Transcript
Progressive Insurance Announcer (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with a name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.
Podcast Host 1 (0:20)
The what's your Mount Rushmore? Podcast there's two things that I think I am almost always it's hungry and tired. I spend. I seriously probably spend 80% of my life, my waking life, being either hungry or tired or both.
Podcast Host 2 (0:34)
I will mirror that, but I will add a third one. I'm always also gassy.
Podcast Host 1 (0:42)
Yes you are. There is no doubt about that. What's your Mount Rushmore?
Janda (Behind the Song Host) (0:47)
I don't know.
Podcast Host 2 (0:48)
Listen wherever you get podcasts with Verbal's
Travel Deal Announcer (0:51)
last minute deals, you can save over $50 on your spring getaway. So whether it's a mountain escape with friends, a family week at the be, or sightseeing in a new city, there's still time to get great discounts. Book your next day Now. Average savings $72 select homes only.
Podcast Host 2 (1:21)
Welcome to the behind the Song podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes. Here's your host, Janda.
Janda (Behind the Song Host) (1:31)
I'm Janda, and in this special episode of behind the Song Powered by Chick Fil A, I'm gonna step away from the big hits to talk about a recording that until today was considered a myth. I've talked about Jimmy Page before, and I've talked about Joe Walsh, but today I'm diving into the night. They recorded a long lost song together in a hotel room right here in Chicago. It was the fall of 1969. Led Zeppelin were playing a residency at the Kinetic Playground on Clark street in the Uptown neighborhood, and the James Gang were also in town, playing at the Auditorium Theater. The two bands had shared a bill earlier that year with the James Gang, opening for several dates on Led Zeppelin's US Tour. During that time, sharing a stage, Jimmy Page and Joe Walsh became fast friends, a friendship so rooted in admiration for each other's talents and that when Page complained that his guitar was producing uncontrollable feedback at shows, Walsh offered to sell one of his 2:59 Gibson Les Paul's to page. Guitar number one, as it's called, was later used by Page to record Led Zeppelin's second album. Anyway, the two found themselves in Chicago at the same time that fall between their respective shows, and both were staying at the Ambassador East Hotel, the hotel of choice for rockers in those days, Paige invited Walsh to his room to hang out and maybe jam a little bit. What happened that night was much more than a jam session between two friends. After dinner at the famed Pump Room in the hotel and more than a few drinks later, the two went back up to Paige's room, room six, and pulled out their guitars. Paige carried a four track recorder with him on the road in those days, just in case inspiration struck, and it surely did that night. A song began to unfold as the hours wore on. A song that Walsh has mentioned only a couple of times at all over the years. Angel on the cta. He said in an interview with Cream magazine in the late 70s that he had written a song with a friend in a hotel room on Chicago's Gold coast inspired by a woman he saw emerging from the Red Line stop at Clark and Division Streets earlier that day. He said she really knocked him out, but offered no further description. And the identity of this mysterious woman has never been revealed. The story and the legend about this song is that it was never released for one reason. Because Robert Plant was enraged that Page had written material and recorded with Walsh at all, even in a hotel room. And he vowed never to let angel on the CTA see the light of day. Page, not wanting to ruffle his front man's feathers too much, allegedly told Walsh that the song could never, ever be released. Angel on the CTA is actually rumored to have evolved into a song that you probably know. Some in certain circles have said that Pretty Maids all in a Row from the Eagles Hotel California album got its start from this magical jam session in Chicago. For years, whispers generated about angel on the CTA without so much of a note ever surfacing on the Internet or anywhere else. The tapes from that night have been up to now, nowhere to be found. Some said they were lost in a fire, some said they were stolen from the hotel room. But through a connection with a former roadie for the James Gang, we here at behind the Song have obtained all that remains of of the music created by Joe Walsh and Jimmy Page that night in Chicago. Hear it now, angel on the cta. Did you hear that? That is the signature sound of Jimmy Page. And you can hear Joe Walsh's characteristic style so clearly. But that thumping in the background, we now believe that that isn't a drum. That is Jimmy Page rhythmically hitting a Pizzeria Uno deep dish pizza box with his foot. Because John Bonham was reportedly asleep in the bathtub the next room over. And for the first time ever, Joe Walsh, the Clown prince of Rock and Roll has finally decided to speak about this long lost recording. After repeated attempts, he finally agreed to a phone interview with me about angel on the cta. I asked him one question. What happened to the tapes? And. And why is this snippet all that remains?