Glossary entry for
Page, Jimmy
A rumor has been going the rounds for years that Jimmy Page (famed former guitarist for Led
Zeppelin, among many other gigs) had played with Them during a 1964 recording session that made
it onto vinyl. Steve Turner's Too Late
to Stop Now has this to say about the matter (pg 49-51):
In October 1964 [Them] recorded "Baby Please Don't Go", a number credited to Big Joe Williams,
but later found to have been composed by Papa Harvey Hull and Long Cleeve Reid in the 1920's.
[...] Jimmy Page, at that time one of London's brightest young session guitarists, was brought
in for the recordings by Dick Rowe; he played a lick on it inspired by Paul Burlisson's riff
on "Train Kept a-Rollin", by Johnny Burnette and the Rock'n'Roll Trio. He played some rhythm
fills but would later be creditted with the impressive lead riff, something which both Alan
Henderson and Billy Harrison deny was the case.
Van list member Patrick Clerkin notes that:
I met [Them keyboardist] Jackie McAuley some years back, when he was playing with his band
"Poormouth" and I asked him about Jimmy Page's involvement with Them. He
swears that Jimmy Page was not in the studio when he was recording,
although Jackie McAuley did not play on all of Them's records. He said he heard
later that Jimmy Page was taken in to add rhythm guitar on some of the tracks.
He was very adamant that Billy Harrison played lead on "Baby Please
Don't Go" and it annoys him to read that Jimmy Page has often been given
the credit, where it was not due.
Billy Harrison backed this up in an interview in an issue of
Wavelength.
Van list member Scott Swanson adds:
This is very interesting. Here's a quote from Page himself (c. 1977):
"...I should say that I was mainly called into sessions as insurance.
It was usually myself and a drummer, though they never mention the
drummer these days; just me.
On the Them session, it was very embarrassing because you noticed
that as each number passed, another member of the band would be
substituted for by a session musician. It was really horrifying.
Talk about daggers! There'd be times you'd be sitting there-- you
didn't want to be there, you'd only been booked-- and wishing you
weren't there.
The group went in thinking they were going to record and all of a
sudden they find these other people playing on their records. Okay,
trouble with the guitarist...fair enough...but with Them, the
organist was replaced, then the bass player's position was in
jeopardy -- it's a miracle they didn't replace Van Morrison!"
Many sources credit Page with playing "second guitar" on the "Baby Please
Don't Go"/"Gloria" single, so Harrison's contention that he played lead is
quite plausible. And like McAuley said, Page may have been brought in
after the songs were recorded just to shore up a few riffs -- he did that
sort of thing all the time.
More information available at:
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