The Song Remains the Same is the first track off of Led Zeppelin's 1973 album Houses of the Holy.
This was Robert Plant's tribute to world music, reflecting his belief that music is universal.
Originally The Song Remains the Same was an instrumental with the working title The Oveture, before Plant put lyrics to it, after which the song became known as The Campaign before Led Zeppelin settled on The Song Remains the Same.
Zeppelin first performed the song live on their 1972 Japanese Tour Bootlegs from this tour show that the song did not have a settled title to it. Plant even called the song Zep while on stage in Tokyo. From late 1972 to 1975 The Song Remains the Same ( just as on Houses of the Holy) segued into The Rain Song. The Song Remains the Same would be the opening song for the 1977 and 1979 concerts, before being dropped from the set list for the 1980 European tour. The song was also performed at the 2007 Led Zeppelin reunion show at the O2 Arena.
For the album release Robert Plant's vocals were slightly sped up, while Jimmy Page played the overdubs on a Fender Telecaster guitar and a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. In live performances, however, Jimmy played a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck 12-string.
Video from Earls Court Show in 1975
The Song Remains the Same
I had a dream. Crazy dream.
Anything I wanted to know, any place I needed to go.
Hear my song. People won't you listen now?
Sing along.
You don't know what your missing now.
Any little song that you know.
Everything that is small has to grow.
And it has to grow.
Na, na, na, na,wow!
California sunlight, Calcutta rain.
Honolulu starbright- the song remains the same.
Sing out Hare hare, dance the Hoochie Koo.
City lights are oh so bright , as we go sliding...sliding...sliding through.
Fate has seemed to deem it necessary that I write about Elvis' performance in Hawaii. The thing is I didn't know that this was the 40th anniversary until a few minutes ago. But there are two women, who are no longer with me on Earth, who would most definitely know : my Mother and my Mom (step-mother who raised me). I have a feeling that one or both of them made it so that I would find the video of the performance.
My Mother, bless her heart, tried everything she could while she was alive to get me to go completely bat crap over Elvis like her. She all but worshiped the ground he walked on, but it wasn't until I got older did I develop a bit of an appreciation of Elvis music other than his gospel. And as it turns out 'Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite' was what could be deemed an early birthday present for her because it was a few days later.
As for my Mom, well she said she wasn't that big of a fan of Elvis but yet she saw him three times in concert and two of the times were in Hawaii. Plus my Mom got three scarves from Elvis. One from each concert. So all of this leads me to believe that she really liked Elvis more than what she let on and just did not want to admit it.
So with that bit of background here is my piece on the 40th Anniversary of Elvis ' 'Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite' plus the video that was posted on youtube last year.
Aloha From Hawaii via Satellitewas an Elvis Presley concert that was broadcast from Honolulu, Hawaii January 14,1973 from the Honolulu International Center (now known as the Neil S. Blaisdell Center) and was aired to over 40 countries across Europe and Asia, who saw it the next day, but it was also shown to them in primetime . But despite the satellite innovation, the concert was not aired in the United States until Wednesday April 4, 1973 (Happy Birthday to me ) because the concert took place on the same day as Super Bowl VII. Viewing figures have been estimated to have been over 1 billion viewers worldwide. It was also the most expensive entertainment show at the time, costing $2.5 million.
Elvis manager Colonel Tom Parker became inspired by President Richard M. Nixon's recent trip to China announced on July 8,1972 that there would be a worldwide satellite broadcast from Hawaii to allow the entire world a chance to see an Elvis Presley concert "since it is impossible for us to play in every major city." It was initially stated that the concert would take place in October or November of 1972 but after MGM studios voiced concern over the possible clashing with the release of their documentary 'Elvis on Tour' the concert date was changed to early 1973. As this show was already planned before this upset, the original shows, now set for November, would still go ahead without being filmed.
On September 4, 1972 Colonel Parker held another news conference from Las Vegas that the concert, now titled Aloha from Hawaiiwould be broadcast January 14, 1973. Then the press were told that an audience of 1 billion was expected to watch the "first entertainment special to be broadcast around the world", even though Parker had not taken into consideration that many countries, including parts of America and Europe,would not see the broadcast live because of the time of the broadcast.
Two weeks after the news conference Colonel Parker received a letter from Honolulu Advertisercolumnist, Eddie Sherman. Mr. Sherman had read news accounts that admittance to the concert was to be free and instead a donation for charity was required. He then suggested to Colonel Parker, that as Elvis Presley had recorded and was still performing the song 'I'll Remember You' written by Hawaiian singer-songwriter Kui Lee, the donations should go to the Kui Lee Cancer Fund that had been established in 1966 following his death. Seeing this as another chance to again publicize Elvis' charitable side, Parker eagerly agreed.
Producer-director Marty Pasetta had gone to an Elvis concert in Long Beach, California in mid-November, and found it to be "boring" and lacking in physical excitement. He went to Colonel Parker with ideas for the broadcast, including a runway that led out from the stage and into the audience. Parker thought that the idea was ridiculous and that Elvis would agree with him and have no part of it. To Colonel Parker's chagrin Pasetta went to Elvis with the ideas and Elvis agreed with Pasetta, to Mr. Pasetta's surprise. This only proved to be another example in the growing rift between Elvis Presley and Colonel Parker.
On November 17 and 18, Elvis performed in Honolulu as originally planned for the satellite concert. Then on November 20 Elvis gave a press conference to promote the special. He also officially announced that it now be in aid to the Kui Lee Cancer Fund.
Before arriving to Hawaii on January 9,1972 for rehearsals, Elvis lost 25 pounds ( too bad he couldn't keep it off ) and was confident after news that his record sales were increasing and that Elvis on Tour had been nominated for a Golden Globe. Rehearsals were held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village while the main set was being constructed.
Elvis attending a sound check
As a fail-safe, Elvis taped the January 12 rehearsal concert just in
case anything went wrong with the satellite during the actual broadcast, but of course nothing went wrong with the actual January 14 broadcast. For both of his shows Elvis wore Bill Belew's white "American Eagle" jumpsuit. Marty Pasetta, who by this time was in charge of directing the Oscars, directed the broadcast.
There was no price on audience tickets for both the January 14 concert and the January 12 pre-broadcast rehearsal. Each member of the audience was asked to give whatever they could afford. The concert and its merchandise raised $75,000 for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii.
Elvis performed a variety of new and old songs including 'Steamroller Blues', CArl Perkins' 'Blue Sued Shoes', ' Suspicious Minds', 'Hound Dog', The Beatles' 'Something','See See Rider', 'Welcome to My World' and others. After the concert was done and the audience left Elvis went back on stage and recorded five songs for the show that was to be aired in America.
On a flight on October 20,1977 after a concert in Greenville, South Carolina the great Southern rock band Lynard Skynard, became a legend. For this is when their chartered Convair CV-300 ran out of fuel and despite the valiant efforts of the pilots to make an emergency landing on a small airstrip, the plane went down in Gilsburg, Mississippi in Amite ( pronounced A-mitt) County, 10 minutes from the next Lynard Skynard tour stop,Baton Rouge,Louisiana. Just three days after the release of the band's fifth studio album Street Survivors and five days into their most successful headlining tour. Lead singer, Ronnie Van Zant was killed on impact when a piece luggage flew out of the above head compartment and struck him snapping his neck. Also killed in the crash was guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister backup singer Cassie Gaines as was assistant road manager Dean Kirkpatrick, pilot William McCreary and co-pilot William Gray; the other band members Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell,Artimus,Pyle and background singer Leslie Hawkins and road crew suffered serious injuries.
Following the crash and the immediate press, Street Survivors became the band's last album to have original members of Lynard Skynard, Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins on it and is also the only studio recording to have Steve Gaines on it. It is also the second platinum album for the band reaching number5 on the U.S. album charts. With the single "What's Your Name" reaching number 13 on the singles charts in January of 1978. The original cover of Street Survivors had flames in the background but because of the death of band members and pilots the flames were discontinued and a black background was put in its place behind the band.
What's Your Name
Well, it's 8 o'clock in Boise, Idaho
I'll find my limo driver
Mister, take us to the show
I done made some plans for later on tonight;
I'll find a little queen
And I know I can treat her right.
What's your name, little girl?
What's your name?
Shootin' you straight, little girl?
Won't you do the same?
Back at the hotel, Lord, we got such a mess
It seems that one of the crew had ago with one of the guest, oh yes.
Well the police said we can't drink in the bar
What a shame
Won't you come upstairs girl
and have a drink of champagne
What's your name, little girl?
What's your name?
Shootin' you straight, little girl?
For there ain't no shame
What's your name, little girl?
What's your name?
Shootin' you straight, little girl?
Won't you do the same?
What's your name, little girl?
What;s your name?
Shootin' you straight, little girl?
Won't you do the same?
9 o'clock the next day
And I'm ready to go
I got six hundred miles to ride
To do one more show, oh no
Can I get you a taxi home
It sure was grand
When I come back here next year
I wanna see you again
What's your name, little girl?
What's your name?
Shootin' you straight, little girl?
Well, there ain't no shame
What's your name, litle girl?
What's your name?
Shootin' you straight, little girl?
Won't you do the same?
Lynard Skynard disbanded after the crash, reuniting just once in January of 1979 to perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" at Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam V. Collins, Rossington, Pyle and Powell performed the song with Charlie Daniels and members of his band. Even though he was still undergoing physical therapy for his left arm, Leon Wilkeson was at the performance as was Ronnie Van Zant's widow, Judy; Chris Gaines' widow, Teresa; JoJo Billingsley, backing vocalist for the band and Leslie Hawkins.
Even though the end of the original band is tragic as were some times for the survivors after it Lynard Skynard has survived the years of break-ups, replacements, deaths to finally getting it right with again with Ronnie's kid brother, Johnny Van Zant.
On May 2, 2012 Lynard Skynard the upcoming release of a studio album entitled Last of a Dyin' Breed along with a North American and European concert tours. On August 21,2012 Last of a Dyin' Breed was released. To celebrate the album's release, the band had four autograph signing tour throughout the southeast.
On September 9, 2012 while on the Piers Morgan show on CNN the band stated that it had discontinued the use of the Confederate flag in their concerts because they did not want to be associated with racist who had adopted the flag. After fans protested they revised the decision, noting that it is part of Southern heritage and states rights.
"When the Levee Breaks" is the eighth and last song on Led Zeppelin IV. "When the Levee Breaks" was originally written and recorded by Delta blues musician and songwriter Kansas Joe McCoy and his wife, American blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Memphis Minnie in 1929. This song is in reaction to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, that ravaged the state of Mississippi and surrounding areas. Many of the homes and the agricultural economy in the Mississippi Basin were destroyed and devastated. As a result, many people fled to the cities in the Midwest, which contributed to the "Great Migration" of African-Americans in the first half of the 20th century. "When the Levee Breaks" main focus is of Greenville, Mississippi when more than 13,00 residents in and around the area evacuated to a nearby, unaffected levee for its shelter at high ground. The commotion that would have been caused if this and other levees had broken is the underlying theme of the song.
The original lyrics to "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie:
WHEN the LEVEE BREAKS
If it keeps on rainin', the levees goin' to break
If it keeps on rainin', the levees goin' to break
And the water gonna come in, and have no place to stay.
Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan
Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan
Thinkin' 'bout my baby and my happy home
If it keeps on rainin', the levees goin' to break
If it keeps on rainin', the levees goin' to break
And all these people have no place to stay
Now look here mama what am I to do?
Now look here mama what am I to do?
I ain't got nobody to tell my troubles to
I works on the levee mama both night and day
I works on the levee mama both night and day
I ain't got nobody, keep the water away
Oh cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do no good
Oh cryin' won't help you, prayin won't do no good
When the levee breaks, mama, got you to lose
I works on the levee, mama both night and day
I works on the levee, mama both night and day
I works so hard, to keep the water away
I had a woman, she wouldn't do for me
I had a woman, she wouldn't do for me
I'm goin' back to my used to be
I's a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan
I's a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan
Gonna leave my baby, and my happy home
Now for the Led Zeppelin version of "When the Levee Breaks". It was recorded at Headley Grange in December of 1970 to March of 1971 with the use of the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. As with the other songs on ''Led Zeppelin IV'' the song was tried unsuccessfully to be recorded at Island Studios at the start of the recording sessions.
According to Jimmy Page, the song's structure "was a riff that I'd been working on, but Bonzo's drum sound really makes a difference on that point." Engineer Andy Jones recorded the famous drum performance by putting John Bonham and a new Ludwig drum kit at the bottom of a stairwell and recording the drum performance using two Beyerdynamic M160 microphones, at the top of the stairwell, giving the distinctive resonant but slightly muffled sound.
Back aat the Rolling Stones' mobile studio, Bonzo compressed the drum sound through two channels and added an echo through Pages Binson echorec 2 unit.
Page recorded Robert Plant's harmonica part using the backward echo technique, putting the echo ahead of the sound when mixing, creating a distinct effect.
Binson Echorec 2
"When the Levee Breaks" was recorded at a different tempo, then slowed down, which explains the 'sludgy' sound particularly on the guitar and harmonica solos. Because of the heavy studio production of the song, "When the Levee Breaks" was difficult to recreate live.Led Zeppelin only performed the song in the early stages of their 1975 U.S. Tour.
This is also the only song not to be re-mixed after a supposedly disastrous mixing job in the U.S. ( the rest of the tracks were mixed again in England). The original mixing of the song was kept in its original form.
WHEN the LEVEE BREAKS
(Led Zeppelin version)
If it keeps on rainin', the levee's goin to break,
If it keeps on rainin', the levee's goinin' to break.
When the Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Lord, the mean old levee taught me to weep and moan.
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well,oh, well.
Don't it make you fell bad,
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you go South,
They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.
Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin won't help you, prayin' won't do you know good.
"Going to California" is the seventh song on Led Zeppelin IV and it was released on November 8, 1971. It has a wistful folk-style sound, with Plant on lead vocals, John Paul Jones played the mandolin and Page played an acoustic guitar. It is also 3:31 long.
The song is reportedly about Joni Mitchell, who was the target of both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant infatuation. Plant would often say the name "Joni" after the following stanza, when "Going to California" was performed live:
To find a queen without a king,
They say she plays the guitar and cries and sings
In a 2002 'Spin' magazine interview, Plant said that the song " might be embarrassing at times lyrically, but it did sum up a period of my life when I was 22." In another interview with the same magazine, in 2007, Plant stated that the song was about "Me reflecting on the first years of the group, when I was about...20, and was struggling to find myself in the midst of all the craziness of California and the band and the groupies...."
"Going to California" started out as a song about California earthquakes and when Jimmy Page, audio engineer Andy Johns and band manager Peter Grant went to Los Angles to mix the album, they by chance experienced an earthquake. At this time the title of the song was "Guide to California".
At Led Zeppelin concert, "Going to California" was performed during the bands acoustic sets, first played on their Spring 1971 tour of the United Kingdom. Led Zeppelin's live performance of the song at Earl's Court 1975 is on the second disc of the Led Zeppelin DVD.
Plant performed the song on his solo tours of 1988/1989 and at the Knebworth Silver Clef show in 1990. He again performed it on his 2005 Mighty ReArranger tourwith a synthesizer and a double bass added
GOING TO CALIFORNIA
Spent my days with a woman unkind,
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going to California with an aching in myheart.
Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Took my chance on a big jet plane
Never let them tell you that they're all the same.
The sea was red and the sky was grey,
Wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today.
The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
As the children of the sun began to wake
Seems the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch in the noseand it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking,
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I'll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.
To find a queen without a king;
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings.
La, la, la, la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard, as it seems.
The sixth song from 'Led Zeppelin IV' is "Four Sticks". As the title suggests, John Bonham used four sticks, at the same time, on this track. This is because he was so frustrated with the fact that he could not get the track down right during the recording session at Island Studios, that Bonham decided to take out his frustration on the drums and picked up two sets of drumsticks and just started beating away on the drums as hard as he could. This resulted in Bonham recording the perfect take and that was the one Led Zeppelin kept. But apparently John Bonham wasn't the only one that was having problems with the recording of "Four Sticks", for it took more takes that usual. John Paul Jones played a VCS3 synthesizer on the track.
Jimmy Page once said of "Four Sticks",: " It was supposed to be abstract." The abstract effect is further achieved by the unusual meter signature, aka time signature, of the song., featuring riffs in a mixture of 5/8 and 6/8 time signatures. Out of frustration over another failed take of the recording, Jimmy Page began to play an improvised guitar riff, which was later developed into the the albums second song - "Rock & Roll".
"Four Sticks" has only been performed live once, in Copenhagen, Denmark on Led Zeppelin's 1971 European tour and has been preserved only on bootleg recording.
"Four Sticks" is 4:44 long and as a single was released on February 21,1972.
FOUR STICKS
Oh, Baby, it's cryin' time, Oh, Baby, I got to fly.
Got to try to find a way, Got to try to get away,
'Cause you know I gotta get awayfrom you, Babe.
Oh, Baby, the river's red, Oh, Baby, in my head.
There's a funny feelin' going on, I don't think I can hold out long.
* And when the owl cries in the night,
Oh Baby, Baby, when the pines begin to cry,
Baby, bay, Baby, how do you feel?
Craze, Baby, the rainbow's end, Mmm, Baby, it's just a den
For those who hide, Who hide their love to the depths of life
"Misty Mountain Hop" is the fifth song on Led Zeppelin IV and was released as a single on December 2,1971. Even though it was the B-side of "Black Dog" in Australia and the U.S., it still got a lot of airplay on FM radio stations. The song is 4:38 long and of course "Misty Mountain Hop" was also recorded at Headly Grange.
In a musical manner the song is of a medium tempo with bassist John Paul Jones playing the electric piano in the opening sequence. It has a notable presence of layered keyboard and guitar parts, which makes it melodically solid and is driven by one of John Bonham's most powerful recorded studio performances. Featuring a memorable riff, on which Jones and Page harmonize using keyboard and guitar. The repeating riff in "misty Mountain Hop" sounds like a funk rock bassline and is based on note A G E. In the second half of the second verse, at 2:11, mistakenly fall out of sync with one another. But Led Zeppelin thought the rest of the take was too good, so they kept the mistake in the song.
One of the most common interpretations of the lyrics of "Misty Mountain Hop" is that they refer to an encounter with police in the park after smoking marijuana and leaving to go to the Misty Mountains ( where the spirits fly) which seems to be a reference to "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkein. Another variation is that the song is about a 'love-in' at a park near London that was broken up by police.
On the 1971 Led Zeppelin European Tour in Copenhagen, Denmark "Misty Mountain Hop" made its debut and was regularly played live at Led Zeppelin concerts from late 1972 through 1973, often directly linking into "Since I've Been Loving You" (from Led Zeppelin III). "Misty Mountain Hop" was also performed at Knebworth in 1979. Because of a broken string on his main Les Paul Jimmy Page used a 1977 Gibson RD Artist guitar, for the second of two performances. The surviving members of Led Zeppelin performed "Misty Mountain Hop" at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988 with John Bonham's son, Jason, on drums and then again for the 21st birthday of Robert Plant's daughter the next year. "Misty Mountain Hop" was again performed at the Led Zeppelin reunion show at the O2 Arena, London on December 10, 2007.
___________________________________
MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP
Walkin' in the park the other day, Baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in there hair said,
"Hey, Boy do you want to score?"
And you know how it is;
I really don't know what time was, woh, oh,
So I asked them if I could stay awhile.
I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really,
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us said
"Please, hey,would we care all to get in line,
Get in line."
Well you know,
They asked us to stay and have some tea and have some fun,
Oh, oh, he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.
Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
And Baby, Baby, Baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin'
Ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're coming, oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.
If you go down the streets today, Baby you better,
You better open your eyes,
Folks down there really don't care, don't care, really don't
All right now for one of the greatest, some may even argue it is the greatest, rock song in music history..."Stairway to Heaven".
"Stairway to Heaven" was released on November 8,1971 by Led Zeppelin and it runs for 8 minutes and 2 seconds. The song, which is the fourth song on Led Zeppelin IV, is composed of several sections, that increase in tempo and volume as the song progresses.The last section is a high tempo hard rock section highlighted by Jimmy Page's intricate guitar solo.
Led Zeppelin started planning "Stairway to Heaven" in early1970, when they decided to create a new epic song to replace "Dazed and Confused" as the centerpiece of their concerts.Jimmy Page would work on the song in 8-track studio he had installed in his boathouse, trying out different sections on his guitar. By April he was telling journalists that their new song could be 15 minutes long and described it as something that would "build in climax" with John Bonham's drums not coming in for sometime. In October of 1970, after nearly touring constantly for 18 months Page and Plant worked on the song in a Welsh cottage called Bron-yr-Aur, where the started writing songs for the album. Led Zeppelin started writing "Stairway to Heaven' in December of 1970 at Basing Street Studios, a new Island Records studio, in London.
To complete the song and the rest of the album Led Zeppelin went to the former poorhouse, Headley Grange in Liphook Road, Headley, Hampshire where they recorded the album with the Rolling Stone mobile studio.
Page kept a cassette recorder close by and the idea for "Stairway to Heaven" came together in bits and pieces of taped music. Jimmy Page states:
"I had these pieces, these guitar pieces,that I wanted to put together. I had a whole idea of a piece of music that I really wanted to try and present to everybody and try to come to terms with. Bit difficult really,it started on acoustic and as you know it goes through to electric parts. But we had various run-through [at Headley Grange] where I was playing the acoustic guitar. Robert was sitting in the corner or rather leaning against the wall and as I was routining the rest of the band with this idea and this piece, he was just writing. And all of a sudden he got up and started singing, along with another run-through and he had 80% of the words there... I had these sections and I knew what order they were going to be in, but it was just a matter of getting everybody to feel comfortable with each gear shift that was going to be coming."
John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin's bassist, recalled this presentation of "Stairway to Heaven" following its beginning at Bron-Yr-Aur:
"Page and Plant would come back from the Welsh mountains with guitar intro and verse. I literally heard it in front of a roaring fire in a country manor house!I picked up a base recorder and played a run-down riff which gave us an intro, then I moved into a piano for the next section, dubbing on the guitars."
In a 1977 interview, Page elaborated:
"I do have the original tape that was running at the time we ran down "Stairway to Heaven"completely with the band. I'd worked it all out the night before with John Paul Jones, written down the changes and things. All this time we were all living in a house and keeping pretty regular hours together, so the next day running it down. There was only one place where there was a slight rerun. For some unknown reason Bonzo couldn't get the timing right on the twelve-string part before the solo. Other than that it flowed pretty quickly."
The first attempt at the lyrics written by Robert Plant sitting by an evening fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneous and Page claimed that " a huge percentage of the lyrics were written then and there.'" Page was strumming the intro chords when a flash of inspiration came to Robert Plant. Said Plant: "I was holding a pencil and paper and for some reason I was in a very bad mood. Then all of a sudden my hands were writing out the words 'There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold/ And she buying a stairway to heaven.' I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat." Plant's explanation for the lyrics was that it "was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with a cynical sweep of the hand... and it softens after that."
The lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven" is a reflection of Robert Plant's reading at the time. Plant, who is a great admirer of all things mystic, Celtic writings and old English legends and lore, had been reading J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and "Magic Arts in Celtic Britain" by Lewis Spence.The Tolkien influence can be heard in the phrase "In my thoughts I have seen Rings of Smoke Through the Trees." which could be a reference to Gandalf , the wizard in "Lord of the Rings",making smoke rings when he is puffing his pipe. There is also a correlation to the lady in the song and Lady Galadriel , the Queen of the Elves, who lives in Lothlorien, the golden forest.
On March 5,1971 Led Zeppelin performed "Stairway to Heaven" for the first time in Belfast, Northern Ireland and according to John Paul Jones the people were not impressed. The audience came to hear songs they knew- like - "Whole Lotta Love".
When the band started the U.S. leg of their tour the song got a better reception.From 'Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography' by Ritchie Yorke, Page said of playing the song at an August 1971 show at the Los Angeles Forum: "I'm not saying the whole audience gave us a standing ovation- but there was a sizable standing ovation there. And I thought ' This is incredible because no one's heard this number yet. This is the first time hearing it!' It obviously touched them, so I knew there was something with that one."
The world premiere of " Stairway to Heaven" was recorded on April 1, 1971 at the Paris Cinema, in Lower Regent Street,London, in front of a live audience and three days later it was broadcasted on the BBC. After that the song was performed at almost every following concert,unless there were technical issues or those rare cut short due to curfews. 1975 marked the time when"Stairway to Heaven" got it's place as the regular finale in every Led Zeppelin concert. But, after their U.S.concert tour in 1977, Plant began to tire of singing "Stairway to Heaven". According to him " There's only so many times you can sing it and mean it...It just becomes sanctimonious." Led Zeppelin's last performance of this song, as a whole band, was on July 7,1980 in Berlin ( in the Western Sector I would imagine); this version was also one of the longest, lasting for about 15 minutes.
When playing the song live, the band often extend the song over 10 minutes, with Plant adding lyrical ad-libs and Page playing an extend guitar solo, using a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck guitar so that he would not have to switch between a six string guitar to a twelve string guitar.
At the 1985 concert event Live Aid, "Stairway to Heaven" was played by the surviving members of Zeppelin and in 1988 at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert with John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham, on drums and as an instrumental by Jimmy Page on his solo concert tours.
By the late 1980's , Plant made his negative feelings towards the song clearer in an interview. He stated in 1988:
"I'd breakout into hives if I had to sing ("Stairway to Heaven") in every show. I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don't know. It's just not for me. I sang it at the Atlantic Records show because I'm an old softie and it's my way of saying thank you to Atlantic because I've been with them for 20 years. But no more "Stairway to Heaven" fo me."
But by the mid 1990's, Plant had apparently a softer view of the song. During the Page and Plant tours instead of playing the final notes of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"they played the first few bars of "Stairway to Heaven". In 1994, at a Tokyo news station, they performed an acoustic version for Japanese television. Also, thy performed the song at O2 Arena on December 10,2007 as part of the Led Zeppelin reunion show.
Robert Plant cites the most unusual performance of "Stairway to Heaven" as being at Live Aid when Duran Duran was at the side of the stage crying. Plant stated "... there was something quite surreal about that."
The legacy of "Stairway to Heaven" is that of high regard. It is often rated as among one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Although the song was released in 1971 it wasn't until 1973 that it achieved it's "anthemic" status. Recalls Jimmy Page I knew it was good, but I didn't know it was going to be like an anthem... But I knew it was the gem of the album, sure."
"Stairway to Heaven" was put into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock 'n' Roll, in 1994. The English rock magazine 'Classic Rock', in 1999,listed it as the #1 song of the Best Songs Ever and was placed #31 on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time" Despite never having been officially released as a single, it is one of the most requested song on FM radio in the United States during the 1970's. Through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's compilation album "Mothership", "Stairway to Heaven" hit #37 in November of 2007 on the U.K. Singles Chart.
In the late '90's the trade magazine 'Monday Morning Replay' reported that "Stairway to Heaven" was still played 4,203 times a year by the 67 largest AOR (album-oriented rock) radio stations in the U.S. ASCAP, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, refuse to release exact figures on how many it has been since it has been released, but that on each AOR station in America, the song was played 5 times a day, during the first 3 months of existence; twice a day for the next 9 months; once a day for the next 4 years;and 2 to 3 times a week for the next 15 years. There are roughly 600 AOR and Classic Rock stations in the U.S., which means "Stairway to Heaven"has been broadcasted a minimum of 2,874 times. At 8 minutes per spin, roughly 23 million minutes-almost 44 years- have been devoted to the song. So far.
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
There's a Lady Who's Sure All That Glitters is Gold.
In honour of the 40th Anniversary of "Led Zeppelin IV" , I thought I would post all of the songs on the album. Some post will be about one song and others, hopefully most of the post, will have two songs. I can say for certain that "Black Dog" and "Stairway to Heaven" will be by themselves. I just think it would be disrespectful to "Stairway to Heaven" to have another song posted wit it. And because of that, it leaves an odd number of songs and being that "Black Dog" is the first song I'd thought I would go and that song by itself too.
"Black Dog" is the lead off track of Led Zeppelin's fourth album Led Zeppelin IV, released in1971. "Black Dog" was released as a single in the United States and Australia, with "Misty Mountain Hop"on the B-side.The song reached # 9 on US Cash Box Top 100 Singles Chart, #15 on US Billboard Hot 100 Chart and # 10 on the US Record World 100 Top Pops. In Australia "Black Dog" went to # 9 on their Go-Set Top 40 Single chart.
The song took it's name from a black Labrador retriever that was wondering around the ground of Headley Grange during the recording. The dog has nothing to do with the song lyrics, which are about the desperate desire for a woman's love and because of that resulting in happiness.Regarding the lyrics to the song, Plant later stated, "Not all my stuff is meant to be scrutinized. Things like "Black Dog" are blatant, let's-do-it-in-the-bath type things,but they make their point just the same". It took only two takes for Plant to record the vocals to the song.
"Black Dog" is built around the call-and-response dynamic between the band and the singer; the start and stop a capella verses were inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well".
The guitar sounds at the beginning are those of Jimmy Page warming up his electric guitar. He called it "waking up the army of guitars" - which are multitrack recorded in unisonwith an electric bass guitar providing the song's signature.
During the outro-solo (in music, Conclusion) Robert Plant can be heard wailing and moaning in the background. At around the 4 minute mark Plant hits his highest note on any Led Zeppelin studio recording. He reaches it at 3:49 mark of the song, between the second and third repetition of the fade off riff during the guitar solo.
"Black Dog" was first played on March 5,1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland at Belfast Ulster Hall.It was then retained for each subsequent concert tour until 1973. It was used in an encore medley with "Whole Lotta Love" in 1975, but was hardly used in Zeppelin's 1977 concert tour of the United States. It was used again for the Knebwoth festival of 1979 and the 19890 Tour of Europe. For these last performances in 1980, Page introduced the song from the stag.
On November 8,1971 Led Zeppelin released their fourth album "Led Zeppelin IV", which followed the band's method for naming their first three albums. Led Zeppelin IV has alternately been referred to as The Four Symbols, the Album, The Runes, Untitled, the Hermit and ZoSo.
Upon it's release Led Zeppelin IV became a critical and commercial success. The album sold 32 million units making Led Zeppelin IV one of the best selling albums in the world. Alone, there have been over 23 million units shipped to the United States, making it the third best selling album in the United States.In 1998, Q Magazine readers voted Led Zeppelin Iv the 26th greatest album of all time; in 200 Q placed it #26 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever" (I wonder why so low) In2003,it was ranked #66 on Rolling Stone magazine list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It is ranked #7 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Album of the 1970's.
In 2006, the album was rated #1 on Classic Rock magazine's 100 Greatest British Albums poll and #1 in Guitar World 100 Greatest Album's readers' poll and was ranked # 7 in ABC media's top 10 albums.
The album was a massive instant seller.It entered the UK chart at #1and stayed on the chart for 62 weeks. In America it stayed longer than any other Led Zeppelin album and became the biggest selling album not to top the charts, it peaked at #2.
Led Zeppelin IV was initially recorded at Island Record's Basing Street Studios, which was just newly opened, in London at the same time, the British rock group, Jethro Tull was recording their album, Aqualung, in December of 1970. So upon the suggestion of the music group Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin relocated to the former poorhouse in Headley, East Hampshire, England, U.K., Headley Grange, to do additional recordings. While there they used the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. This relaxing atmosphere proved to be inspirational , for while at Headley Grange for the whole recording period, many of the tracks were were made up on the spot and recorded to tape, practically then and there.
When the basic tracks had been recorded, overdubbing was done at Island Studios and the completed master tapes were taken to Los Angeles to Sunset Sound for mixing. The mix eventually proved to be unsatisfactory and this created unwanted delays in the release of the album. Because of more mixing having to be undertaken in London, Led Zeppelin IV release date was pushed further back.
Headley Grange
Because of the critical reaction to Led Zeppelin III had received in late 1970,Jimmy Page decided to let the next Led Zeppelin album have a title, but instead it would have symbols, hand-drawn on the inner album sleeve and record label, each one chosen by the band member it represents. This was done deliberately to play down the group name, according to Page.
Page also stated that the release of the album without any written information on the sleeve was contrary to strong advice given to him by a press agent, who thought that after a year's absence from recording and touring, that the move would be akin to professional suicide.
Because of the lack of a title, Atlantic Records initially distributed of the graphics of the symbols in many sizes to the press for inclusions articles and charts. Led Zeppelin IV was one of the first to be produced without conventional identification and this communicated an anti-commercial stance that was controversial at the time (especially among certain Atlantic record executives) .
Jimmy Page stated that he designed his own symbol and never gave a public reason behind it.
John Paul Jones chose his symbol from Rudolf Koch's "Book of Signs" is a single circle intersecting a triquetra. It is meant to symbolize a person who has both confidence and competence.
John Bonham used the same book to choose his symbol, three interlocking rings. This represents the triad of mother,father and child, but also happens to be the logo of Ballantine beer.
Robert Plant's symbol is one that is his own design, being based on the sign of the supposed Mu ( akin to Atlantis) civilization.
Following the release of the album, the band visually projected the four symbols onto their stage equipment durin Led Zeppelin's UK tour in the winter of 1971.
