Robert Plant singing "Shake my tree"

[Pagesbow]

My sincerest apologies for offending you... sheesh... In Guitar World in early 1993, March or April, Jimmy discusses Shake My Tree and how he first introduced that to Zeppelin during the In Through The Outdoor sessions and sometime around that same period they - C/P - were on Rockline with Redbeard giving an interview about the album, their joining together, etc... and again Jimmy mentioned how Shake My Tree had been around since 1978.

Since Nobody's Fault was on Presence, which was released in 1976 and from all the Physical Graffiti outtakes that have surfaced over the years that song never appeared on any, it's then safe to conclude that Jimmy came up with the music for that during the Presence sessions, thus implying that the two songs were written at least a couple years apart. Or at least the main riff to Shake My Tree was written later - I'm sure David and he re-arranged certain parts to fit the lyrical and melody structure that David had come up with, and I base that off an interview that David gave where he talks about how much they worked on that song.

So, this is what I meant by it being documented for years - now over 20 - since in early 1993, Jimmy said in a printed interview as well as a radio interview how Shake My Tree had been one of the songs he "plundered" from his past. It is also talked about by David in JAM Magazine and this was years after the C/P project had ended, August 2011 to be precise and I will provide the link. To get to the part where David talks specifically about Shake My Tree, scroll down to the section where the C/P album cover is at and below it is a photo of David. To the left of those two photos is where David mentions the riff coming from the Outdoor sessions.

http://www.jammagazineonline.com/mf201108-whitesnake.aspx

Here's another link with Jimmy's actual qoute about the song: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/coverdale-page/

And here's yet another article, this one from Gibson, where they mention exactly what I said about how this song was around since the Outdoor sessions and even introduced during Jimmy's time with The Firm: http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/coverdale-page-0602-2011.aspx

No offense taken or intended.

Actually, I have read some of those articles before; looking at them again and reading the sections relating to "Shake My Tree" I would argue that it's still not entirely made clear when it was actually written as opposed to introduced, for example, from the Gibson.com article it says:

The key riff for "Shake My Tree" was something Page had written with at the time of the sessions for Led Zeppelin’s In Through The Out Door

Now It may be true, but there are no citations so who knows on what source the writer is making that assertion? but it's most likely from the Jam Magazine which is quoting the only apparent world expert on when Page wrote the riff for "Shake MyTree" one David Coverdale.

This quote from the classic rock article you posted is definitely referencing the other article you posted (Jam Magazine)

with Coverdale telling Jam magazine that the duo came up with between 50 and 60 tunes together, including one (‘Shake My Tree’) based on a guitar riff Page had tried to convince his Zeppelin mates to develop for their final album, 1979′s ‘In Through the Out Door.’ “No one except Bonzo (drummer John Bonham) really seemed to understand what do do with it, so I filed it away. I decided to pull it back out, and David grasped it instantly.”

The information all seems to come from the Jam Magazine quote by David Coverdale

Jimmy came up with something he'd presented on Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door sessions that went no where. It became the opening lick to "Shake My Tree".

I'm quite happy to be wrong and perhaps we'll never know heck probably even Jimmy himself couldn't tell us if we could ring him up and ask him. Again, from my own experience of writing songs, I have no idea how I came up with most of them, or when, or what exact year - not that anybody cares. Maybe it would be easier to place when songs were written if one is releasing albums which would give a frame of reference - I don't know.

Now as far as the two songs having similar notes, I don't know why you find this to be surprising - if that's what you were trying to say. Those notes are in a lot of blues songs. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and I could go on and on. Heck, even Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here shares some of these same notes in the opening acoustic solo. So - again - my apologies, I was just pointing out that it's been known for years where the idea for the song came from, that being the Outdoor sessions and that Bonzo was the only one to, in Jimmy's words, "get it." And he even introduced it to Paul Rodgers during The Firm era but that Paul didn't have anything for it either.

I'm not surprised and after all there are only so many notes to play with in the first place. I just wonder if you have played these two riffs yourself, one after the other because if you have you would have found that a big part of the Shake my Tree riff is for all intents and purposes the Nobody's fault But Mine riff played backwards. I'm not trying to make out like it's a big deal to be able to play those two riffs as - let's face it - every man, dog, women and small child seems to be a guitar master these days. I'm just sayin'

[Dr Death]

I'm not surprised and after all there are only so many notes to play with in the first place. I just wonder if you have played these two riffs yourself, one after the other because if you have you would have found that a big part of the Shake my Tree riff is for all intents and purposes the Nobody's fault But Mine riff played backwards. I'm not trying to make out like it's a big deal to be able to play those two riffs as - let's face it - every man, dog, women and small child seems to be a guitar master these days. I'm just sayin'

Yes, I have played them back to back and I get what you're saying. Here's why I believe that Shake My Tree was written in 1978, or at least the main riff... Presence was recorded in a sparse 18 days with only a month of rehearsals. That there are only 7 songs on the album combined with the tight schedule to record it in, I find it rather difficult to believe that much extra music went un-used on the album, especially considering the epic Achilles Last Stand probably took quite a bit of time to work out, arrange and record.

That said, here's another one to wrap your brain around...

White Summer - Jimmy was playing this back in The Yardbirds, and the first four notes - the G string played open and then hammered on and pulled off on the 2nd fret and then the 4th string, 4th fret note- these are also the beginning to Over The Hills & Far Away, save for the fact that in Over The Hills, Jimmy pulls off on the 4th string, 4th fret and then plays the open G string. Now I have no quote from Jimmy about this or that Over The Hills was born from White Summer, but that's my contention.

I would bet that Jimmy was playing around with White Summer and perhaps by accident or maybe just experimenting, he came up with the opening phrase to Over The Hills. Oddly enough, it was on the C/P tour during White Summer that Jimmy played the opening to Over The Hills and that's when it hit me - Hey! Over The Hills was born from White Summer...

So yes, I get what you're saying and I'm taking it one step further. As far as Shake My Tree and the Gibson article, they are merely quoting Page's Guitar World interview...

[Pagesbow]

Yes, I have played them back to back and I get what you're saying. Here's why I believe that Shake My Tree was written in 1978, or at least the main riff... Presence was recorded in a sparse 18 days with only a month of rehearsals. That there are only 7 songs on the album combined with the tight schedule to record it in, I find it rather difficult to believe that much extra music went un-used on the album, especially considering the epic Achilles Last Stand probably took quite a bit of time to work out, arrange and record.

That said, here's another one to wrap your brain around...

White Summer - Jimmy was playing this back in The Yardbirds, and the first four notes - the G string played open and then hammered on and pulled off on the 2nd fret and then the 4th string, 4th fret note- these are also the beginning to Over The Hills & Far Away, save for the fact that in Over The Hills, Jimmy pulls off on the 4th string, 4th fret and then plays the open G string. Now I have no quote from Jimmy about this or that Over The Hills was born from White Summer, but that's my contention.

I would bet that Jimmy was playing around with White Summer and perhaps by accident or maybe just experimenting, he came up with the opening phrase to Over The Hills. Oddly enough, it was on the C/P tour during White Summer that Jimmy played the opening to Over The Hills and that's when it hit me - Hey! Over The Hills was born from White Summer...

So yes, I get what you're saying and I'm taking it one step further. As far as Shake My Tree and the Gibson article, they are merely quoting Page's Guitar World interview...

Yup, you're right....this definitely evolved into "Over the Hills and Far Away"

Couple of other people have spotted it, too...

flywhiteguy32 1 year ago

it sounds a lot like over the hills and far away at the beginning

Jerry Kittle 10 months ago

and this developed into " Over the hills and far away"