Jeff Beck

Revisiting when the late Jeff Beck was a member of The Yardbirds and why he hates one of the band's most beloved songs, ''The Train Kept A-Rollin'.

While fans of the group will always have their preferred era of the band, which is subjective, Beck’s spell as a Yardbird was undeniably crucial. While Beck’s adoration for Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio’s take on the song never wained, even if he was less complimentary about The Yardbirds’ version, which he labelled “pretty awful”. The decision to take the song into the studio came after Beck introduced his bandmates to Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio’s rockabilly version of ‘The Train Kept A-Rollin’. Giorgio told him he was missing a great opportunity to record a happening band, and eventually persuaded him. While ‘The Train Kept A-Rollin’ was never released as a standalone single, it is now one of the most beloved creations from the Beck era and brought the obscure blues track into the wider public consciousness. During his tenure with the band, The Yardbirds reached the height of their commercial success, and it was a period that spawned the majority of their hit singles.