I heard it on my commute to work and absolutely loved it. The station it was playing on is a classic rock staion, 80’s and 90’s stuff, and I think they throw some 70’s stuff in from time to time as well. ZZ-Top, Led Zeeplin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Guns and Roses, Aerosmith, and The Rolling Stones are regular bands you can hear playing throughout the day.
The song itself came right before a Led Zepplin song. I tried the entire time to make out the lyrics, but couldn’t understand them for the like of me. It was all muffled by the other instruments but for the ending which I caught and wrote down:
Go down
Go down now
Go down
Go down now
Go down
Go down now
Also worth noting is the spectacular whaling harminoca that played throughout the song. It was a very rocking song all around. Great sound.
Unfortuantely, these are the only clues I can offer. This was the first time I had ever heard it, so I’m clueless. I’d really love to hear it again though.
The title of the album is actually the four runes you see printed on the jacket. It’s usually listed by other names because reproducing those runes is too difficult for catalogs etc.
Black Dog has the “ahs” in pairs. Levee Breaks has them in triples. Also the tone is different on them. Apparently they were running out of lyrics after “Stairway to Heaven”. Or Robert Plant’s tight jeans were causing him to orgasm everytime he hit a certain note. Possibly both.
Or perhaps these songs represent a part of a larger work, one whose pieces are scattered across their recordings, that, when grouped together, make an “aah-aah” epic, if you will. See the songs The Immigrant Song:
Good work junior detectives! Your gumshoes have stepped on the biggest mystery that’s reared it’s ugly face all week in this cigerette-butt-begging-to-be-stepped-on city. Report back to the station for cocktails and a full body oil massage given by our new Swiss intern .
I told myself if it was indeed a Zepplin song, I’d have to buy one of their CDs. I really like many of their songs, but not quite enough to justify buying a CD. This song is pushing me over the edge folks. My ears are throbbing in anticipating to listen to it again.
WHAT??? You’ve been debating whether to buy a Zeppelin album??!
Flash to Jack Black in High Fidelity: “It’s gonna be ok.”
I remember as a teenager someone asked me which LZ records I had. Until then, I hadn’t thought about it, but then I realized, I owned them all.
LZ4 is probably a good starter for a newbie. Very accessible.
LZ2 is my personal fave. It was recorded in various studios while they were on their first American tour, and retains a lot of energy. Plus it shamelessly rips off American blues artists, with no attribution whatsoever, in the fine tradition of Willie Dixon.
My nomination for most overlooked LZ record: Presence.
A number of years ago, we had torrential rains in Northern California, to the point where there was widespread flooding of creeks and streams, and some serious danger that one or both of the rivers running through Sacramento would overflow their banks and cause massive destruction.
One day, one of the local rock stations was playing rain/water related songs all afternoon (“Have You Ever Seen the Rain”, “Black Water”, etc.). After two or three commercial breaks, the DJ came on and told everyone to stop calling because there was absolutely **no way ** she was going to play “When the Levee Breaks”.
She never did, and the water finally crested about 10 inches from the top of the levee.
What can I say? I’m a musical ignoramous. Up untill it died, I was listening to a station that played classics of the 60’s and 70’s. I stuck with it for a year and eventually became sick of the songs. I loved the rock ones, but the doo-wop, and mellow repetitive love songs were really getting to me. The new rock station was a decent alternative, but too many of the songs were whiney and contrived or tried too hard to be scary. While switching between the two one day, I found the glory that is Queen (I’ve heard them before…just never while driving), and other rock goodness, and decided to change stations. So much of this is new to me.
ThatLZ2 doesn’t sound bad. When The Levee Breaks has a bluesy/rock sound to it which is part of the reason I love it. I’d definately be interested in similiar sounding songs. I’ll look into the various albums next time I go into my CD store in the mall and sample them.
While we’re onthe subject, I have never for the life of me been able to figure out what the guy is singing in “When the levee Breaks” when he says “it’s got what it takes to make a ??? leave his home”. Can anyone help?
