Thank you to the following community members who subscribed after this video was published. I wish we could thank you all. _Whiteys Workshop, Larry Hunt, clarkegrizzer, Michael H., Steven K., Greg B., Jeffrey J., ScottT248, Mikael T., rayblue69, Jay G., Mongo, Quadrant14_
Legacy of this song (found this on Wiki with footnotes to several other mentions in other publications) The Dictators' bassist Andy Shernoff states that Page's guitar riff of rapid downstrokes in "Communication Breakdown" was an inspiration for the Ramones' guitarist Johnny Ramone's downstroke guitar style.[8] Ramone stated in the documentary Ramones: The True Story that he built up skill at his downstroke playing style by playing the song over and over again for the bulk of his early career.[9]
John Paul Jones is his stage name, his real name is John Richard Baldwin. He was given the JPJ moniker during his session musician days by Rolling Stone manager Andrew Loog Oldham who told John he needed something with more flair. Oldham took the name from a movie poster about the US Revolutionary War naval captain of the same name and gave it to him. Jonesy had been choir master for his local church when he was 14. Jimmy used a pedal steel guitar on this song. He said he'd never played one before and it was out of tune, but he made it work. The lyrics were written by Jimmy about a breakup (naturally) and blues songs in general were full of woe and "she done him wrong" tropes. Black Mountain Side is based on an Irish folksong and is similar to Bert Jansch's version. When played live, it would get combined with White Summer that Jimmy had done with The Yardbirds. There's a great 12-minute live version from Royal Albert Hall. They added it to the setlist to prove to the audience they had the skills, because LZ was so new (they were temporarily billed as "The New Yardbirds" when they started because when The Yardbirds broke up, they were still contracted for several performances, so when Jimmy formed LZ, he called them The New Yardbirds so they could play those contracted dates) he wanted to show the band weren't a hype, they had real skill and being able to play something like that would help prove it. It is in an alternate tuning of DADGAD - Jimmy also called it his "CIA tuning" which stood for Celtic, Indian, and Arabic because it does mimic Eastern/exotic tones. White Summer/Black Mountain Side would get dropped from the set list until around 1977 or so when Jimmy brought it back and it would segue immediately into Kashmir. The tabla player isn't the only person to have played with Zep; Ian Stewart from the Rolling Stones played piano on Rock and Roll and Boogie With Stu. Sandy Denny is the only guest vocalist on Battle of Evermore, and they had session string and brass players on Kashmir. I consider Communication Breakdown to be proto-punk.
In "Your Time is Gonna Come" After the first chorus, I love how Page plays the transition just by hand tapping the guitar. The overdubbed electric guitar is a pedal steel guitar, like country players used at the time. It can be heard on Zep III on "Tangerine" and "That's The Way" also.
Mike, not the only time they had guest musicians, when you get to the 4th album Sandy Denny (of Fairport Convention) duets with Plant on the folky mandolin driven 'The battle of evermore' , where she trades back and forth with overlapping lyrics.
Wow!!! I agree!!! This song is Ground Zero for Led Zeppelin and Rock n Roll in general. This shifted me into thinking that there was much more than the Beatles. Such a great band that constantly delivered a fresh serving of amazing tunes. Hallelujah!!! 😾
Page played Black Mountainside on a borrowed Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar which was tuned to D-A-D-G-A-D, a tuning that he had used for "White Summer". To enhance the Indian character of the song, drummer and sitarist Viram Jasani played tabla on the track.
Sandy Denny: guest vocal on 'Battle of Evermore' on IV. 'Black Mountain Side' is essentially a version of Davy Graham's arrangement of the trad. tune 'Backwaterside', using the DADGAD tuning that he, (Graham) invented which it's true does resemble the drone-like sitar sound owing to so man open strings on the same note. True a fascinating combination of an almost straightforward 60s song (but with Gothic overtones on organ into folk-ethnic, then WHAM! The sound of the future, heavy rock, heavy metal, punk, allinvented on the spot in one song...
To set the record straight: on the first album Jimmy Page wrote the lyrics to most of the songs (hence the repeated theme of love and loss). Plant took over writing duties starting on the second album and really blossomed on Led Zeppelin III with songs like "That's the Way", "Gallows Pole" etc. Guest appearances were also made by vocalist Sandy Denny on "The Battle of Evermore" and Ian Stewart on "Boogie with Stu".
I've been a Zeppelin fan since the womb. My mom would play Zeppelin II over & over since it was released right before i was conceived. Besides creating such iconic music another thing that I've always loved is that their sound changes from album to album. Most would never notice it because of so much popularity. I did though. They were the first group that I collected all their albums on CD after getting my first Sony CD player when i turned 17 in 87. And, unlike most "Stairway to Heaven" doesn't even rank in the top 10 Zeppelin songs. My favorite is "No Quarter" from the "Houses of the Holy", but more specifically the live 1973 Madison Square Garden performane that was released on their 1976 album & film "The Song Remains the Same"
When reacting to this album please remember Jimmy was the old guy at the ripe old age of 25. John Bonham was 21 as was Robert Plant J. P. Jones was 22.
By the way I think this is definitely inspired but an English folk guitarist named Bert jansch Jimmy page was a big admirer of him and once called him the Jimmy hendrix of acoustic guitar Well worth checking out Neil Young was a big admirer to.
@@davidgreene7676 definitely will be doing more live performances, especially if I can do a better job avoiding being blocked by UA-cam. I had a lot of trouble with Dazed and Confused.
i really like you guys. i am one of a legion of well versed zep heads. fun watching you learn. the fights i heard about were indeed about drugs and drinking. Plant and Jones were in the studio while Page and Bonham were strung out drunk or high.
Please keep in mind that most of the outrageous stories about LZ behavior were exaggerated! It was part of the publicity and hype created around the band. Yes, they certainly had their share of well-documented issues, but most of those crazy stories were just that, stories. No, Communication Breakdown was NOT created to be a "hit single!" LZ never wanted to issue singles, and did not. The record label issued a few, but the band never aimed at that market!
You're right Mike, the guitar is in an open tuning called DADGAD. The B string and both the E strings detuned down a full tone, the rest stay as standard tuning. It's also referred to as Celtic tuning, owing to it's popular use in Irish and Scottish folk music. The original is a traditional folk song known as 'Down by Blackwaterside', but Page's version 'borrows' very heavily from Bert Jansch's version, 'Black waterside', off his 1966 album 'Jack Orion'. Jansch didn't claim personal credit for the song, unlike Page who, true to form, did.
The internet states that Jimmy Page wrote the lyrics to 'Your Time is Gonna Come' which reflects his views of women at the time, that they were deceitful and inferior to men. Black Mountainside is very similar to Bert Jansch's Blackwater side. Jimmy was a fan of Bert Jansch. Some say DADGAD is the tuning but others have said it's a dropped D which means nothing to me. DADGAD is a folk tuning. Communication Breakdown is reminiscent of a proto punk song before punk existed. Jimmy Page has said the band was not interested in singles hits because it would constrain their creativity and bind them commercially to producing more of the same. They released no singles in the UK. Their record company later released a few as singles in the USA, but LZ never topped the charts with any singles.
You guys seem a bit confused on who wrote the lyrics for the songs on the first album -- if they weren't a cover song, Jimmy Page wrote them. Page convinced Plant to have a go at writing for LZ II, which, of course, he did, and never looked back! Several times, you have mentioned some sort of contact conflict with Plant writing lyrics for LZ. Having closely followed Robert Plant, and everything Led Zeppelin since 1968, this is the first I have ever heard of anything like that. What are you talking about? Details, please?
Is that how good LZ is? The first couple songs on side 2 are considered "extra" by same listeners? Songs that most bands would love to have been able to claim as theirs? Lol
I think the chorus in Your Time is Gonna Come has always sounded a bit wonky -- but, I consider that part of the charm. And, how could you restart Communication Breakdown and not replay it through the transition from Black Mountain Side??? -- SACRILEGE!!!! :-)
@@MusicforBusyPeople Nope -- no -- nope!!! If you just innocently and naively restarted CB on its own, that would have been forgivable. But YOU HAD JUST BEEN TALKING about how you liked the surprise of the transition!!!! Sigh ..... ;-)
I know he is singing this from a man perspective but this go's both ways when relationships end normally emotions take over and the thought of revenge is short lived lol
I suggest you go re-write the song the way you would like it, and we'll see how you do. This album is for people who know what classic rock is, maybe not for you.
![I Can't Quit You Baby, You Shook Me LIVE [Led Zeppelin Reaction] Bootleg-Fillmore West San Fran 1969](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ySnIUZKp6Vs/mqdefault.jpg)
![I Can't Quit You Baby, You Shook Me LIVE [Led Zeppelin Reaction] Bootleg—Fillmore West San Fran 1969](/img/tr.png)
![How Many More Times [Led Zeppelin Reaction] First time hearing - Finale-Finishing up the first album](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GXkVc09jxjk/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you to the following community members who subscribed after this video was published. I wish we could thank you all.
_Whiteys Workshop, Larry Hunt, clarkegrizzer, Michael H., Steven K., Greg B., Jeffrey J., ScottT248, Mikael T., rayblue69, Jay G., Mongo, Quadrant14_
A bit of info the back liner photo by Chris Dreja was the rhythm guitarist for the Yardbirds when Jimmy Page was playing for them
Still say Communication Breakdown is the birth of both Punk and Speed Metal.
Legacy of this song (found this on Wiki with footnotes to several other mentions in other publications)
The Dictators' bassist Andy Shernoff states that Page's guitar riff of rapid downstrokes in "Communication Breakdown" was an inspiration for the Ramones' guitarist Johnny Ramone's downstroke guitar style.[8] Ramone stated in the documentary Ramones: The True Story that he built up skill at his downstroke playing style by playing the song over and over again for the bulk of his early career.[9]
John Paul Jones is his stage name, his real name is John Richard Baldwin. He was given the JPJ moniker during his session musician days by Rolling Stone manager Andrew Loog Oldham who told John he needed something with more flair. Oldham took the name from a movie poster about the US Revolutionary War naval captain of the same name and gave it to him. Jonesy had been choir master for his local church when he was 14. Jimmy used a pedal steel guitar on this song. He said he'd never played one before and it was out of tune, but he made it work. The lyrics were written by Jimmy about a breakup (naturally) and blues songs in general were full of woe and "she done him wrong" tropes. Black Mountain Side is based on an Irish folksong and is similar to Bert Jansch's version. When played live, it would get combined with White Summer that Jimmy had done with The Yardbirds. There's a great 12-minute live version from Royal Albert Hall. They added it to the setlist to prove to the audience they had the skills, because LZ was so new (they were temporarily billed as "The New Yardbirds" when they started because when The Yardbirds broke up, they were still contracted for several performances, so when Jimmy formed LZ, he called them The New Yardbirds so they could play those contracted dates) he wanted to show the band weren't a hype, they had real skill and being able to play something like that would help prove it. It is in an alternate tuning of DADGAD - Jimmy also called it his "CIA tuning" which stood for Celtic, Indian, and Arabic because it does mimic Eastern/exotic tones. White Summer/Black Mountain Side would get dropped from the set list until around 1977 or so when Jimmy brought it back and it would segue immediately into Kashmir. The tabla player isn't the only person to have played with Zep; Ian Stewart from the Rolling Stones played piano on Rock and Roll and Boogie With Stu. Sandy Denny is the only guest vocalist on Battle of Evermore, and they had session string and brass players on Kashmir. I consider Communication Breakdown to be proto-punk.
In "Your Time is Gonna Come" After the first chorus, I love how Page plays the transition just by hand tapping the guitar.
The overdubbed electric guitar is a pedal steel guitar, like country players used at the time. It can be heard on Zep III on "Tangerine" and "That's The Way" also.
Mike, not the only time they had guest musicians, when you get to the 4th album Sandy Denny (of Fairport Convention) duets with Plant on the folky mandolin driven 'The battle of evermore' , where she trades back and forth with overlapping lyrics.
And Ian Stewart in 'Rock and Roll' and 'Boogie with Stu'.
They didn't all sing very much but I love when they did!
ZEPPELIN =GOAT!!!!
Wow!!! I agree!!! This song is Ground Zero for Led Zeppelin and Rock n Roll in general. This shifted me into thinking that there was much more than the Beatles. Such a great band that constantly delivered a fresh serving of amazing tunes. Hallelujah!!! 😾
You don’t know what you’re missing with country music. Open your mind man! The 60s and 70s are the greatest years for all genres (rock/R&B/country).
I use communication breakdown as a ringtone on my phone
ME TOO YOU LEGEND.
Page played Black Mountainside on a borrowed Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar which was tuned to D-A-D-G-A-D, a tuning that he had used for "White Summer". To enhance the Indian character of the song, drummer and sitarist Viram Jasani played tabla on the track.
Sandy Denny: guest vocal on 'Battle of Evermore' on IV. 'Black Mountain Side' is essentially a version of Davy Graham's arrangement of the trad. tune 'Backwaterside', using the DADGAD tuning that he, (Graham) invented which it's true does resemble the drone-like sitar sound owing to so man open strings on the same note.
True a fascinating combination of an almost straightforward 60s song (but with Gothic overtones on organ into folk-ethnic, then WHAM! The sound of the future, heavy rock, heavy metal, punk, allinvented on the spot in one song...
To set the record straight: on the first album Jimmy Page wrote the lyrics to most of the songs (hence the repeated theme of love and loss). Plant took over writing duties starting on the second album and really blossomed on Led Zeppelin III with songs like "That's the Way", "Gallows Pole" etc. Guest appearances were also made by vocalist Sandy Denny on "The Battle of Evermore" and Ian Stewart on "Boogie with Stu".
Thank you! You saved me from having to write all those things! LoL.
I've been a Zeppelin fan since the womb. My mom would play Zeppelin II over & over since it was released right before i was conceived. Besides creating such iconic music another thing that I've always loved is that their sound changes from album to album. Most would never notice it because of so much popularity. I did though. They were the first group that I collected all their albums on CD after getting my first Sony CD player when i turned 17 in 87. And, unlike most "Stairway to Heaven" doesn't even rank in the top 10 Zeppelin songs. My favorite is "No Quarter" from the "Houses of the Holy", but more specifically the live 1973 Madison Square Garden performane that was released on their 1976 album & film "The Song Remains the Same"
When reacting to this album please remember Jimmy was the old guy at the ripe old age of 25. John Bonham was 21 as was Robert Plant J. P. Jones was 22.
By the way I think this is definitely inspired but an English folk guitarist named Bert jansch Jimmy page was a big admirer of him and once called him the Jimmy hendrix of acoustic guitar Well worth checking out Neil Young was a big admirer to.
Listen to the live version of Communication Breakdown from 1970 concert...
I hope you will continue to doing their albums
We're going to try to complete the Zeppathon!
@@MusicforBusyPeople make sure to review the LIVE stuff...LIVE are truly the experience of LZ...
@@davidgreene7676 definitely will be doing more live performances, especially if I can do a better job avoiding being blocked by UA-cam. I had a lot of trouble with Dazed and Confused.
Bert Jansch - Blackwaterside (Live Norwegian TV '73
Unfortunatly this song was my exact feelings once i finally was shed of my ex
i really like you guys. i am one of a legion of well versed zep heads. fun watching you learn. the fights i heard about were indeed about drugs and drinking. Plant and Jones were in the studio while Page and Bonham were strung out drunk or high.
Please keep in mind that most of the outrageous stories about LZ behavior were exaggerated! It was part of the publicity and hype created around the band. Yes, they certainly had their share of well-documented issues, but most of those crazy stories were just that, stories.
No, Communication Breakdown was NOT created to be a "hit single!" LZ never wanted to issue singles, and did not. The record label issued a few, but the band never aimed at that market!
Keith Moon is good place to look for crazy rock n roll stories.
When I was in college, Graham Chapman came to my school and told some crazy Keith Moon stories!
You're right Mike, the guitar is in an open tuning called DADGAD. The B string and both the E strings detuned down a full tone, the rest stay as standard tuning. It's also referred to as Celtic tuning, owing to it's popular use in Irish and Scottish folk music. The original is a traditional folk song known as 'Down by Blackwaterside', but Page's version 'borrows' very heavily from Bert Jansch's version, 'Black waterside', off his 1966 album 'Jack Orion'. Jansch didn't claim personal credit for the song, unlike Page who, true to form, did.
Alert the media... I was right about something! 🤓
These guys were only 19 n 20 in the studio recording theirs first 3 albums
The internet states that Jimmy Page wrote the lyrics to 'Your Time is Gonna Come' which reflects his views of women at the time, that they were deceitful and inferior to men. Black Mountainside is very similar to Bert Jansch's Blackwater side. Jimmy was a fan of Bert Jansch. Some say DADGAD is the tuning but others have said it's a dropped D which means nothing to me. DADGAD is a folk tuning. Communication Breakdown is reminiscent of a proto punk song before punk existed. Jimmy Page has said the band was not interested in singles hits because it would constrain their creativity and bind them commercially to producing more of the same. They released no singles in the UK. Their record company later released a few as singles in the USA, but LZ never topped the charts with any singles.
That Internet is so smart!
@@j.kevvideoproductions.6463 It's shorthand for 'various online sources'.
I'm trying to learn to play this trust me not easy.
Sorry got that wrong I meant c6 tuning is what the guiter is tuned in.
You guys seem a bit confused on who wrote the lyrics for the songs on the first album -- if they weren't a cover song, Jimmy Page wrote them. Page convinced Plant to have a go at writing for LZ II, which, of course, he did, and never looked back! Several times, you have mentioned some sort of contact conflict with Plant writing lyrics for LZ. Having closely followed Robert Plant, and everything Led Zeppelin since 1968, this is the first I have ever heard of anything like that. What are you talking about? Details, please?
I read it somewhere that Plant was still under a song-writing contract with CBS Records or somebody. But it's probably bulls**t.
@@MusicforBusyPeople -- He recorded three obscure singles on CBS Records in the pre-Zep years, but I've never seen anything about a contract.
Page pretty much does the interpretation on Black Mount of Bert Jansch.
And Jansch was inspired by an even earlier similar song.
Bad-ass..
Your correct it's 6c tuning
Is that how good LZ is? The first couple songs on side 2 are considered "extra" by same listeners? Songs that most bands would love to have been able to claim as theirs? Lol
🇨🇦🤗 Fun is funner.
And that's y they are hammer of the gods rule 😅
I think the chorus in Your Time is Gonna Come has always sounded a bit wonky -- but, I consider that part of the charm.
And, how could you restart Communication Breakdown and not replay it through the transition from Black Mountain Side??? -- SACRILEGE!!!! :-)
I beg your forgiveness
@@MusicforBusyPeople Nope -- no -- nope!!! If you just innocently and naively restarted CB on its own, that would have been forgivable. But YOU HAD JUST BEEN TALKING about how you liked the surprise of the transition!!!! Sigh ..... ;-)
u mentioned early on this was as close to country as they would get, u r forgetting "Hot Dog" from In Through the Outdoor
imo communication breakdown is a proto-punk song.
I know he is singing this from a man perspective but this go's both ways when relationships end normally emotions take over and the thought of revenge is short lived lol
Nope...watch Bron Yr Stomp...that is country!
Good point!
Also Gallows pole and in the light
In the Light? Really?
I suggest you go re-write the song the way you would like it, and we'll see how you do. This album is for people who know what classic rock is, maybe not for you.
no ian stuart boogie with stu
it was a citar
Your criticisms are condescending... as a musician of over 40 years I consider this a seminal album.