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This is based on an old Blues song called "Gallis Pole," which was popularized by Leadbelly. The song is considered "Traditional," meaning the author is unknown. Jimmy Page got the idea for this after hearing the version by the California Folk singer Fred Gerlach. Page explained when previewing the song for Melody Maker: "He was one of the first white people on Folkways records to get involved in Leadbelly. We have completely rearranged it and changed the verse. Robert wrote a set of new lyrics. That's John Paul Jones on mandolin and bass, and I'm playing the banjo, six-string acoustic, 12-string and electric guitar. The bloke swinging on the gallows pole is saying wait for his relatives to arrive. The drumming builds nicely." (thanks, Jason Lee - New York, NY)
The lyrics are about a man trying to delay his hanging until his friends and family can rescue him. Although there are many versions of this song, Led Zeppelin's is unusual in that it ends with the hangman hanging the protagonist despite all of his bribes. Most other versions end with the hangman setting the protagonist free. (thanks, Alex - Melbourne, FL)
A similar folk song called "Slack Your Rope" was sung by an Arkansan named Jimmie Driftwood. He adapted the words from a fifteenth century British Ballad when any crime could be paid off with money right up to the last step of the gallows. In his version, the criminal is definitely a woman and her lover rides up and pays her fee. (thanks, Lalah - Wasilla, AK)
This is the only Led Zeppelin song that features a banjo. Jimmy Page wrote it on a banjo he borrowed from John Paul Jones. He had never played the banjo before.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant teamed up again to record this song for an MTV Unplugged set. It's featured on the The Very Best of MTV Unplugged album and the duo are listed simply as Page and Plant. (thanks, Dave - Canberra, Australia)
Jimmy Page has claimed this as his favorite song on Led Zeppelin III.
This is a rare Led Zeppelin song that speeds up as it goes along, a technique Jimmy Page also used on "
Stairway To Heaven." (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)
In 1994, Page and Plant re-recorded this in Wales for their album No Quarter. On that version, Page played a hurdy-gurdy, an odd instrument resembling an organ grinder that sounds like a bagpipe.
Comments (50):
Steve Forbert - "Romeo's Tune"
"Let me smell the moon in your perfume..." It took a rough mix and an extra verse, but Steve found his "calling card" song, which is
always the encore.
Brandi Carlile
As a 5-year-old, Brandi was writing lyrics to instrumental versions lullabies. She still puts her heart into her songs, including the one Elton John sings on.
Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash
The Wishbone Ash guitarist on how touring with The Who inspired one of their most enduring songs, and why they moved to America at the peak of their powers.
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Your brother brought me silver, Your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard, see you swinging from the Gallows Pole
So, yes, the hangman was a jerk, took money & sex to redeem, the poor sap's life, then laughingly hanged him anyway!
1) Blood is thicker than water
-his friends didn't do jack s--t for him when it came time to put up or shut up, and his family did everything that they could to help him.
2) Don't trust anyone. Even after giving the hangman what he wanted, the f--ker still hung him
you know that we're too damn poor to keep you from the Gallows Pole " - as for me that's about treason. I think, that the friends of hero didn't tell him the truth.
The speed of the song, in my opinion, reflects the state of the person about to be hung. Starts off a bit slow and depressing relising they are about to die and there is little hope. It slowly speeds up as their brother arrives with riches - hope and excitement. Then their sister arrives thus it speeds up even more - more hope. The person thinks they might be released. However it changes to the hangman, who must be a right git, who, regardless of the offerings he has accepted, hangs the man and laughs at him - this is when the song really takes off.
Just my personal take on the lyrics - what the song means to me personally is a whole different matter. It also reminds me of the 80s, growing up in Canada sitting in my dad's old Monte Carlo.
However, the lyrics are not about a woman being hanged. THey are about a man being hanged, and his friends and brother show up to pay off his crime, but his friends have nothing and the brother not enough. So eventually his sister comes to pay off the crime. She does this by, well, screwing the hangman. Thus, the man who was to be hanged was not, but the sister WAS, for committing adultery.
I have the lyrics to both songs and I don't see them.