White Summer
"White Summer" is a guitar instrumental by English rock guitarist Jimmy Page, recorded with both The Yardbirds and, later, with Led Zeppelin.
The Yardbirds version
Page initially recorded "White Summer" for the Yardbirds' final album, Little Games. An alternate take has been released on Cumular Limit. Page performed "White Summer" live with the group, and it also appears on the album Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page - the latter being a recording of a concert by the Yardbirds at the Anderson Theatre in New York City on 30 March 1968. Page would play the piece solo or with just percussion accompaniment during Yardbirds concerts. When playing the song live with The Yardbirds, Page used a Danelectro guitar.[1] In an interview he gave in 1977, he commented:
| “ |
I used a special tuning for [the song]; the low string down to D, then A, D, G, A and D. It’s like a modal tuning, a sitar tuning, in fact.[1] |
” |
"White Summer" is based around the traditional Irish melody "She Moved Through the Fair", and specifically the British folk guitarist Davey Graham's arrangement of the song, which was the first recorded example of a piece played in DADGAD tuning (of which Graham was the originator). By incorporating elements from Indian rāgas, Graham hoped to demonstrate the similarities in the modality of the Celtic folk tradition and the music of the Orient.
Led Zeppelin version
This recording comes from the live BBC broadcast made from the Playhouse Theatre on 27 June 1969, for the pilot of Radio One's In Concert series, which took place during the band's U.K. Tour of Summer 1969.[2] Middle Eastern, Egyptian and Indian styles are incorporated into the song, which is played in the DADGAD tuning.
As with most of the live versions of this song, Page dove-tailed the end of it straight into the instrumental "Black Mountain Side", which was a track from Led Zeppelin's first album. "Black Mountain Side" is also based on a traditional folk song. The recording remained shelved for many years, but was eventually included on the 1990 Led Zeppelin Box Set under the combined title "White Summer/Black Mountain Side". The piece was later included as a bonus track on the 1993 boxed set The Complete Studio Recordings.
Jimmy Page often performed "White Summer/Black Mountain Side" at Led Zeppelin concerts as part of the standard set list during 1968-1970 and again on the 1977, 1979 and 1980 tours, segueing it with "Kashmir". He used his Danelectro guitar to play this piece, as shown on the Led Zeppelin DVD which includes his performance of the song at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970.
On 26 April 1970, Page performed the piece on the Julie Felix Show. Page would also play versions of this song when he was with The Firm, and again during his Outrider tour, seguing into White Summer/Black Mountain Side in the solo section for "Midnight Moonlight".
References
- ^ a b Steven Rosen, 1977 Jimmy Page Interview, Modern Guitars, 25 May 2007 (originally published in the July 1977, issue of Guitar Player magazine).
- ^ Dave Lewis (1994), The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
Sources
- Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
- The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
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