The song that defined the blueprint for Led Zeppelin
(Source: Far Out / Andrew Smith)
Jimmy Page’s first tour did not go well. He played guitar for Neil Christian and the Crusaders, but his health deteriorated so badly on the tour that he collapsed in Sheffield and had to leave the tour early. After that he concentrated on his work as a session musician, a job that proved to be a double-edged sword.
Page had a great career as a session musician, making good money, meeting the right people and gaining experience in a number of different genres and styles of music. Of course, this meant that when it came to developing his own sound, Page was familiar with so many different guitar techniques that it was difficult for him to find a style of music that he wanted to push as an individual artist.
The best move Page made at that point was to retire from being a session musician and join the Yardbirds instead. During Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck’s time in the band, they had asked Page to join several times, but he didn’t think the timing was right, so he declined. However, he finally joined the band in 1966 and played with them for two years.
This time with the Yardbirds was incredibly important as it allowed him to apply what he had learned as a session musician to playing in a band. This meant that by combining all the different styles he had explored, he developed a sound that was essentially his own and which he brought to Led Zeppelin.
“I had a lot of ideas from my time with the Yardbirds. The Yardbirds allowed me to improvise a lot in live performances, and I started putting together a textbook of ideas that I eventually used with Zeppelin,” he said. “In addition to those ideas, I wanted to add sonic textures.”
One of the things that made Led Zeppelin stand out was the uniqueness of their songs. They wove together many different elements of music to create something that was unmistakably rock, but a version of rock that people weren’t used to. Page said that was the whole point, and he was never interested in Zeppelin being a one-dimensional band.
“I wanted Zeppelin to be a combination of blues, hard rock and acoustic music, topped off with hard choruses – a combination that had never been seen before,” he said. “A lot of light and shadow in the music.” A prime example of this is “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You.”
“Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” sums up the sound of Led Zeppelin very well. It starts slowly, almost like a serenade, and then erupts into chaos. This is a culmination of all the aspects of Page’s early career that were necessary for the band to develop the unique sound that made them famous.
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