Jimmy Page’s 5-Note Tribute to Jeff Beck on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ Might Have Been an Apology
Jimmy Page wasn’t above liberally borrowing from his influences in Led Zeppelin’s early days. Before they penned delicate songs that displayed their soft side, Zep twisted and amplified blues music into something unique. The band had more or less ditched covering blues tunes by the time of Led Zeppelin III, but their guitarist still borrowed a riff from another guitar legend. Page might have been apologizing to Jeff Beck with his five-note tribute on the Led Zeppelin song “Since I’ve Been Loving You.”
Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were briefly bandmates
Page cut his teeth as a session guitarist before he formed Led Zeppelin. He turned down an offer to play in the Yardbirds to learn more about studio recording techniques (which he put to good use in Zep). He suggested the band’s manager add Beck instead.
Yet Page joined up with Beck and the Yardbirds when he realized he had to quit being a session musician.
Page played bass briefly. He and Beck soon formed a two-guitar attack, but that arrangement didn’t last. Beck bolted, and Page held down the role of sole guitar player from late 1966 until the band folded in mid-1968.
Led Zeppelin had earned widespread recognition by the time they recorded their third album. When Page included a five-note tribute to Beck on the album, it might have been an apology to his friend.
Page’s 5-note tribute to Beck on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ could have been an apology
Beck clearly appreciated Page passing on the Yardbirds gig and recommending him instead. He wouldn’t have given away a guitar otherwise. That favor helped accelerate Beck’s rise to stardom. Still, the Led Zeppelin guitarist might have felt the need to apologize to his friend. If he did, he got it out of the way early on “Since I’ve Been Loving You.”
Zep recorded a version of bluesman Willie Dixon’s song “You Shook Me” on their 1969 debut. When he heard the song, Beck cried as Page played Led Zeppelin I — the song was a staple of his live show. It also appeared on his first solo record, Truth. Hearing his friend cover what he felt was a signature song didn’t go over well.
Page’s five-note tribute to Beck on “Since I’ve Been Loving You” might have been his apology in musical form. It seems to be a boilerplate blues intro, but it’s the same one Beck played on the Yardbirds’ song “New York City Blues.” Those five notes could be a nod to their friendship, common background, and brief time as bandmates.
Page and Led Zeppelin use those five notes as a launching point for a blues epic. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” has virtually nothing in common with “New York City Blues” aside from the intro.
It’s similar to how the expanded instrumentation of their “You Shook Me” bears little resemblance to Beck’s or the original. Page could have been one-upping Beck with “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” Yet one can also hear those five notes as a small mea culpa — Page’s musical apology for taking Beck’s early signature song and recording it with Led Zeppelin.
‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ contains 1 of Led Zeppelin’s best guitar solos
Most classic rock fans concede Page’s best guitar solo comes on “Stairway to Heaven.” It routinely makes the shortlist for the best solo ever. Yet “Since I’ve Been Loving You” has to be a close second.
The song slowly builds to the solo, and then the guitarist takes over with an expressive and impressive performance. There’s fast fingerwork, big string bends, and notes that seemingly utilize every part of the fretboard. Page’s best solo that isn’t “Stairway” lasts more than a minute and rejoins the song seamlessly.
The story behind the solo is nearly as good as the performance. Page popped into a Memphis, Tennessee studio, plugged into whatever amp was lying around and churned out his “Since I’ve Been Loving You” solo in one take without using any effects pedals. That might be why the engineer who worked the session said this Page solo is the best of all time.
If he wasn’t trying to outdo his friend on “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” we can fathom Jimmy Page’s five-note tribute to Jeff Beck as an apology and nod to their similarities.
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