MAGE MUSIC: Oklahoma City

Sunday, August 20, 2023

On this day 20 August

Happy birthday, Robert Plant. And happy day, Jimmy Page.

1948 20 August On This Day Robert Plant was born
♪ Happy birthday!

1990 20 August On This Day Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club

1966 The Yardbirds - Oklahoma City, OK at Wedgewood Amusement Park
1969 Led Zeppelin - Schenectady, NY at Schenectady Aerodrome
1970 Led Zeppelin - Oklahoma City, OK at Oklahoma State Fair Arena
1971 Led Zeppelin - Seattle, WA at Seattle Center Coliseum (unconfirmed)
1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith - London, England at Marquee Club

1990:

Train Kept A-Rollin' has been around a while. It was first recorded in 1951 by Tiny Bradshaw as a jump blues song (up-tempo blues that became popular in the 1940s, the precursor to rhythm and blues and rock and roll). The Johnny Burnette Trio added a repeating three-note minor key guitar line with intentionally distorted guitar (achieved by loosening a tube in the guitar amp), leading the way for The Yardbirds in 1965.

With The Yardbirds the song became Stroll On, as seen in the movie Blowup, with Jimmy Page on bass. He took the song with him to Led Zeppelin, reverting to the song's original name and, of course, to the guitar. When the four who were to become Led Zeppelin rehearsed together for the first time in 1968, the first song they took on was Train Kept A Rollin'.

John Paul Jones:

"...we did 'Train'... It was there immediately. It was so powerful that I don't remember what we played after that. For me it was just like, 'Crikey!' I mean, I'd had moments of elation with groups before, but nothing as intense as that. It was like a thunderbolt, a lightning flash – boosh! Everyone sort of went 'Wow'."
~ Mick Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin 2009

Aerosmith adopted Train Kept A Rollin' early on for their own set lists, recording it for their second album, Get Your Wings (1974, remastered 1993).