Born 80 years ago today, in Heston, Middlesex, England, the definition of Guitar God: James Patrick JIMMY Page. Exemplary lead guitarist. Riff King. Master Melodicist. Early on in his time as a wildly successful session guitarist in London (see today’s playlist), Jimmy obtained a copy of ‘In Concert,’ the 1962 live album by Joan Baez. Joan, also born on this day in 1941 in Staten Island, NY, is a Guitar God in her own right, though she’s not well-appreciated as one. It was on this album that Jimmy first heard “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.” The song was written in the late 50’s by folk singer Anne Bredon. She’d first performed it on a folk music radio show on KPFA out of Berkeley, California. Joan learned it from singer Janet Smith’s version, performed on the same radio show some time later. Jimmy was floored by Joan’s version, and began working out the arrangement realized on Led Zeppelin’s debut album. Robert Plant is the one Jimmy truly credits with its success, telling Rolling Stone, “Robert embraced it. He came up with an incredible, plaintive vocal.” While Zep’s reputation for, ahem, adapting or outright lifting other people’s work is well-earned (see Bert Jansch and Jake Holmes, to name but two), there is justification for the initial LZ album credit ‘Traditional, arranged by Jimmy Page.’ The first pressing of Joan’s ‘In Concert’ credited the song as ‘Traditional’ before later pressings corrected it to Bredon. Jimmy’s copy was from that initial pressing. In the 1980’s, Bredon finally got the lead out, and was first even made aware of Zeppelin’s version. In 1991, the credit was officially updated to Bredon/Page/Plant, and a substantial payment of back royalties was made. 



A couple of stellar versions…

The great Brandi Carlile has covered the song from time to time. Here she is killing it in 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX4Eb6AfwiE

And of course, Robert Plant never stops killing it. Here he is with his Sensational Space Shifters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lylg8p1wibU

TODAY’S PLAYLIST:
BABE I’M GONNA BE A SIDEMAN
A select look at Jimmy Page’s life as a session guitarist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6AIm8oQYmxrkEQDBccdgAn?si=1d335246bf744f5f

For those interested in taking a deeper dive into Jimmy’s pre-Zep career, look no further than the man’s own site, where his session work is completely documented:
https://www.jimmypage.com/discography/sessions