Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page Played on a Beach Boys Rip-Off Song
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin played on many pop tracks by other stars. One of those songs was a Beach Boys rip-off. That’s no insult — more pop tunes should take ideas from The Beach Boys!
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin named some of the pop songs he helped create
Before becoming a rock star, Page was a session musician, playing instruments on many famous songs by other artists. During a 2014 interview with Reverb, Page said it was difficult to remember all of his work as a session musician. “It’s difficult, yeah, but I’ll tell you what I do know,” he said. “On BBC2 [television] at the moment, there’s like a weather advert, this song fraction that they’ve got. I think it’s by The Fenmen, they’re singing like, ‘I’ve got everything you need, babe,’ and then suddenly this solo goes on at the end [sings]. And I went: ‘Hey, that’s me!’
“I’d completely forgotten about that, but I knew the minute I heard that guitar who it was,” he said. “And all those Petula Clark things, I was on all of those, ‘Downtown,’ all the big hits, ‘Don’t Sleep in the Subway.’ So every now and again, they come around.”
How a song with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page ended up sounding like The Beach Boys
Clark was the most vanilla singer to come out of the British Invasion. It’s incredible she’s lumped in with innovators like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who! Despite her traditional sound and style, “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” might be her most interesting song since it takes so much inspiration from The Beach Boys.
Most of “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” is a simple pop song about love gone wrong. However, the chorus has some avant-garde instrumentation. Listen to it a couple of times, and it’ll vaguely remind you of The Beach Boys. If you listen to it more, you’ll probably notice it’s reminiscent of the hook of “God Only Knows.” Both tunes have a similar melody and a choppy, progressive arrangement. They also mix lyrics about love with a sense of desperation.
“Don’t Sleep in the Subway” also has an abrupt change in its beat that makes it stand out. The Beach Boys incorporated such shifts into the instrumentation of “Good Vibrations.” If only Clark had taken more inspiration from The Beach Boys — she would have been a more interesting singer!
Considering that “God Only Knows,” its parent album, Pet Sounds, and “Good Vibrations” all came out in 1966 and “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” came out in 1967, it seems plausible that Clark’s songwriter, Tony Hatch, took some ideas from The Beach Boys. During a 2014 interview with the Daily Express, Hatch said he wished that he had written The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” Clearly, Hatch had Brian Wilson and company on his mind.
What Petula Clark thought of her Beach Boys-style song
Whether its derivative or not, Clark seems to have a special place in her heart for “Don’t Sleep in the Subway.” During a 2014 interview with Smashing Interviews Magazine, Clark discussed her hits. “I like all of them,” she said. “Some of them I like more. Probably, I like ‘Don’t Sleep in the Subway’ and ‘I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love.’ They may be my favorites, actually.”
If you are a fan of Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys — or classic rock in general — “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” might be your favorite of Clark’s songs, too.
