If Page had such a great memory, how come he always somehow managed to forget to give credit to the guys whose material he was stealing?
I don't think such niceties as to giving credit was that important; if you are speaking of "stolen" riffs, songs, and whatnot.
What LZ and Cream (Clapton, Baker, and ?? - I fergit) did, was find their own groove of American roots music.
Clear that they were not originating, but as clear, they took it to the next level.
A little story here. Jeff Beck once said that he was shocked when Jimmy Page put his name on the song "Beck's Bolero" which Beck later included on his Truth album. According to Jeff, they were at Page's house and Jimmy was playing around with a few around chords with Jeff playing solo and out of blue the rough take of Beck's Bolero fell out. Jeff got Keith Moon to come in for drums and (I think) Ron Wood for bass and they recorded the song after only a couple of takes.
Page evidently handled the paper work of “Beck’s Bolero” and when Beck found out that Page put his name on the song he hit the ceiling. Beck maintained that the melody was his and if you listen to Beck's Bolero and what Beck passionately lays out on that legendary track it is pretty clear Beck was right in his assertion.
There is a very interesting symbiotic relationship with Beck and Page. They were close friends before they became famous. Page was originally asked by the Yardbirds to replace Eric Clapton. He refused the offer because of some studio work he was doing at the time but recommended Jeff Beck. Beck took the offer, made the Yardbirds into one of the exciting bands of the times, then a couple of years later Page decided he wanted in on the Yardbirds. Jeff leaves after a couple of months and The Yardbirds go nowhere. Beck forms a new band with Rod Stewart. That band gets critical acclaim as an innovative band but Beck later self-destructs after 2 albums. Page takes the blue prints from the Yardbirds and Beck's work with Rod Stewart and forms Led Zepplin.
Jimmy Page is truly a great architect of Rock but a little history suggests that Page took a few liberties with some of his peers when it came to borrowing ideas. If anything, it shows that Page was a far better marketer of ideas than his pal Beck.
I don’t think Beck forgot this. A few years ago Beck showed up at one of Jimmy Page’s parties and gave Page a CD of his latest album “Who Else”. Page listened to it and was awed by what Beck did. I could only imagine what Jeff was thinking.