"Over Under Sideways Down" is a 1966 song by English rock group

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ...

. A composition credited to all members of the group, it combines elements of

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

. It was first released as a single in May 1966 as a follow-up to " Shapes of Things" and in July was included on group's self-titled UK album (commonly known as ''Roger the Engineer'' and ''Over Under Sideways Down'' in the US and elsewhere).

Composition and recording

According to Yardbirds drummer

Jim McCarty James Stanley McCarty (born 25 July 1943) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Yardbirds and Renaissance. Following Chris Dreja's departure from the Yardbirds in 2013, McCarty became the only founding member to still tou ...

, the basic outline for "Over Under Sideways Down" was inspired by Bill Haley and His Comets' " Rock Around the Clock". The group had heard Haley's song on the radio after a gig and considered adapting it in their own style. At a later recording session, guitarist

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

started by playing the song's bassline and the group were soon working out an arrangement. Beck then switched to lead guitar and came up with the intro. McCarty recalled: Although McCarty felt that all of the group contributed to the lyrics, producer Simon Napier-Bell attributed them to singer

Keith Relf William Keith Relf (22 March 194312 May 1976) was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, the Yardbirds ex-drummer ...

. He also claims that Relf's original verse "Over under sideways down, That's the best way I have found" was changed to "Over under sideways down, Backwards forwards square and round", because

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

censors might have objected to the vaguely suggestive line.

Releases and charts

Columbia issued "Over Under Sideways Down" in the UK as a single on 27 May 1966, with

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

in the US following on 13 June. The B-side, the instrumental "Jeff's Boogie", is credited to Beck; however, it has been described as "a near copy of

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

's 'Guitar Boogie'". The single became the Yardbirds' fifth single to reach the UK top 10 chart, where it peaked at number10. In

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it reached number 5. In the US, it reached number13. In July 1966, the song was released on ''Yardbirds'', the group's first studio album in the UK and in August on the US edition titled after the song. As one of the group's most popular pieces, "Over Under Sideways Down" it is included on many anthologies, such as '' The Yardbirds Greatest Hits'' (1967) and '' Ultimate!'' (2001). A live performance with Beck's replacement,

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

, recorded in New York City in 1968, is included on the Page-produced '' Yardbirds '68'' (2017).

Recognition

''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked "Over Under Sideways Down" at number 23 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Authority control 1966 songs 1966 singles The Yardbirds songs Songs written by Jeff Beck Songs written by Paul Samwell-Smith Songs written by Keith Relf Songs written by Jim McCarty Epic Records singles Columbia Graphophone Company singles