Led Zeppelin, page 63
“was something you would see”: JP, quoted in Fricke, “Jimmy Page.”
“you have to do”: “My dad could see I was making progress.” JP, quoted in Odell, “Jimmy Page Interview.”
“I did a paper round”: “But obviously, what I always wanted was a proper electric guitar.” JP, quoted in Odell, “Jimmy Page Interview.”
“When the sound came through”: “I remember playing it through my parents’ radio.” JP, quoted in Brad Tolinski, Light & Shade (New York: Crown, 2012), p. 122.
“I could get together”: JP, quoted in Fricke, “Q&A: Jimmy Page.”
“quite nervous”: JP, quoted in Martin Power, No Quarter: The Three Lives of Jimmy Page (London: Omnibus, 2016), p. 14.
“There was some blues”: JP, quoted in Fricke, “Q&A: Jimmy Page.”
“It was a crappy film”: “We went back the next day just to see him again.” David Williams interview.
“Solos which affected me”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 96.
“Jimmy was obsessed”: David Williams interview.
“The only way”: JP, quoted in Mojo, March 2010.
“That was the style”: Rod Wyatt, quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 30.
“We were too young”: David Williams, interview with the author, May 16, 2019.
“Bobby was so influential”: John Spicer, interview with the author, May 16, 2019.
“Jimmy idolized Bobby Taylor”: David Williams, interview with the author, November 28, 2018.
“It was a pretty sketchy”: Anna Williams, interview with the author, May 16, 2019.
“He’d talk to us”: John Spicer, interview with the author, May 10, 2019.
“were very encouraging”: “They had enough confidence that I knew what I was doing.” From a Q magazine interview, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 32.
Friends say he never called: “It used to piss me off. His father was very condescending.” David Williams interview, May 16, 2019.
“He reassured my parents”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 97.
“If I promise to pay”: Chris Tidmarsh, quoted in Kieron Tyler, “Jimmy Page: Educating Jimmy,” Mojo, May 2001.
He was a rugged bloke: “He would have needed cosmetic surgery to make him look like a pretty boy.” John Spicer interview, May 10, 2019.
“We can’t keep going on”: John Spicer interview, May 10, 2019.
“Why don’t you start”: JP, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“arc[ing] over backwards”: JP, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“We used to build up”: John Spicer interview, May 16, 2019.
“a smart lad, immaculately dressed”: John Spicer interview, May 16, 2019.
“We did every cover version”: Neil Christian, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“Everywhere we played”: John Spicer interview, May 10, 2019.
“Oh, probably six hours”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Jimmy Page: Guitars I Have Known,” NME, October 12, 1974.
“Jerry Lee was his great love”: David Williams interview, May 16, 2019.
His girlfriend, Anna: “I went in his place.” Anna Williams interview.
Chapter Two: Getting Down to Business
To cut their losses: “We used to chat up this girl called June Cutler.” David Williams, interview with the author, November 28, 2018.
“There was this great”: JP, quoted in Howard Mylett, Jimmy Page: Tangents Within a Framework (London: Omnibus, 1983), p. 10.
“was a purist”: JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 1, p. 12.
In addition, several club circuits: Two promoters in particular: Ron King had nine venues and Stanley Dale had six that employed the Crusaders on a regular basis.
“on a Saturday night”: John Spicer, interview with the author, May 10, 2019.
“if you overlooked the obscenities”: Spicer interview.
“We acquired a good reputation”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 14.
“We knew that American”: JP, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 38.
Jimmy composed original: “Jimmy composed his own music to back my poems.” Royston Ellis interview, forums.ledzeppelin.com/topic/308-zeppelin-mysteries-hosted-by-steve-a-jones/page/102/?tab=comments#comment-369179.
“vaguely provocative verse”: Williams, First Time We Met the Blues, p. 44; John Spicer, interview with the author, May 16, 2019.
“Jimmy would study those tapes”: David Williams interview.
He did, however, manage: “It was amazing. I’d never heard anything like it before.” John Spicer interview, May 10, 2019.
“He was also into overdubbing”: Colin Golding, interview with the author, May 15, 2018.
He played it and played it: “I remember going around to Jim’s and playing it dozens of times. All he wanted to know was ‘What do you think? What do you think?’ ” Colin Golding interview.
“traveling to one-nighter gigs”: JP, quoted in Kieron Tyler, “Jimmy Page: Educating Jimmy,” Mojo, May 2001.
“We lived out”: Neil Christian, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“I remember we were driving”: JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 14.
To stay wired: Royston Ellis maintained, “I was shown how to [chew the Benzedrine tab] by . . . a guitarist who used to accompany me in those days, Jimmy Page.” Royston Ellis interview, forums.ledzeppelin.com/topic/308-zeppelin-mysteries-hosted-by-steve-a-jones/page/102/?tab=comments#comment-369179.
“The numbers we were doing”: JP, quoted in Schulps, “Trouser Press interview, Part 1, p. 12.
“It was just disheartening”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Jimmy Page: Guitars I Have Known,” NME, October 12, 1974.
“You didn’t have to do”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 54.
“It was cool being”: John Spicer interview, May 16, 2019.
“a terrible draftsman”: “I was also accepted at Croydon—I don’t know how because I was a terrible draftsman.” JP, quoted in John Tobler, “Jimmy Page: The Life and Times of a Guitar Prophet,” Musician, January 1984.
“It had a very relaxed”: Colin Golding interview.
“There were loads of people”: Richards, Life, pp. 68–69.
Michael Des Barres recalls: Michael Des Barres, interview with the author, February 20, 2019.
“We didn’t play”: JP, quoted in David Fricke, “Jimmy Page: The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone, December 6, 2012.
“Glyn [Johns] introduced me”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 97.
“I was about to do”: Glyn Johns, interview with the author, May 18, 2018.
“sort of impenetrable brotherhood”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 97.
“kept telling me that Jimmy Page”: Tony Meehan, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 30.
“they stuck a row of dots”: “I’d never bothered or tried to read music.” JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 97.
“I knew right away”: Tony Meehan, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 30.
“Jimmy rang me and said”: Glyn Johns, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 20.
“Jimmy wasn’t any kind”: David Williams, interview with the author, May 16, 2019.
“She kept telling me”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 83.
Jimmy, for his part: “He played ‘Not Fade Away.’ I never forgot it.” Jeff Beck, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 10.
“We would play Ricky Nelson songs”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 31.
“They were playing flat-out R&B”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 67.
“We’d had some modest success”: John Shakespeare, interview with the author, May 14, 2018.
“The old guard used to sit”: Dave Berry, interview with the author, November 29, 2018.
referred to themselves as “hooligans”: “Suddenly, you’ve got these hooligans like myself and Jim who had come in from the rock ’n roll era groups.” Clem Cattini, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 24.
“I was mainly called”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 1, p. 13.
“wonderful fingerpicking style”: John Shakespeare interview.
Jimmy, who was still learning: “Page always ended up on rhythm guitar because he couldn’t read too well.” JPJ, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 24.
“I was more jazz influenced”: Jim Sullivan, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“Big Jim could play anything”: Glyn Johns interview.
“total spontaneity”: Jim Sullivan, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“You had to be a special”: Jim Sullivan, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 24.
“The first session”: Bobby Graham, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 24.
“You never knew what”: JP, quoted in Cameron Crowe, “The Durable Led Zeppelin,” Rolling Stone, March 13, 1975.
“That was a phenomenal session”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 58.
“a shockingly baby-faced”: Graham Nash, interview with the author, April 23, 2012.
“What was stifling”: “Session work is frustrating much of the time.” JP, quoted in Mick Houghton, “Zeus of Zeppelin: An Interview with Jimmy Page,” Circus, October 12, 1976.
“It just happened”: “It was cool!” JP, interview with John Sugar, BBC Radio 4, October 11, 2011.
“You’d be there”: JP, quoted in Houghton, “Zeus of Zeppelin.”
“I don’t think he had”: Glyn Johns interview.
“polite, old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll”: Shel Talmy, interview with the author, January 30, 2019.
“Ray didn’t really approve”: “The Kinks just didn’t want me around when they were recording.” JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 63.
“I wasn’t really needed”: JP, quoted in Nick Kent, “Session Star: Jimmy Page,” NME, September 1, 1973.
“a stuck-up prick”: Billy Harrison, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 51.
“It was very embarrassing”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 1, p. 13.
“There was much grumbling”: Billy Harrison, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 51.
“Their lead vocalist, Van Morrison”: Bobby Graham, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 51.
“There wasn’t anyone”: Shel Talmy interview.
“Great, let’s have him”: Jackie DeShannon, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 88.
“Furious beat with vocal touches”: Review of “She Just Satisfies,” Record Mirror, February 22, 1965.
Wexler, as astute a businessman: Jerry Wexler and David Ritz, Rhythm and the Blues (New York: Knopf, 1993), p. 158.
“What wasn’t to love?”: Graham Nash, interview with the author, April 26, 2012.
Chapter Three: Reinventing the Wheel
“He was a ridiculous figure”: Shel Talmy, interview with the author, January 30, 2019.
“a poor man’s Bob Dylan”: “Mickie didn’t want to keep him in the direction he was going in.” Chris Most, interview with the author, May 14, 2019.
“They made making records easy”: Mickie Most, quoted in Kieron Tyler, “Jimmy Page: Educating Jimmy,” Mojo, May 2001.
“Mickie had no patience”: Chris Most interview.
Most famously he insisted: “A pop song is something that takes fifteen minutes to make and two weeks to forget.” Mickie Most, quoted in Steve Turner, “The Midas Touch: Mickie Most,” The History of Rock, 1983.
“wanted the backing track”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 63.
donning street gear: Pete Frame, “Getting to the Bottom of the Page,” ZigZag, December 1972.
The perfect instrument had come: “I was one of the first people in England to have one.” JP, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 53.
“more responsive to the player’s”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 37.
“Jimmy had a Gibson Maestro”: Roger Mayer, interview with the author, November 28, 2018.
Session work had become: “It’s a boring life. You’re like a machine.” JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, “Trouser Press interview, Part 1, p. 14.
“The whole thing wasn’t enjoyable”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 98.
“The work was stifling”: “It was often like being a computer when you had no involvement with the artist.” JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 38.
“a hired hand, a phantom”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 85.
“I know all the crooks”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 1, p. 14.
no “old farts”: “We offered [Jimmy] a job as in-house producer because . . . we were so fed up with old farts.” Andrew Oldham, quoted in “The Real Jimmy Page,” Uncut, November 28, 2008.
“I did four tracks altogether”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 99.
“He’d never heard feedback”: JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 36.
“I’d been going to gigs”: JP, blind-quoted in Power, No Quarter, p. 106.
“with awe-stricken disbelief”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 48.
“It was exactly how”: Jim McCarty, interview with the author, September 12, 2019.
“In a matter of weeks”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 55.
“The colors were starting”: Jimmy Page, quoted in David Fricke, “On the Way to Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page on the Yardbird Years,” Rolling Stone, November 27, 2012.
“a bit stiff”: “Topham’s guitar playing was a bit stiff.” Eric Clapton, Clapton (New York: Broadway Books, 2007), p. 46.
“A nice kid”: Jim McCarty interview.
“I asked Eric Clapton to join”: Giorgio Gomelsky, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 40.
a technique he learned: “[King’s playing] was absolutely earth-shattering for me, like a new light for me to move toward.” Clapton, Clapton, p. 41.
“jamming in the middle”: Clapton, Clapton, p. 49.
“He was obsessed”: JP, quoted in Dave Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 23.
“I have to play what I believe”: Eric Clapton, quoted in Dawn James, “Eric Clapton: The Yardbird Who Got Left Behind,” Rave, June 1965.
“I was destroying myself”: Eric Clapton, quoted in James, “Eric Clapton.”
To replace him, the Yardbirds: “I’ll tell you who we wanted. Jimmy Page.” McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 103.
“He used to come around”: Jim McCarty interview.
“it just seemed really distasteful”: JP, quoted in Schulps, Trouser Press interview, Part 2, p. 23.
“We were so taken aback”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 105.
“Musically, he was so versatile”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 107.
“He was a great experimenter”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, pp. 58–59.
“We were using feedback”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 69.
“They were always talking”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 33. Remembered somewhat differently: “For fuck’s sake, I’m in the band now, so shut up.” Jeff Beck, quoted in McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 108.
“They could only play”: Jim McCarty interview.
“By bending the notes slightly”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, pp. 34–35.
“uncomfortable playing to the elite”: Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 61.
“It was a great crowd”: “I normally don’t get fucked up before a show, but this time I did.” Graham Nash, interview with the author, November 21, 2018.
“Do you know about karate?”: Jim McCarty interview.
“Keith decided to have”: McCarty, Nobody Told Me!, p. 149.
“rolling round the stage”: JP, quoted in Tyler, “Jimmy Page.”
“we had to literally tie him”: Chris Dreja, quoted in Tolinski, Light & Shade, p. 58.
“just fantastically suitable”: JP, quoted in Frame, “Getting to the Bottom.”
“it was a great anarchistic night”: “There was this great argument going on.” JP, quoted in Steven Rosen, “Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page,” Guitar World, July 1986. “It was great, just fantastically suitable for the occasion, I thought.” JP, quoted in Yorke, Led Zep, p. 44.
“I can’t stand this anymore”: Paul Samwell-Smith, quoted in Nick Kent, “Session Star: Jimmy Page,” NME, September 173.
“Jeff often used to say”: JP, quoted in Frame, “Getting to the Bottom.”
“not being able to express”: JP, quoted in Johnny Black, “Your Time Is Gonna Come,” Q Special Edition: Led Zeppelin, March 2003, p. 10.
“drying up as a guitarist”: JP, blind-quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, p. 60.
“Yeah, I’ll play bass”: JP, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 94.
“I was terrified”: JP, quoted in Tobler and Grundy, Guitar Greats, p. 99.
“He couldn’t play the bass”: Jeff Beck, blind-quoted in Salewicz, Jimmy Page, p. 95.
“I tended to play it”: JP, quoted in Jim Delehant, “Yardbird Jimmy Page Says, ‘Open Your Mind,’ ” Hit Parader, March 1967 .
“We needed stability”: Jim McCarty interview.
“We’d see him drive”: Jim McCarty interview.
He also had a riff: “Apparently, he made up the riff to ‘Over Under Sideways Down’—he’d sung it to Jeff.” JP, quoted in Mick Houghton, “Zeus of Zeppelin: An Interview with Jimmy Page,” Circus, October 12, 1976.
“I didn’t know much”: Simon Napier-Bell, quoted in Hoskyns, Trampled, pp. 60–61.
If he picked up: “If he’d had a bad day, he’d take it out on the audience.” JP, quoted in Steven Rosen, “Jimmy Page,” Guitar Player, July 1977.
“The amp would be crackling”: Jeff Beck, quoted in Tony Hibbert, “Jeff Beck: Rough ’n’ Ready,” The History of Rock, 1983.
