"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"

The Yardbirds - Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (1966)

Hard to find a good quality version of this audio. Hope this one works.



So let's get this out of the way right now. Yes, this is the Yardbirds, the band that had at least four different lead guitarists during it's brief 5 year run. Three of those guitarists went on to international super-stardom: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. No known recordings exist of Clapton playing with either of the others, but there was a brief period of time (June-October 1966) when Beck and Page were both in the band. Some of that time Jimmy Page was playing bass, other times he played lead while future Led Zeppelin cohort John Paul Jones played bass. Only one single had all three of these giants playing together; Jones on bass and Page and Beck on dual lead guitar. This is it.

This isn't quite "Acid Rock" as there are long instrumental breaks, but the song is short and there are a lot of lyrics. Think of it as proto-Acid. There's a lot of echo on all the vocals. That really adds to the psychedelic effect. The drummer, rhythm guitarist and bassist all keep the song moving along admirably, but the song is clearly in the book for the part at 1:45 where the other instruments head for the back, and Jeff Beck's spoken word part comes along over under and through the dueling guitarists.