Yardbirds – "Dazed and Confused" (1968)

Secrets are fun to a certain degree

But this one's no fun, 'cause the secret's on me

Once again, 2 or 3 lines has delivered.  I promised you nine consecutive narcissism-less posts, and that's exactly what I gave you.

Today, we complete the journey we started three weeks ago when we featured the Yardbirds' cover of "I'm Not Talking" by coming full circle to the Yardbirds and their cover of "Dazed and Confused" -- via the Misunderstood, Mose Allison, Sonny Boy Williamson II, the Who, Led Zeppelin, and Jake Holmes.

The Yardbirds never recorded Jake Holmes's song, "Dazed and Confused," in the studio.  But there are several recordings of them performing the song live before they disbanded in 1968.  

The Yardbirds left some of Holmes's lyrics as they were, but changed other lines.

For example, in the original "Dazed and Confused," the second lines of both the first and the last verses begin with this question: "Am I being choosed?"

I think that's a brilliant little touch – the singer is so dazed and confused by the mind games being played on him by the (female) object of his affections that correct grammar goes right out the window.

But the Yardbirds' lead singer, Keith Reif, never sang "Am I being choosed?" when they performed the song.  I'm guessing the group thought that line would be misunderstood by their audiences.

The Jimmy Page-era Yardbirds

After the Yardbirds broke up, lead guitarist Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin, which recorded "Dazed and Confused" with entirely new lyrics – except for the words of the song's title.

The arrangement was recognizable as the same basic arrangement as the Yardbirds used.  That's not surprising since Page was largely responsible for the Yardbirds' arrangement.  But I think most people would say that Jake Holmes's "Dazed and Confused" is the same song as Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused."

But Led Zeppelin did not give a songwriting credit to Jake Holmes.  And although Holmes heard Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" shortly after it was released, he didn't do anything about it for for more than a decade.  

And when Holmes did finally write to Page to ask for a shared songwriting credit and some do-re-mi, he never heard back.

Led Zeppelin has been sued several times for copyright infringement.  In 1985, veteran blues musician Willie Dixon sued the band, alleging that "Whole Lotta Love" infringed two of Dixon's songs.  (The case was settled out of court.)  And only last year, the estate of the late Randy California claimed that "Stairway to Heaven" infringed California's composition, "Taurus," which was recorded by the band Spirit in 1967.

Holmes finally sued Page in 2010.  His complaint was eventually dismissed – probably because the two parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement.  

While the terms of any such settlement have never been released, it appears that Holmes won at least a partial victory.  The Led Zeppelin reunion concert album, Celebration Day – which was released several months after the presumed settlement of the Holmes lawsuit – contains this songwriting credit for "Dazed and Confused":  "Jimmy Page; inspired by Jake Holmes."

To read more about the controversy over the authorship of "Dazed and Confused," click here – or click here -- or click here – or better yet, click on all three.

The Yardbirds on "Bouton Rouge"

Click here to watch a wonderful video of the Yardbirds performing "Dazed and Confused" on a French television show called Bouton Rouge ("Red Button").  

Click below to buy the song from Amazon:

Jake Holmes – "Dazed and Confused" (1967)

Give me a clue as to where I am at

I feel like a mouse, and you act like a cat

I closed the last 2 or 3 lines by stating that Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" may be the best track on the best rock album in history.

And I'm opening this 2 or 3 lines by stating that the lyrics to Jake Holmes's "Dazed and Confused" – which was released in June 1967 – are far superior to the lyrics of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" (which was recorded over a year later).

Jake Holmes

In fact, those lyrics are so good that I had a hard time deciding whether to open this post with the first verse (which is quoted above) or the last verse, which I will quote here:

I'm dazed and confused, and it's all upside down

Am I being choosed?  Do you want me around?

Secrets are fun to a certain degree

But this one's no fun, 'cause the secret's on me

"Dazed and Confused" was released on "The Above Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes, his 1967 debut album.  The ten songs on the album feature Holmes's vocals, two guitars, and a bass, but no drums.

Holmes released an album every year from 1967 to 1971, but none were very successful.  He also wrote songs for the Four Seasons and Frank Sinatra, but was most successful as an advertising jungle writer: his most famous jingles are "Be All That You Can Be" (for the U.S. Army) and "I'm a Pepper" (for Dr. Pepper).

Holmes opened for the Yardbirds at the Village Theatre in New York City on August 25, 1967.  Holmes performed "Dazed and Confused" that night, which he later described as the night that his song "fell into the loving arms of Jimmy Page" – who was then the lead guitarist of the Yardbirds.

The Yardbirds' drummer, Jim McCarty, said years later that he was so impressed by "Dazed and Confused" that he bought the Holmes album the next day so the group could work up a cover of the song.  

The author of a book about the Yardbirds quotes a man who says he saw Jimmy Page himself buying the Holmes album at a particular record store on Bleecker Street.

The next 2 or 3 lines will feature the Yardbirds' cover of "Dazed and Confused."  

Here's the original recording of that song.  It's fabulous, but it's very quiet at times – so turn up the volume!

Click below to buy the song from Amazon.

Led Zeppelin – "Dazed and Confused" (1969)

Been dazed and confused for so long it's not true
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you

The Yardbirds went through three of the greatest guitarists in rock music history – Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page – in their five-year history.

When Clapton decided to leave the Yardbirds in 1965, Page was asked if he wanted to replace him.  Page declined the offer but recommended his friend Beck, and Beck was hired.

Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck

In May 1966, Beck went into the studio to do some solo recording.  He called on Page to help him work up some songs to record.  

Page came up with the idea of basing an instrumental on Maurice Ravel's famous 1928 composition, Boléro (which became enormously popular when it was featured in the Bo Derek movie, 10).

Beck then recruited disaffected Who members Keith Moon and John Entwistle to play drums and bass.  Moon showed up for the session, but Entwistle did not, and John Paul Jones – who later joined Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin – played bass instead.

Keith Moon

The recording of "Beck's Bolero" went so well that Beck, Page, Moon, and Jones talked about forming a group and doing more recording.  According to Page, Moon quipped "Yeah, that'll go down like a lead Zeppelin," which gave Page the idea for the name of the group he did form after the eventual breakup of the Yardbirds.  (John Entwistle has also claimed credit for the quip.) 

Page got the songwriting credit for "Beck's Bolero," although Beck later said that he should have shared that credit.  Page also claimed that he was the record's actual producer, but he did not get the producing credit.

Click here to read more about "Beck's Bolero."

After "Beck's Bolero" was recorded, Page was invited to join the Yardbirds.  During the few months when both Beck and Page were in the group, Beck played lead guitar and Page shifted to bass.

The only comparable situation that comes to mind is seven-time All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez shifting to third base when he joined the Yankees, leaving shortstop to Derek Jeter.

A-Rod and the Captain

The popularity of the Yardbirds was declining by the fall of 1966, when Beck was fired from the band and Page took over as lead guitarist.  

The band finally broke up in July 1968.  Drummer Jim McCarty and singer Keith Reif authorized Page and bassist Chris Dreja to put together a new group – to be called the New Yardbirds – to fulfill a contractual commitment to play a series of shows in Scandinavia that fall.

Page wanted Terry Reid to be the new group's lead singer.  Reid said no, suggesting that Page use Robert Plant instead.  Plant then recommended his former Band of Joy bandmate, John Bonham, to be the drummer.  When Dreja decided to drop out of the new group, Page recruited John Paul Jones -- the bassist on "Beck's Bolero."

The New Yardbirds played the Scandinavian dates, then went into the studio and recorded an album in just nine days.  Dreja threatened legal action if the group continued to call itself the New Yardbirds, so they became Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin

Atlantic Records signed them to a contract without ever having seen them perform.  The first Led Zeppelin album was released in January 1969, and the rest . . . is history.

That album included a song called "Dazed and Confused," which also was the title of a Jake Holmes song that the Yardbirds had covered a number of times in concert.  The title was not the only thing the two songs had in common.

There's a point to all this exposition.  Actually, there's more than one point.

For one thing, the previous 2 or 3 lines featured a Who song, and I needed to build a bridge between that song and Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused."

I'm also building a much longer bridge between the first post in this series – which featured the Yardbirds' cover of "I'm Not Talking" – and the last one, which will feature (spoiler alert!) the Yardbirds' cover of "Dazed and Confused."  

Finally, there's the issue of the songwriting credit for Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused," which we will turn to in the next 2 or 3 lines.

2 or 3 lines is truly a seamless web.  Nothing on 2 or 3 lines is there without reason.  (Mind blown!)

Here's "Dazed and Confused," which is arguably the best track on what is arguably the best rock album ever recorded.  (I can't prove that statement is true, but you can't prove it's not.)

Click below to buy the song from Amazon:

Yardbirds – "I'm Not Talking" (1965)

The things I say at midnight 

I ain't gonna say in daylight

(Actually, it's not the things I say at midnight that I worry about – it's the things I say at one in the morning, or two in the morning, or sometimes even later.)

The next nine installments of 2 or 3 lines are going to be all about the music.  (That's right – no tales of my misspent youth, no travelogues, no windy philosophizing.)  You think 2 or 3 lines is just a wildly successful pop music blog, and that it is.  But it's also a high-concept piece of performance art.

We'll feature three versions (the original and two covers) of three different songs.  (Three times three is nine, of course.)  One song is going to lead to the next, which will lead to the next . . . until we're back where we're starting – with the Yardbirds.

The original Yardbirds (1963)

The Yardbirds were ahead of their time . . . which wasn't necessarily a good thing for them.

They had five consecutive top-20 singles in the U.S. between April 1965 and June 1966 – all of which still sound great today – but none of their albums cracked the top 50, and they were miles behind the Beatles and Stones in popularity.

A few years later, the rock music landscape looked very different.  Rock groups focused more on albums than singles, and heavier, blues-inspired bands like Cream, the Jeff Beck Group, and especially Led Zeppelin were all the rage.

Cream's lead guitarist, Eric Clapton, got his start as a member of the Yardbirds.  He was succeeded as the band's lead guitarist by Jeff Beck, who was in turn replaced by Jimmy Page – the lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin, which he formed in 1968 when his fellow Yardbirds decided to pack it in.

Beck, Page, and Clapton

Clapton, Page, and Beck are #2, #3, and #5 (respectively) on Rolling Stone's "100 Top Guitarists List."  All three have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than once – Clapton as a member of the Yardbirds, as a member of Cream, and as a solo artist; Beck as a member of the Yardbirds and as a solo artist; and Page as a member of the Yardbirds and as a member of Led Zeppelin.  

"I'm Not Talking" was a cover of of a 1964 song written by jazz pianist/singer Mose Allison.  The Yardbirds' version was the second track on their first studio album, For Your Love. 

Most of the tracks on that album featured Eric Clapton, who had left the band several months before the album was released in June 1965.  But three of the tracks – including "I'm Not Talking" – were from Jeff Beck's first sessions with the Yardbirds.

"I'm Not Talking" has a devilishly irregular rhythmic structure.  I've spent considerable time trying to count it out, but it's been all for naught.  (If you think you've figured out how to notate it, please tell me what you've come up with – I'd love to see it.)

The next 2 or 3 lines will feature an even more complicated cover of "I'm Not Talking," and then we'll look at the Mose Allison original.  That will lead to a post about a Mose Allison cover of a different song, another cover of that song . . . anyway, we'll eventually get back to the Yardbirds.

So sit back and prepare to enjoy three full weeks of 100% narcissism-free 2 or 3 lines posts . . . promise!

Here's "I'm Not Talking" by the Yardbirds:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon:

Jeff Beck Group -- "Beck's Bolero" (1968)

You could say that the Yardbirds had some pretty good lead guitarists.  

Eric Clapton joined the band in late 1963.  Jeff Beck replaced him in May 1965.  Beck’s good friend, Jimmy Page, joined the band in 1966 – initially he played bass – and remained when the band gave Beck the boot later that year.  Rolling Stone ranked those guys as #2, #5, and #3 on their “100 Top Guitarists” list, respectively.  (Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards round out their top five.)

Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck

After he was fired by the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck formed the Jeff Beck Group.  Rod Stewart was the group’s lead singer and Ronnie Wood (who later joined the Rolling Stones) its rhythm guitarist. 

The most interesting song on the group's 1968 debut album, Truth -- an instrumental titled "Beck's Bolero" -- had been recorded in the spring of 1966 by Beck, Keith Moon of the Who, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones (a busy session musician who shortly thereafter joined forces with Jimmy Page to form Led Zeppelin), and Nicky Hopkins (best known for his keyboard work on several classic Rolling Stones albums).

For you guitar aficionados, Beck played a Gibson Les Paul guitar, while Page played a Fender Electric XII.

Jeff Beck playing a Gibson Les Paul guitar

Beck had hoped to record an entire album with this group, but contractual difficulties presented what might have been the ultimate supergroup album from getting off the ground.  (Damn lawyers!)

The rhythm of "Beck's Bolero" is modeled on the rhythm of Maurice Ravel's famous orchestral piece, "Boléro."  Jimmy Page ended up with the composer credit for the record, although Beck claimed that he came up with the guitar melody line and the second "hard rock" section of the song (which begins at about 1:38 with a scream and drum break by Keith Moon).  

"Beck's Bolero" was one of Jimi Hendrix's favorite tracks, and it inspired Duane Allman to learn to play slide guitar.

Here's "Beck's Bolero":

Click below to buy "Beck's Bolero" from Amazon: