The song Jimmy Page thought Neil Young couldn’t play: “He may not know that”
As much as people tend to regard him as one of the greatest guitar players not just of his era, but of all time, there’s an argument to be made that Jimmy Page had moments where his lead playing on Led Zeppelin’s records was a little on the sloppy side.
This might seem like blasphemy, but when you tune into his parts in isolation, you’ll notice that instead of there being the utmost clarity in every note he played, there were frequent clusters of notes where he’s mistakenly hitting strings he shouldn’t be hitting, or accidentally fretting intermediary notes as he moves up and down the neck.
Of course, many will argue that this was something that was typical of his style, and that his frantic playing was an indicator of the passion and verve that he used to put into every performance. This isn’t exactly untrue, but it does also present itself as a flaw when compared to the work of the rest of the band, with Robert Plant very rarely reaching for notes he couldn’t hit, and John Paul Jones and John Bonham holding together taut yet complex rhythms.
Yet, as unpolished as he could be, his guitar sound was instantly recognisable and would frequently be the component that brought Led Zeppelin’s songs to life. Without his playing on certain songs, they wouldn’t be anywhere near as memorable, and there are few other guitarists who would have been able to bring the same inimitable skillset and style to the band if they were to fill his shoes.
As a consequence, whenever the band performed alongside guest musicians, including those of the highest order, Page was still having to coach them in order for them to be able to replicate what he does in the songs.
One such artist who was fortunate enough to have shared a stage with the band was Neil Young, when the remaining members of the band reformed to perform at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Despite his own incredible pedigree, Page was uncertain as to whether Young would be able to learn the parts for any of the band’s songs on such short notice.
“Neil Young got up and played with us,” Page told People later that year. “He said, ‘I’d like to play with you guys’, and I said, that sounds great.”
However, while they were scrambling to decide what to play, with Page and Plant reeling off a number of covers that he felt would be possible to perform alongside Young, the Canadian guitarist made a special request to dive into the Led Zep songbook.
Page continued to recall the scenario with Young. “He said, ‘I want to play one of yours.’ So I thought, well, I’m not going to want to do ‘Black Dog’ here, because he may not know that.” As much as ‘Black Dog’ is one of the band’s more complex songs, Young is more than capable of performing tracks of this calibre, as evidenced by his own output.
However, while Page may have had his doubts over whether Young had the capacity to play ‘Black Dog’, they did eventually settle on playing ‘When The Levee Breaks’ for the ceremony, which one might argue is a song that is far more suited to Young’s style anyway. That being said, I’m sure that he’d have given ‘Black Dog’ a good go anyhow.
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