Led Zeppelin’s meteoric rise in the late ’60s was a masterclass in speed and precision. In just two whirlwind years, the band delivered four iconic albums that reshaped the landscape of rock music. But not every track came together in a blaze of amps and urgency. Some songs, like the quietly powerful “Tangerine,” unfolded slowly—over time, in silence, and through personal reflection.
Released in October 1970 on Led Zeppelin III, “Tangerine” stood apart from the band’s usual thunder. The song felt like an exhale—a retreat from the storm of guitar-driven epics. Its warm acoustic layers, tinged with English folk and California melancholy, carried the distinct imprint of Bron-Yr-Aur, the secluded Welsh cottage where the band briefly escaped the chaos of fame. It was there that Jimmy Page began reworking a song that had been following him for years.
In that countryside calm, Zeppelin embraced vulnerability. “Tangerine” blossomed with gentle pedal steel riffs from Page and mandolin accents from John Paul Jones, wrapping around Robert Plant’s restrained vocal. His voice, soft and reflective, floated through lines like “Measuring a summer’s day / I only find it slips away to grey,” giving the song a sense of longing that felt older than its release.
But the song’s true beginnings trace back to Page’s last days with The Yardbirds. In 1968, he recorded a version titled “Knowing That I’m Losing You” with vocalist Keith Relf. Though the original Yardbirds track remained unreleased for decades, it laid the melodic foundation for what would become “Tangerine.” Page would later repurpose the tune, stripping away the old vocals but keeping the same bittersweet heart.
That heart, as Page admitted in later interviews, beat for Jackie DeShannon. The American singer-songwriter, and Page’s former girlfriend, served as the muse behind the song’s reflective lyrics. Its themes of fading romance and quiet regret spoke to something personal—something unresolved.
In a 1977 Guitar Player interview, Page revealed how unplanned some parts of the track were. He’d never played pedal steel before, but decided to try it out in the studio. “It’s a bit of a pinch really from the things that Chuck Berry did,” he said with a laugh. “Nevertheless, it fits.”
More than five decades later, “Tangerine” continues to resonate—not because it’s bombastic or groundbreaking, but because it lingers with a quiet honesty. It’s proof that even among giants, there’s room for fragility. And for Jimmy Page, it was a song that needed time, distance, and heartache to fully become what it was meant to be.
