Supergroups are rarely given the luxury of growing pains. The moment you bring together a few legends, fans expect brilliance — instantly. And while Led Zeppelin had the pedigree, Jimmy Page knew it would take more than reputations to create something iconic. He had a vision, but that didn’t mean the road to their finest work was without its share of struggle.
From the start, Zeppelin were already under fire. Their explosive debut showed four musicians at full throttle, but with songs like ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ borrowing heavily from older blues tunes, skeptics dismissed them as a Yardbirds extension with a heavier groove.
But if Led Zeppelin I introduced the band, Led Zeppelin II was the knockout punch. Written and recorded while touring, the record was a testament to how quickly they evolved. ‘Whole Lotta Love’ redefined riff rock, and John Bonham’s thunderous solo in ‘Moby Dick’ became legend. Suddenly, Zeppelin were more than a blues band — they were reshaping rock’s DNA.
Then came Led Zeppelin III, and everything shifted. Acoustic guitars replaced some of the fury, and fans who expected another hard-rock juggernaut were blindsided. ‘Immigrant Song’ teased intensity, but tracks like ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Gallows Pole’ flipped the script. And nestled in the middle of that transformation was a song that nearly broke Jimmy Page: ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’.
“We always had some blues on our albums. Playing the blues is actually the most challenging thing you can do. It is very hard to play something original.”
– Jimmy Page
The track was steeped in the blues Page loved, but it wasn’t just another jam — it was a showcase of emotional precision. Every lick from Page’s guitar felt like a cry, a conversation, a scream. It was raw, intimate, and demanding.
Yet, for a band who could knock out songs in hours, this one pushed them to the brink.
“That was the only song on the third album that we had played live prior to our sessions, yet it was the hardest to record. We had several tries at that one.”
You wouldn’t know it from the final cut. The studio take feels like a live performance — gritty, full of space and tension. Page used Bonham’s drum energy as a barometer, bending his notes around the crash of every cymbal, weaving intensity through every pause.
But the sonic contrast was jarring. Surrounded by quieter, pastoral tracks, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ felt like a storm erupting in the middle of a calm — the emotional centerpiece of an otherwise restrained record. It was Zeppelin refusing to pick one lane and instead showing they could master them all.
And for Page, it was a reminder that the blues — the genre they were most often accused of copying — was also the one that demanded the most soul, the most risk, and in this case, the most takes.
