of Soul, UK #3 & US #6 single For Your Love, UK #3 single Evil Hearted You | | The Hollies: UK #4 & US Top 40 single Look Through Any Window, UK #5 & US #5 single Bus Stop | | Herman's Hermits: UK #7 & US Top 40 single No Milk Today, US #No #3 single Listen People and UK Top 40 single East West | Wayne Fontana's UK Top 20 single Pamela Pamela
Jeff Beck Group's UK Top 30 single Tallyman | | 10cc: UK #1 single Rubber Bullets, UK #1 single & US #2 single I'm Not In Love, UK #5 single Art For Art's Sake, UK #1 single Dreadlock Holiday | | Graham Gouldman: The Graham Gouldman Thing LP & Sunburn (Farrah Fawcett-Majors film title track) | | Wax: Right Between The Eyes & UK #12 Single Bridge To Your Heart | | McFly: I've Got You from #1 album Wonderland |
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Simon Abbott
