I watched a good interview with Jimmy Page the other night (by The Guardian newspaper) where he tells his life story to the interviewer to promote his autobiography. Although the whole thing was very interesting, entertaining and I learnt a lot - I'd definitely recommend watching it - there was one particular moment that really made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with everyone here.
It started with them talking about the recording of Led Zeppelin III, how Page and Plant stayed together in the cottage in Wales, Bron-Yr-Aur, for inspiration. This got Page telling a story of an event that happened shortly after the record was released, where he was at Piccadilly Circus, about to go to Scotland that evening. He saw a girl standing giving out leaflets for something and went up to talk to her, planning on inviting her up to Scotland because 'she was quite attractive'. As you do with a random girl you've never met before. I guess if you're the lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin you can get away with it. However, when he actually posed the question of her going to Scotland with him, she became very confused. When he told her who he was, she said:
"You can't be him, he's gay,"
In response, Page said. "What do you mean gay? I'm not gay, I'm inviting you up to Scotland!" And the girl said that it was all written on the album cover of Led Zeppelin III.
On said cover, it told a little about how Page and Plant stayed together in the cottage to work on the album. It turned out the girl had misinterpreted exactly what the two of them were doing together during their stay in Wales, all alone in that isolated cottage, and thought they were a couple. Needless to say, Page wasn't happy at all; in his own words, he walked off in disgust. Funnily enough the girl never did go with him to Scotland.
I laughed so much watching this, as did the audience, because his delivery of it was just hilarious, the expression on his face made me cry with laughter and just the way he told the story was great. I'd recommend giving that interview a watch because you can really get a hint of Page's personality and sense of humour, and it honestly looks like he's enjoying being there. The interviewer seems really good, and I learnt a lot about him and Led Zeppelin from watching it. This particular scene is at about 30 mins in.
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Picture: the interview
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