You Shook Me

Infobox Single
Name = You Shook Me


Artist = Muddy Waters
from Album =
B-side =
Released =
Format = Single
Recorded = June 27, 1962
Chicago
Genre = Blues-rock
Length = 2:44
Label = Chess (Cat. No. 1827)
Writer = Willie Dixon, J. B. Lenoir
Producer = Willie Dixon
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single =
This single =
Next single = Song infobox
Name = You Shook Me


Artist = Led Zeppelin
Album = "Led Zeppelin"
Released = January 12 1969
track_no = 3
Length = 6:28
Genre = Hard rock, blues-rock
Label = Atlantic
Producer = Jimmy Page
Chart position =
Background =
prev = "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"
prev_no = 2
next = "Dazed and Confused"
next_no = 4"You Shook Me" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962.

The single featured Muddy Waters on vocals, J.T Brown Ernest Cotton on tenor saxophone, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker on organ, Earl Hooker on guitar, Willie Dixon on bass, and Casey Jones on drums.

Cover versions

The song was recorded by various rock musicians, including Jeff Beck on his album "Truth" (1968), and most famously by English rock band Led Zeppelin on their debut album "Led Zeppelin" (1969).

Since the Led Zeppelin version was released in 1969, months after Beck's, he accused them of stealing his idea. This, along with the overall similarity between the sound of "Led Zeppelin" and that of "Truth", led to a long rift between Beck and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.Dave Lewis (1994), "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.] Beck and Page had been friends for years at that point.Dave Schulps, [http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_77.trp Interview with Jimmy Page] , "Trouser Press", October 1977.] Interestingly, Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones had played the organ on Beck's version of the song as well, while still a session musician.

In an interview he gave in 1977, Page commented:

In a separate interview, also given by Page in 1977, he elaborated:

On the Led Zeppelin recording, Jones double tracked the organ and the electric piano. Page used his "backward echo" technique on this towards the end with Robert Plant's screaming vocals and the guitar. This production technique involved hearing the echo before the main sound instead of after it, achieved by turning the tape over and employing the echo on a spare track, then turning the tape back over again to get the echo preceding the signal. Page had originally developed the method when recording the single "Ten Little Indians" with The Yardbirds in 1967. [Brad Tolinski and Greg Di Bendetto, "Light and Shade", "Guitar World", January 1998.]

"You Shook Me" was one of the first Led Zeppelin songs to feature the call-and-response effect of blues style music, a style used frequently by the band on subsequent studio tracks and live in concert.Dave Lewis (1994), "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.] Perhaps because the song so effectively showcases the talents of all four band members, it was played frequently during early Led Zeppelin concerts. From 1973, however, the song was dropped from the band's live setlist as they began to incorporate more material from subsequent albums into their on-stage performances. (In fact, in its entirety the song was played until October 1969, and until 1973 it was from time to time added as a part of Whole Lotta Love).

Jimmy Page performed this song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. A version of "You Shook Me" performed by Page and The Black Crowes can be found on the album "Live at the Greek".

References

ources

*"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