The Yardbirds - I'm Waiting For The Man (Live)

The Yardbirds - I'm Waiting For The Man (live) video.
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The Yardbirds' cover of The Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting For The Man, bootleg recording, 1968.
In the video: Keith Relf: vocals, harmonica. Jeff Beck: lead guitar. Jimmy Page: bass. Chris Dreja: guitar. Jim McCarty: drums, backing vocals. The audio is from a 1968 Los Angeles gig, after Beck left the band, with only Jimmy Page on guitar. Page often used Waiting For The Man for soundchecks in later years.
This is the first cover ever done of a Lou Reed/Velvet Underground song (by a well-known Rock group, at any rate). The Yardbirds toured the US regularly when The Velvet Underground were touring with Nico as part of Andy Warhol's multi-media show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable in the US and Canada in 1966. As many others, upon arriving in New York City The Yardbirds would visit Andy Warhol's Factory where they discovered The Velvets and heard this new and original song written by The Velvets' Lou Reed, which would appear a year later on The Velvet Underground's debut album: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967).
The Yardbirds elected Jimmy Page to ask Lou Reed for the song's chords and lyrics, and they soon introduced I'm Waiting For The Man in the set-list of their live repertoire. Jimmy Page had already a connection to The Velvets: in 1965 he had produced and played everything (except drums) on Nico's very first single I'm Not Saying/The Last Mile (Immediate Records, 1965) before Nico was introduced to Andy Warhol by Brian Jones in 1966 to then tour with The Velvet Underground and singing 3 songs on The Velvets' debut album, as mentioned above.
The video's footage is from The Yardbirds live in France in 1966, just after bassist Paul Samwell-Smith had left the band in 1966: Chris Dreja would move from rhythm guitar to bass and Jimmy Page joined The Yardbirds - first on bass (as in this footage) to give time to Dreja to learn their songs' basslines, to then move on guitar - creating with childhood friend Jeff Beck The Yardbirds' "twin lead guitars" style.
This video has not been made for commercial purposes. No copyright infringement intended.

Видео The Yardbirds - I'm Waiting For The Man (Live) канала Robert Caruso (Official)