‘Heart Full of Soul’ is a song recorded by English rock group the Yardbirds in 1965. Written by Graham Gouldman, it was the Yardbirds' first single after Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton as lead guitarist. Released only three months after ‘For Your Love’, ‘Heart Full of Soul’ reached the Top 10 on the singles charts in the UK, US, and several other countries. The picture sleeve used by Epic featured a photo of the Clapton lineup instead of the Beck lineup; Epic's For Your Love album, released the month before, included a photo of Beck, but no image nor mention of Clapton.
Guitarist Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds in March 1965 because of a perceived shift in musical direction. Inspired in part by Jeff Beck, who replaced Clapton, the group began to experiment with different musical styles. Beck had more varied influences and used electronically enhanced guitar effects, which he brought to the group's sound. The use of a fuzz box was new at the time as well as incorporating feedback into musical passages. When preparing for a follow-up single to their first record chart hit, "For Your Love", the song's writer Graham Gouldman provided a demo for a new song. Gouldman's arrangement was perceived as creating an exotic sound. Yardbirds' drummer Jim McCarty recalled that "the riff on the demo [by Gouldman] suggested a sitar" and that the group's manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, hired a sitar and a tabla player for a recording session.
Unfortunately, the sitar sound just wasn’t working. So, Beck developed a riff on guitar to replace the sitar line. He elaborated in an interview: “The sitar player couldn't get the 4/4 time signature right; it was a hopeless waste of time. So I said, 'Look, is this the figure?' I had the fuzz machine, a Toneblender [sic], going. We did one take, it sounded outrageous. So they kept the tabla player, who could just about make it work. They rushed that out, and the rest was a rollercoaster ride.” According to McCarty, Beck developed the riff after borrowing Page's prototype fuzz box, designed for him by Roger Mayer.[3] When he played the lick for the band, they felt that it was a perfect fit: "this great sounding riff emerged ... I mean Beck just nailed it", rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja recalled.
As one of the Yardbirds' most popular songs, it was frequently performed in concert. There are a number of live recordings, the earliest of which feature Beck, while later ones feature guitarist Jimmy Page. ‘Heart Full of Soul’ appears on several of the group's compilations and renditions have been recorded by other musicians.
Labels – Columbia (UK), Epic (US)
Songwriter – Graham Gouldman
Producer – Giorgio Gomelsky
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Sick at heart and lonely
Deep in dark despair
Thinking one thought only
"Where is she, tell me where?"
[Pre-Chorus]
And if she says to you
She don't love me
Just give her my message
Tell her of my plea
[Chorus]
And I know
That if she had me back again
I would never make her sad
I've got a heart full of soul
[Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
And I know
If she had me back again
I would never make her sad
I've got a heart full of soul
[Verse 2]
She's been gone such a long time
Longer than I can bear
But if she says she wants me
Tell her that I'll be there
[Pre-Chorus]
And if she says to you
She don't love me
Just give her my message
Tell her of my plea
[Chorus]
And I know
That if she had me back again
I would never make her sad
I've got a heart full of soul