“When it came time to take a Swan Song signing photo, I got a limo to pick up Jimmy [Page] at the Malibu Colony [and] brought him to my room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where the members of Detective were to meet us. Jimmy was nodding out the whole time we were in the car, and when we got to my room he lay down on the couch and immediately fell asleep. When the band got there, Michael [Des Barres] and I tried repeatedly to wake him, even going to the extreme of throwing cold water on his face, but it was to no avail. Although he was breathing, Jimmy was out cold. After around a half hour I had Andy Kent photograph Detective sitting next to the sleeping Page and then sent him and the band members home. A few hours later, Jimmy roused himself.
There had been rumors that he was doing heroin and this behaviour made me believe them. Not surprisingly, Page had a different explanation. He said he had taken a Valium and must have overreacted to it. He was furious with Michael and me, disbelieving that we had really tried to wake him. He let me circulate the photo but later complained that in doing so I had “made [him] out to be a twit”.
In retrospect, he was absolutely right. The photo should never have seen the light of day. Detective was lucky to be on Swan Song and it would have been no big deal to schedule another photo session. I had forgotten who I was working for.” — Danny Goldberg, Vice President of Swan Song from 1974 - 1976.
Trampled Under Foot: The Power and Excess of Led Zeppelin by Barney Hoskyns.
