Led Zeppelin FAQ_All That's Left to Know About the Greatest Hard Rock Band of All Time

by George Case

  Sunset Sound Recorders, 6650 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles

  The basic takes of “Whole Lotta Love” were first recorded here in May 1969. Some of Led Zeppelin IV was given a first mix on the premises in 1971, although a technical glitch meant most of them had to be redone at Island Studios.

  Unknown Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia

  Most accounts of the small Canadian studio where isolated tracks for Led Zeppelin II were taped describe it only as a poorly equipped “shed” or “a hut.” Today Vancouver is home to many top-level recording buildings, but whatever was used by Zeppelin in 1969 is probably no longer extant.

  It Isn’t Hard to Recognize: Led Zeppelin’s Unreleased Songs

  Although hardcore fans have long dreamed of hearing “new” music from Led Zeppelin, there are no remaining pieces in the band’s vault that are in as completed a state as the rest of their catalogue. “We weren’t the sort of group to hoard tracks,” John Paul Jones said to Dave Lewis. “[T]here isn’t much studio stuff to work with because we tended to finish only what we were totally satisfied with.” Live shows presented many spontaneous covers of other people’s work; studio and concert bootlegs have hinted at works in progress that were considerably different than anything that made it to finished albums, and demo or alternate takes suggesting material unlike any other Zeppelin numbers were at least begun, but there is no lost “Stairway to Heaven” or “Whole Lotta Love.” The post-1980 issues of Coda, the two box sets of 1990 and 1993, and 1997’s BBC Sessions presented the last hitherto undiscovered Led Zeppelin songs likely to be of interest to a general audience. The following have been the most significant of the quartet’s unreleased songs.

  “Sugar Mama”

  Bouncy boogie with a touch of funk, “Sugar Mama” was recorded in late 1969. With a cleanup it could have been put onto Coda, although it’s pretty light for Led Zeppelin.

  “Traveling Riverside Blues”

  An update of the Robert Johnson blues performed on BBC Radio in 1969, the song was known only to bootleggers until its official inclusion in the four-disc 1990 anthology.

  “Baby Come On Home”

  With a working title of “Tribute to Bert Burns,” this soulful outtake from the 1969 Led Zeppelin album finally hit the airwaves in 1993.

  “I Wanna Be Her Man”

  This very raw duet between Page and Plant, demoed on a home tape recorder at Bron-yr-Aur, sounds like Neil Young at his most stoned.

  “Hey Hey What Can I Do”

  The B side of the 1970 “Immigrant Song” single was, unusually for Led Zeppelin, never fit into an album and seldom heard except by collectors of 45s. It was ultimately put into the 1990 box set.

  “Sunshine Woman”

  Part of Led Zeppelin’s early sets and recorded for the BBC in 1969, this loose blues number resembled both “Traveling Riverside Blues” and another Beeb performance, “The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair,” in both lyrics and arrangement. Highlighted by John Paul Jones’s piano work, concert takes of this groovy tune have surfaced, but the BBC version seems to have been lost forever.

  “Jennings Farm Blues”

  Named after Robert Plant’s new country home in the English Midlands, this was the working title of an electric track that evolved into the bluegrass “Bron-y-Aur Stomp,” from Led Zeppelin III.

  “The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair”

  A hard-hitting riff played on a BBC gig in June 1969, with the band trying a line that grew into the “Moby Dick” intro and Robert Plant freely borrowing Sleepy John Estes’s lyrics for the eponymous song, the cut was circulated among bootleggers for many years before starring as the gem from the official BBC Sessions.

  “In the Morning”

  This song is actually early rehearsals of “In the Light,” distinct from the ultimate Physical Graffiti version.

  “Take Me Home”

  This is another studio practice bootleg from the Physical Graffiti period, where the band gets down to some sizzling funk; parts of it resemble the finished “Custard Pie,” although a completed take would have been worthwhile.

  “Autumn Lake”

  For one scene in The Song Remains the Same, Jimmy Page is seen playing a hurdy-gurdy by a moat at his home of Plumpton Place in Sussex. The movie’s credits name this spectral short piece as part of the soundtrack, but it has never been issued on any other medium.

  “Swan Song”

  Perhaps the most legendary of Led Zeppelin’s unreleased cuts, this forceful instrumental, consisting of acoustic guitar, bass, and drums, was first sketched around the time of the Physical Graffiti sessions in 1974 but never made it past the demo stage. It was resurrected as “Midnight Moonlight” for Page’s band the Firm in 1985; the title was adapted into the name of Led Zeppelin’s private record label.

  “Minnie the Moocher”

  Plant sings the lyrics to the old Cab Calloway hit over the chords of what became “Tea for One,” in a practice tape from about 1975.

  “Fire”

  In 1978 Led Zeppelin reconvened at England’s Clearwell Castle for some jams and songwriting attempts as Plant recovered from his family trauma of the previous year. An amateur recording of the sessions later emerged, including this fast rocker, which is like an even more savage “Achilles Last Stand.”

  12

  Secrets of the Sorcerer

  Jimmy Page’s Guitar Heroism

  Drop Down: Jimmy Page’s Guitar Tunings

  Anyone who has studied the evolution of the six-string has recognized that the standard tuning of the instrument—E–A–D–G–B–E, from low to high—is probably the last configuration to lend itself to the player’s convenience. In fact, a wide range of guitar tunings have been invented that are more “musical,” in terms of producing listenable melodies from an untutored performer. Though guitarist Jimmy Page first became skilled with the conventional E–A–D–G–B–E setup, his horizons expanded as a studio musician when he discovered the great British folk artists Davey Graham, John Renbourn, and Bert Jansch. Less graceful in his electric blues soloing than other guitar heroes Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, Page boasted an arsenal of alternate tunings, which were the ace up his sleeve, and he used many throughout his career—before, during, and after membership in Led Zeppelin.

  Page has always referred to the folk standby of D–A–D–G–A–D as his “CIA tuning,” for its suggestive Celtic, Indian, and Arabic drones. But as his confidence increased, Page began to make up his own string arrangements beyond those he heard others employ. “I just moved the stings around until it sounded right,” he said of his inventions. Of all the star guitarists of his time, only singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell had that kind of audacity. Consequently some Zeppelin songs present great challenges to would-be imitators trying to copy exactly what Page was playing. It is possible, of course, to approximate his chords with other tunings, but note-for-note recreations can be elusive. Some songs were tuned differently between studio and live versions, or were artificially slowed down in the mix to play at a lower pitch (e.g., “When the Levee Breaks”), or are still disputed by subjective guitarists who have arrived at separate tunings to play the same lines. In at least one instance of an overdubbed recording—the unaccompanied “Heartbreaker” solo—slight variations in the tuning of one take’s instrument may be discerned from that used on another. Careful listening and Page’s own eventual explications, however, have mostly cleared up these mysteries.

  • C–A–C–G–C–E: “Friends,” “Bron-yr-Aur,” “Poor Tom”

  • C–F–C–F–A–F: “Bron-y-Aur Stomp”

  • C–G–C–G–C–E: “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper”

  • Db–Gb–Db–Gb–Bb–Db: “That’s the Way”

  • D–A–D–G–A–D: “White Summer,” “Black Mountain Side,” “Kashmir”

  • D–A–D–G–B–D: “Going to California”

  • D–A–D–G–B–E (“drop D”): “Moby Dick,” “Ten Years Gone” />
  • D–G–D–G–B–D: “When the Levee Breaks,” “Black Country Woman”

  • D–G–C–G–C–D: “The Rain Song” (studio version)

  • E–A–D–A–D–E: “The Rain Song” (live version)

  • E–A–E–A–C#–E: “In My Time of Dying,” “Celebration Day” (slide guitar track)

  • E–A–D–G–B–D: “Traveling Riverside Blues,” “Dancing Days”

  The Hand That Sews Time: How Jimmy Page Learned to Bow His Guitar

  Perhaps his most memorable performance platform and a technique he used on several Led Zeppelin recordings, Jimmy Page first tried running a violin or viola bow over the strings of an electric guitar while employed as a session player circa 1965. According to Page, he was in a studio with some string players and during a break one of his colleagues asked if he’d ever tried it; both men were curious. The violinist was the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s David McCallum Sr. (for some reason, rock superstar Page has always noted the connection to McCallum’s actor son, at the time famous for his role in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series). “I said I didn’t think it would work because the bridge of the guitar isn’t arched like it is on a violin or a cello,” recalled the guitarist in 2005, “but he insisted I give it a try…. Whatever squeaks I made sort of intrigued me. I didn’t really start developing the technique for [sic] quite some time later, but he was the guy who turned me on to the idea.” When he joined the Yardbirds, Page tried

  From the author’s collection, circa 1987 and still worn occasionally.

  bowing his instrument both in concert and on the numbers “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor” and “Glimpses.” Later his bow solo was a staple of Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” threnodies, and “How Many More Times,” “In the Light,” and “In the Evening” were also recorded with the accessory.

  Some have disputed Page’s account, pointing out that guitarist Eddie Phillips of the 1960s English band the Creation was using a bow around the same time, as was Californian psychedelic act Kaleidoscope. As a busy music professional it’s likely Page would have at least known of both bands, but in this case his claim to have come across the idea independently, through the friendly prompting of McCallum, seems just as plausible.

  As We Go Sliding Through: Led Zeppelin Songs with Slide Guitar

  Though Zeppelin is widely thought of as one of the great blues-rock bands, Jimmy Page never developed a reputation as a compelling slide player in the manner of Duane Allman, Ry Cooder, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, or Lowell George of Little Feat. Nonetheless, he displayed some impressive slide skills on several Led Zeppelin cuts or parts thereof: “You Shook Me,” “Whole Lotta Love” (the descending slur in the chorus, recorded with backward echo), “What Is and What Should Never Be,” “Bron-y-Aur Stomp,” “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper,” “Traveling Riverside Blues,” “Stairway to Heaven” (the fills in the guitar solo at 6:24, 6:28, 6:33, and 6:38), “When the Levee Breaks,” “Dancing Days”, and “In My Time of Dying.” The sliding “Celebration Day” line is actually played by John Paul Jones on a lap steel guitar.

  Timeline

  1973

  January 21: Roe vs. Wade decision legalizes abortion in the US.

  January 27: US–North Vietnamese cease-fire.

  March 8: 234 injured in IRA bomb attack, London.

  March 28: Houses of the Holy released.

  April 30: Four aides to Richard Nixon resign over Watergate scandal.

  May–July: Led Zeppelin’s record-breaking tour of North America.

  September 21: Chilean armed forces stage coup d’etat.

  October 22: Yom Kippur War pits Egypt and Syria against Israel.

  December: Arab oil embargo leads to gas rationing in the US.

  Movies: The Exorcist; The Sting; American Graffiti.

  Music: Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon; the Who, Quadrophenia; Paul McCartney and Wings, Band on the Run; David Bowie, Aladdin Sane; Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side”; Roberta Flack, “Killing Me Softly with His Song”; Carly Simon, “You’re So Vain.”

  13

  They Carry News That Must Get Through

  Led Zeppelin Live

  Got a Date, I Can’t Be Late: Led Zeppelin’s Concerts

  As with the measurement of the band’s total record sales, an accurate accounting of Led Zeppelin’s performances is more difficult to come by than it sounds. From 1973 on, their gigs were huge events that drew thousands of people and widespread media coverage, but before then Led Zeppelin tours and shows were less publicized and tended to be organized on the fly. The music itself was exhilarating, venues were often full, and fans came away satisfied; on the other hand, the itineraries were only made up as promoters could commit to a date, a place, and a price. For this reason there are still some Zeppelin appearances that are disputed. Among those least likely to remember the group’s full schedule are Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, as well as road manager Richard Cole and members of his crew. They were all too occupied with getting to, setting up, and playing the concerts to confirm when and where they happened.

  Some gigs were advertised but never came through, others were played but never advertised, several were canceled—all muddying the final record. As recently as 2009, a “reunion” of fans gathered at the Wheaton Youth Center, in a Maryland suburb of Washington, DC, to celebrate a 1969 Led Zeppelin performance there that local records and Zeppelin historians conclude never happened. In some of their very first shows, too, the act actually played two or more sets in the same location on the same night, while other spots either ran long or were cut short, making an exact number of concerts subject to interpretation. What constitutes a complete show, anyway? A forty-minute club engagement? A festival billing shared with twenty other artists? A three-hour stadium blast?

  With these qualifiers in mind, it’s certain that Led Zeppelin performed more than five hundred concerts—defined as prepared recitals for a paying audience in a public setting—between 1968 and 1980, with a figure of 533 single appearances the most probable total.

  All My Love: Zeppelin’s Live Audience

  Assuming that many fans saw Zeppelin more than once and that most but not all of their appearances were sold out, the total capacity of every venue the band played comes to some four million, give or take a few thousand. Thus at least two or three million people throughout the world attended one or more Led Zeppelin shows.

  Seen Seven Wonders: Countries Visited by Led Zeppelin

  The United Kingdom (including England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), Ireland, the United States (including Hawaii but not Alaska), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, West Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Iceland.

  So Glad I Took a Look: Zeppelin’s Biggest Audience

  The largest crowd Led Zeppelin ever played in front of was at the Atlanta Pop Festival on July 5, 1969, where between 125,000 and 140,000 spectators were present. The festival’s artists also included Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and many others. The largest crowd gathered specifically to hear Led Zeppelin was at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan (outside Detroit) on April 30, 1977, filled to capacity at 76,229 people. Other vast audiences for Led Zeppelin—and Led Zeppelin only—were at Seattle’s Kingdome Arena on July 17, 1977 (62,000); Tampa Stadium on May 5, 1973 (56,800); and two final dates at Oakland, California’s Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on July 23 and 24, 1977 (about 55,000 each).

  Open Your Arms: Led Zeppelin’s Best- and Worst-Ever Shows

  All entertainers have good nights and bad nights. Led Zeppelin had more good than bad, and their best have secured their status as one of rock ’n’ roll’s most effective live artists. Though everyone who saw and

  The Boeing 720B Caesar’s Chariot carried the band around the US on their 1977 tour.

  Author’s Collection

  heard Zeppelin has private memories of their shows—as does everyone in
Zeppelin—in the subsequent decades some key dates have come to the forefront as the band’s high- and lowlights, based on published reviews, audience and official tapings, and anecdotal accounts.

  Best

  Fillmore West, San Francisco, January 9–12, 1969

  Led Zeppelin began their conversion of the American rock faithful during a four-night run of two sets each at the famous psychedelic ballroom. “It felt like a vacuum and we’d arrived to fill it,” Jimmy Page told Cameron Crowe later. “First this row, then that row—it was like a tornado and it went rolling across the country.” San Francisco was a crucial market for emerging acts, and Zeppelin made a lasting impression on the Fillmore punters, with the withering boogie of early numbers such as “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” “Communication Breakdown,” John Bonham’s jaw-dropping drum solo, and “Dazed and Confused.” “A Zeppelin show was designed to hit hard from the start,” John Paul Jones explained to Dave Lewis. “You know, the first three numbers nonstop—blam!” The bassist also told scholar Susan Fast, “[T]he audiences of 1969–70 simply didn’t know what hit them!” At the Fillmore in January 1969, the audiences took a hit they’d never forget.

  Boston Tea Party, Boston, January 23–26, 1969

  These gigs on the US East Coast have also gone down as Led Zeppelin’s breakthrough with the hip youth underground of the late 1960s. With a capacity of no more than a thousand people, the band tore the Tea Party down with crushing volume and spellbinding dynamics, going over the same electric blues riffs that won San Franciscans over: “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” “You Shook Me,” and the metallurgic “How Many More Times,” which generated some of the first known head-banging among the fans gathered at 53 Berkeley Street. One performance is said to have run four hours long, including several encores and unrehearsed improvisations on Yardbirds, Chuck Berry, and Beatles songs; the duration is probably exaggerated but the response of the audience is no myth. “The impression, to say the least, is staggering!” wrote Ben Blummenberg of the local counterculture paper the Boston Phoenix. He prophesied, “I expect the Led Zeppelin to be flying high for some time…. Their raw power is compelling and hypnotic while their complexity makes repeated exposure a pleasure.”