Thursday, December 15, 2005
PAGE, OBE
Well, well - Jimmy Page anointed with the Order of the British Empire Led Zeppelin guitarist magician, Jimmy Page, honored by the Queen for his work with poor Brazilian children. I still frown on how long he took to own up to stealing his 'Black Mountain Side' from Bert Jansch's ‘Blackwater Side’ from Jack Orion, but we pickers carry a grudge. Think I'll let it go now. One of the few concessions made by the young to us wrinklies is intakes of breath at having been there at the time, at the peak of our vigour, to have: Page was magic. We never worked out how he did it but we caught a few tricks and worked them into everything we plucked, so that what used to be yer standard 'Tom Dooley' would be the usual choruses and then a blistering solo longer than the chanson itself, then back to the sweet cooing of the actual words. I think my tour de force was 'If I had Hammer' complete with 12th fret wailing pedal work on the amplified Martin. After one delivery Ron, the guv'nor of the Globe pub, commented, "What next? 'Huddie Leadbetter sings the best of Abba' which I thought the funniest most brilliant idea. Darn would that sell to today's kids. "Good morning blues, blues how do ya do? Woulda been Goodnight Irene and heLLOO Agnetha's cute butt.
Quit my prison pinstripes, gone commute from Waterloo. (Waterloo, oh Waterloo-o)."
I saw him live once during The Firm's first album tour when I was 17. He shredded a violin bow during an extended solo.
: 11:05 pm