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Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
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Wikipedia article
"'Happenings Ten Years Time Ago'" is a 1966 song by the English rock band the Yardbirds. It was the group's first song to feature the dual-lead guitar lineup of Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and is considered one of their most progressive works. However, it only made a modest showing in the record charts and ended the group's six Top 20 singles run in the UK and US.
Recording
The Yardbirds recorded "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" after the sessions for 'Yardbirds' (also known as 'Roger the Engineer' (UK) and 'Over Under Sideways Down' (US)). Paul Samwell-Smith, founding member and bassist, left the group in June 1966 to pursue record production full-time and was initially replaced by studio guitarist Jimmy Page.
However, by "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago", Page switched to second lead guitar alongside Jeff Beck.
Rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja took over on bass, although for the recording session musician John Paul Jones provided the bass. Beck, Page, and Jones had recorded earlier together for "Beck's Bolero" in May 1966. Drummer Jim McCarty added harmony vocal to singer Keith Relf's lead vocal.
During the guitar solo, Beck parodies some comments heard during the group's visit to a health clinic:
Charts and reception
"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" reached number 30 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 chart in the US and number 43 on the UK Single Chart. It has been described as psychedelic rock and psychedelic pop, as well as a prototype of heavy metal music. The song appears at number three in 'Record Collector's chronological list of the "100 Greatest Psychedelic Records".
In a song review for AllMusic, Matthew Greenwald describes "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" as
He adds it is "One of the greatest, lost singles from the 1966/1967 era... this very progressive record was somewhat lost in the shuffle." In his book '1966: The Year the Decade Exploded', Jon Savage writes:
Picture sleeve and label
As with previous Epic releases, "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" releases include several errors. The American picture sleeve, featuring Beck and Page in the photo, only coincides with the A-side of the Epic single. The B-side, "The Nazz Are Blue", features the pre-Page lineup with Paul Samwell-Smith, as well as a rare lead vocal by Beck. Additionally, the sheet music erroneously used the same pre-Beck group photo with Eric Clapton that was also mistakenly used for the US single picture sleeve for "Heart Full of Soul".
Additional mistakes were made with the songwriter credits:
*The American single label lists the songwriters as "C. Drega, K. Relf, P. Samwell-Smith, J. McCarthy, J. Beck".
*The original 'The Yardbirds Greatest Hits' (1967) (the song's first appearance on an album) lists "K. Relf, J. McCarthy, G. Beck, J. Page".
The comprehensive career retrospective, 'Ultimate!' (2001) lists Relf, Beck, Page, and McCarty,
as does ASCAP.
References
Category:1966 songs
Category:1966 singles
Category:The Yardbirds songs
Category:Songs written by Jeff Beck
Category:Songs written by Jimmy Page
Category:Songs written by Keith Relf
Category:Songs written by Jim McCarty
Category:Columbia Graphophone Company singles
Category:Epic Records singles
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