“He remembers my guitar sound clearly, end of story”: Dave Davies rejects Eddie Kramer’s Jimmy Page overdub claims and insists that he alone played all guitar parts on You Really Got Me

Dave Davies has responded to recent quotes from Eddie Kramer that have led to increased interest around the recording of You Really Got Me, with The Kinks guitarist disputing claims that Jimmy Page recorded overdubs for the 1964 hit.

During an interview in the most recent issue of Guitar World, Kramer was asked about his experiences working with Jimmy Page in the studio, which prompted the producer to voluntarily recall the time he first met Page.

To that end, Kramer said he first met Page in the studio during a Kinks recording session, in which he remembers “seeing Jimmy Page come in and doing an overdub”. He also names You Really Got Me as a potential song that Page may have been overdubbing for, and notes: “There is some contention about that, but that’s how I remember it.”

A clip of the audio of the interview – as well as a transcript of the exchange – can be found in full below.

You mentioned Jimmy Page, which I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention – [was a] totally different animal in the studio. He’s renowned for his studio wizardry as well. Once you got into the studio with him, what was that experience like?

Eddie Kramer: “Well, that’s a whole different ball game. A very interesting one. I met him… you know, we mentioned The Kinks in ‘63, ‘64, and I think on that song, You Really Got Me – either You Really Got Me or one of the others – I remember seeing Jimmy Page come in and doing an overdub.

“Now there is some contention about that, but that’s how I remember it. I was an assistant engineer in those days, but he was the guy. You know, you bring in this young, amazing guitar player or session guy – 17 or 18 years old or something, I don't know – but damn, he was good.”

The anecdote was the focus of a recent story that was published on GuitarWorld.com, which sought to explore the history behind the recording of the track, and question Page’s potential involvement.

In that initial article, it was noted that both Davies and Page – as well as producer Shel Talmy – had all previously refuted the notion that Page featured on You Really Got Me, drawing on quotes from The Guardian and Rolling Stone that illustrated that important point.

“I, Dave Davies, invented the distorted guitar sound and played the solo on ‘You Really Got Me’ and Ray Davies played rhythm guitar,” Davies was quoted as saying by Rolling Stone. “We never used ANY other guitarists on any Kinks hits.”

Comparatively, the story also drew on previous quotes published in Sound on Sound from Ray Davies, which suggested that there may have been an unreleased, unheard demo of the track that featured Page’s contributions.

“The [version] of You Really Got Me that was actually released was the third [recording],” Davies is quoted as saying by Sound on Sound. “There was a demo thing with Dave playing lead, a second cut which may have had Jimmy Page on it (and which Pye Records still have in their vaults) and a third which definitely had Dave on it.”

This – paired with Eddie Kramer’s recent quotes that he remembers Page “doing an overdub” in the studio with The Kinks – suggested that Page may have been involved in overdubbing a version of the song that never got released.

At no point did the article claim that Page had recorded anything on the final version of You Really Got Me as we know it today.

In light of Kramer’s quotes and the story, Dave Davies refuted the claims that Page had played any part in the recording of You Really Got Me, writing on social media: “I played all the guitar parts on YRGM”.

A follow-up post responding to the interview excerpt saw Davies provide a screenshot of a text from Kramer. He captioned the image with: “Here is Ed’s complete statement he sent to me this week regarding the issue. He remembers my guitar sound clearly, end of story.”

The original article containing Kramer’s quotes did not claim that Jimmy Page had played on the final version of You Really Got Me that was eventually released.

Instead, it was posited that Kramer’s insight gave credence to Ray Davies’ recollection that there may still be an unreleased version of You Really Got Me featuring an overdub, however small, from Jimmy Page – something that could finally account for the myths that have surrounded the track over the decades, but crucially, does nothing to diminish Dave Davies’ riff and tonal legacy, which was never in doubt.