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Popular legend goes that when Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page's old friend and partner, first heard Led Zeppelin's 'You Shook Me', he was devastated and near tears. And while no disrespect was meant towards Beck's raw blues version, Jimmy and Zeppelin pulled out all the stops on this show-off performance piece - overblown and flashy and all the more brilliant because of it.
There are a number of influences and versions of this song which are mixed into Led Zeppelin's cover, but any discussion must begin by mentioning the one which made it famous and popular, Muddy Waters' 1962 recording. Written by Willie Dixon, 'You Shook Me' was a classic blues tale of a man breaking up his "happy home" because he's "mightily in love" with his mistress. The basis of Zepp's song is here - that growling thump of a rhythm and a framework for what Plant would sing.
Another influential song on Zeppelin here was The Yardbirds' (with Jeff Beck) 'The Sun Is Shining'. As performed on a BBC Session on May 6, 1966, the lyrics are completely different from 'You Shook Me', though the rhythm is similar to Muddy Waters' song. The main guitar intro would later be re-used by Page to kick off his song. Of course, as was the habit, Jeff Beck nicked the intro himself from Elmore James' 'The Sky Is Crying'. That particular lick is probably one of the most oft-passed around in the blues.
The most shocking thing to Beck though, in hearing Jimmy's new group play 'You Shook Me' was that he had recorded a version on his 1968 album 'TRUTH'. Jimmy wrote and played on a song for the album ('Beck's Bolero'), while John Paul Jones also guests on organ (on 'Ol' Man River'). Page denies knowing Beck had put the song on the album - '[Beck] had the same sort of taste in music as I did. That's why you'll find on the early LPs we both did a song like "You Shook Me". It was the type of thing we'd both played in bands. Someone told me he'd already recorded it after we'd already put it down on the first Zeppelin album. I thought, "Oh dear, it's going to be identical," but it was nothing like it. Fortunately I just had no idea he'd done it... I first heard it when I was in Miami after we'd recorded our version... It really pissed me off when people compared our first album to the Jeff Beck Group and said it was very close conceptually. It was nonsense, utter nonsense. The only similarity was that we'd both come out of The Yardbirds and we both had acquired certain riffs from [them].'
So how did all these influences melt together to appear in Led Zeppelin's performance? Very easily, and with maximum impact for all four members. After the Elmore intro, Robert enters with a couple of verses, in what was after only two tracks, already becoming his own style. The first is straight from Muddy Waters, but Plant has a jukebox of a mind, and he borrowed from another blues legend for the second. The line 'I have a bird that whistles and I have birds that sing' is from Robert Johnson's 'Stones In My Passway'. Plant though, couldn't remember how Johnson ended the verse ('I got a woman that I'm lovin', boy, but she don't mean a thing') and stumbled through an ad-lib ('I have a bird won't do nothin', oh oh buy a diamond ring', on take 1 of the song, the verse is curisouly finished with the line 'All you ever do is moan and sing'). Incidentally, Bob Dylan also borrowed this Robert Johnson verse in his song 'Corrina Corrina' ('THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN', 1963) and also ended it with his own line. These first two verses were backed by a simple blues drumming (center), a buzzing electric guitar rhythm (left), and instead of bass (as on take 1 of the song), a Hohner electra-piano (right).
After the first two verses is where this song took off into uncharted territory - and where Zeppelin made it their own. In an outstanding display of raw musical ability and bravado performance, all four members took turns soloing and leading the song.
First up was a one-handed swirling Hammond organ solo which adds a unique soul flavor to the tune [2:08-3:04]. It is an obvious nod to Jones' talents that he led off the soloing procession. Jones remembers, 'I wasn't used to playing this style of urban blues and it did seem to be in a very slow-moving mould. However, Bonzo and I quickly developed a way of playing the blues that allowed us all sorts of improvisational freedom. You can hear it here clearly on this track when I get to the organ part.' The organ seemlessly flows into Plant further expanding his repertoire with a Son House influenced harmonica solo [3:04-4:00]. He was more than just a young singer. This just as effortlessly morphs into a flurry of an electric guitar solo, which includes some excellent drum breaks [4:00-4:52].
An interesting comparison with the recorded version is the initial take, which appears on a number of bootleg releases. Not quite the final version, it still is powerful and the groups intention is well in evidence. To Zep's credit, they continued to tinker afterwards - JPJ originally was on bass, not organ/piano, while Plant took all three solo breaks! [2:25-4:29] This is followed by another verse, and another harmoncia solo [5:34-6:31], somewhat less firey than the first. Finally Robert puts his harp down and leaves a space for Jimmy to overdub a solo of his own (the corresponding drum break on the released version appears in this gap). The beginnings of a fourth verse unfortunately sees this tape prematurely cut short.
Jimmy's handling of these four musicians in the production was also quite innovative. Bonzo's drum fills roll back and forth (the stereo panning applied at the end of the guitar solo is a genuinely brilliant production value of this track), while the pure electricity of the guitar and organ shine. This would set a precedent for many other songs in their career - most obviously 'In My Time Of Dying', 'Since I've Been Loving You' and 'Achilles Last Stand'. One final touch which closes out the song [5:37-6:28] employs a technique known as backwards echo, which Page invented. It was first experimented with during The Yardbirds ('Ten Little Indians' on 'LITTLE GAMES'), but was perfected here. It sounds like it may have also been used (albeit more slightly) on Page's guitar solo.
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