I have always heard this to mean he is pleading his case before the heavenly hosts (Christian for this song, almost certainly because as someone else mentioned, it was a rearranged blues song from the 20s). They are showing him his life, and he sees the smiling faces and from his past and assumes there will be traces of his good deeds. He eventually gets into heaven and goes on to celebrate the parade of saints and angels he sees on his ascension! Jimmy uses the 61 Danelectro with open tuning and the slide.
This song was actually written in 1928 by an old blues artist called blind willie Johnson, it was covered by Bob Dylan as well. LEDZep interest maybe part because of their love of the blues music - it is a marveloous vehicle for their musical skills,but they also had an interest in a wide range of spiritual ideas as exemplified by Stairway to heaven , Kashmir and Achillies last stand. they certainly weren't afraid of covering all the bases. Jimmy Page also had an intest in the occult. Robert Plant had an almost fatal car crash with his family while on holiday in Greece and reputedly was superstitious about singing this song afterwards. There is an excellent live version of this in the Earls court 1975 concert. Well worth watching that. Jimmy Page was a cathloic and his early musical influences included being a choir boy- his choir master, marvellously a mr Coffin, recalls him tuning his guitar to the church organ - where there is a will theres a way! John Paul Jones the bass and key player learnt to play church organ and that was his first paying gig. Robert Plant i believe grew up protestant - church of England. I am not aware there is any evidence John Bonham was ever seen at church. I think we all wonder in the dark of the night ,where we are in the balance and hope we have done more good than harm.
I think you will find there are a few of us about. If you are interested in them watching some of the interviews is the best way to find out about them. Jimmy Page was very reticent in his early years and deeply suspicious of the press but later has been the one who preserves the legacy of Led Zep and has done a lot of very good in depth interviews . There is also adocumentary film on guitarists called it might get loud which features JP ,the edge from u2 and jack white from the white stripes - a back story from each and then them meeting and interacting and jamming with no script . the result is the best filmmaking i have seen . it is available on youtube , you could try watching that. If you want to look at robert Plant's belief system in addition to the songs i named before he lost his son aged 5 and wrote two songs on that subject , all of my love while still in led zep and then i believe later in his solo career. obviously they are deeply personal but full of wisdom. sue
@@uksuef7218 There is a lovely song on Page and Plant's album "Walking into Clarksdale" called "Blue Train" that is also about Plant's son, Karac. I recommend it to any Zep fan. Unlike anything they did during their Zep years.
Led Zeppelin was inspired from a old Mississippi blues Gospel song called in my dying Jimmy Page and Bonham we worked the song and made their own original version!
This has to be up their with one of my favorite tunes of their! Until I listen to the next! The GOATS! 😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 John Bingham aka Bonzo…he was other worldly on this tune!
They left the cough on the track to show us that they recorded this song in one take, live. Pretty amazing feat! That's why Bonham shouts out this is the one.
Dude they were not “hard rock” you don’t know much about them! They were their own genre! And what ever genre they tacked, they owned! 😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
@williamcabell142 Having grown up with them it's a pretty broad statement to say I don't know much about them. In their time many considered them to be hard rock. I didn't consider them hard, as I reserved that for bands like Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. Many bands had a wide variety of songs back then, such as the Allman Brothers. They were considered Southern rock, but like Zep, they had a lot of blues songs that you wouldn't categorize as rock. Such is the nature of genres.
Check out their live version of this. Jimmy is on a level never to be surpassed
I have always heard this to mean he is pleading his case before the heavenly hosts (Christian for this song, almost certainly because as someone else mentioned, it was a rearranged blues song from the 20s). They are showing him his life, and he sees the smiling faces and from his past and assumes there will be traces of his good deeds. He eventually gets into heaven and goes on to celebrate the parade of saints and angels he sees on his ascension! Jimmy uses the 61 Danelectro with open tuning and the slide.
This song is more about the drums and guitar. Probably the best drum track ever. Hell, probably the best song ever.
The cough was left on the track so that you know this was a live performance, captured in the studio. 1 take.
@Tektonika_architects That's a much appreciated detail about that part of track, as I'd always wondered about it (on top of being amused).
This song was actually written in 1928 by an old blues artist called blind willie Johnson, it was covered by Bob Dylan as well. LEDZep interest maybe part because of their love of the blues music - it is a marveloous vehicle for their musical skills,but they also had an interest in a wide range of spiritual ideas as exemplified by Stairway to heaven , Kashmir and Achillies last stand. they certainly weren't afraid of covering all the bases. Jimmy Page also had an intest in the occult. Robert Plant had an almost fatal car crash with his family while on holiday in Greece and reputedly was superstitious about singing this song afterwards. There is an excellent live version of this in the Earls court 1975 concert. Well worth watching that. Jimmy Page was a cathloic and his early musical influences included being a choir boy- his choir master, marvellously a mr Coffin, recalls him tuning his guitar to the church organ - where there is a will theres a way! John Paul Jones the bass and key player learnt to play church organ and that was his first paying gig. Robert Plant i believe grew up protestant - church of England. I am not aware there is any evidence John Bonham was ever seen at church. I think we all wonder in the dark of the night ,where we are in the balance and hope we have done more good than harm.
@uksuef7218 You are now crowned the most knowledgable person about Led Zeppelin that I know--thank you for the detailed info!!
I think you will find there are a few of us about. If you are interested in them watching some of the interviews is the best way to find out about them. Jimmy Page was very reticent in his early years and deeply suspicious of the press but later has been the one who preserves the legacy of Led Zep and has done a lot of very good in depth interviews . There is also adocumentary film on guitarists called it might get loud which features JP ,the edge from u2 and jack white from the white stripes - a back story from each and then them meeting and interacting and jamming with no script . the result is the best filmmaking i have seen . it is available on youtube , you could try watching that. If you want to look at robert Plant's belief system in addition to the songs i named before he lost his son aged 5 and wrote two songs on that subject , all of my love while still in led zep and then i believe later in his solo career. obviously they are deeply personal but full of wisdom. sue
@@uksuef7218 There is a lovely song on Page and Plant's album "Walking into Clarksdale" called "Blue Train" that is also about Plant's son, Karac. I recommend it to any Zep fan. Unlike anything they did during their Zep years.
Led Zeppelin was inspired from a old Mississippi blues Gospel song called in my dying Jimmy Page and Bonham we worked the song and made their own original version!
Zep had no prob covering a songs written ages ago.
This has to be up their with one of my favorite tunes of their! Until I listen to the next! The GOATS! 😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 John Bingham aka Bonzo…he was other worldly on this tune!
They left the cough on the track to show us that they recorded this song in one take, live. Pretty amazing feat! That's why Bonham shouts out this is the one.
Dude they were not “hard rock” you don’t know much about them! They were their own genre! And what ever genre they tacked, they owned! 😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
@williamcabell142 Having grown up with them it's a pretty broad statement to say I don't know much about them. In their time many considered them to be hard rock. I didn't consider them hard, as I reserved that for bands like Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. Many bands had a wide variety of songs back then, such as the Allman Brothers. They were considered Southern rock, but like Zep, they had a lot of blues songs that you wouldn't categorize as rock. Such is the nature of genres.
I grew up when they started out too, and they were considered Hard Rock back then. Been listening to them ever since so I do know them!