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A seven-and-a-half minute Blues number with some electric piano played by Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones, this was a live favorite for the band. They started working on the song during the sessions for
Led Zeppelin II, but was bumped for "
Whole Lotta Love." By the time they recorded it for
Led Zeppelin III, they had worked out the song in live performances, but according to Jimmy Page, it was still the hardest track to record for the album. The guitarist says they were getting very self-critical around this time.
Before this song was committed to tape, Led Zeppelin performed it at their famous January 9, 1970 concert at Royal Albert Hall in London. The show was filmed and recorded, but the keyboards didn't make it into the mix on this track, so the song was not included on the 2003 DVD Led Zeppelin, which featured footage from the show.
This is a very difficult song to sing, and it showed off Robert Plant's vocal range quite well. He said in a 2003 interview with Mojo: "The musical progression at the end of each verse - the chord choice - is not a natural place to go. And it's that lift up there that's so regal and so emotional. I don't know whether that was born from the loins of JP or JPJ, but I know that when we reached that point in the song you could get a lump in the throat from being in the middle of it."
This was recorded live in the studio with very little overdubbing. If you listen carefully, you can hear the squeak of John Bonham's drum pedal.
Jimmy Page did his guitar solo in one take. Engineer Terry Manning called it "The best rock guitar solo of all time."
Plant used a sample from this on his solo track "White, Clean, and Neat."
Just before their
Physical Grafitti tour, Jimmy Page broke the tip of his left ring finger in a door-slamming incident. They went on with the tour but they had to drop this and "
Dazed And Confused" from the set lists as he couldn't play them until his finger healed. (thanks, julian - Boston, MA)
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btw album is much better then BBC
Led Zeppelin is the greatest band there ever will be..
On a side note, I love the little things on LZ's albums that many people never notice - the squeak of the drum's bass pedal, for instance :D
He knew I was (and am) a huge fan of the bluesier styles of music.
Boy, was he right!
Killer intro, standard old style blues lyrics, and one fantastic solo from Page.
Oh, and JPJ's keyboards are perfect.
this song, however, is quite amazing and as far as blues rock goes there isn't much that can touch it.
Achilles Last Stand.
list....this is though
But remember who really wrote a lot of their songs. Leadbelly, Willy Dixon, Robert Johnson, and many more. Listen to some of these great Delta Bluesmen.
Page started the band with the thought of using concepts he had devloped during his stay with the yardbirds.
The opening seqience is so strong, the lonesome wail of the guitar with the drum coming in off tempo creates immediate tension. The emotion of the music and Plants voice bring more to the table in terms of pain and desire than any blues song I've ever heard.
What an incredible solo from Pagey. Arpeggios and runs that seem to use all of the fretboard at once
and double bending that would snap other guitarists fingers. Not forgetting Roberts astonishing wailing which blasts the emotion of the lyrics right into yer dizzybits. All this on top of Bonzo & JPJs amazing rhythm track. Some sly and subtle Hammond playing (fab bass pedal work too) and of course squeaky bass drum pedal. Powerful, moving, evocative. One of Led Zeppelins finest musical statements.