The 79-year-old British-born guitar player and songwriter Jimmy Page has a name that echoes throughout the history of music.
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First, Page rose up in the U.K. as a sought-after London session player. Then he became a member of the Yardbirds—a group that boasted Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton at different times. After that, Page, of course, became a member of the all-time group, Led Zeppelin.
But along the way, Page lent a helping hand to a couple of other artists along the way, working with them to write their own songs. Below are two songs you likely didn’t know Page wrote for other artists.
1. “Beck’s Bolero,” Jeff Beck
Written by Jimmy Page
This instrumental song, released in 1967, has quite the backstory. “Beck’s Bolero” was first recorded by Jeff Beck in 1966, his first solo recording. Since then, the song has been praised as one of the greatest rock instrumentals. When the song was recorded, an all-star band had been assembled. It included Page, Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and organist Nicky Hopkins. It was an early congregation of what Led Zeppelin might have been.
For this song, however, the players involved have disagreed about its origins and recording. It is credited to Page, though Beck says he contributed to it a great deal. Page also claims to have produced the song, as does writer and producer Simon Napier-Bell. But “Beck’s Bolero” is often credited to producer Mickie Most. However it came to be, the song is a classic.
2. “You Don’t Believe Me,” Pretty Things
Written by Jimmy Page, Phil May, Bobby Graham, Ray Merrell
This song comes from the 1965 album by the English rock band Pretty Things. That record, Get the Picture?, was a follow-up to the band’s self-titled debut LP released earlier in the same year and featured the band’s hit song, “Honey, I Need.”
Pretty Things formed in 1963 in England and the bands that led up to it, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, included Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. But they went off with a few others to form the Rolling Stones. Vocalist Phil May helped start a new band out of the Blues Boys’ ashes and that became Pretty Things.
The sole song Jimmy Page had a hand in on the band’s quick sophomore follow-up, the 12-track Get the Picture? was the LP’s opening track, “You Don’t Believe Me.” Sings May,
You don’t believe me
When I say I love you, babe
You don’t believe
The things I say to you, babe
To make you understand
That’s all I ask you to do
Don’t keep me from your heart
Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage
