Whole Lotta Love
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
"He would take two records, such as Chicago's 'I'm a Man' and Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love', and create his own custom blend."--Liberation Through Hearing (2020) by Richard Russell |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
"Whole Lotta Love" (1969) is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is featured as the opening track on the band's second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was their first hit single. In 2004, the song was ranked #75 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed "Whole Lotta Love" at number 3 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks and it placed 11 on a similar list by Rolling Stone. It is also the last track the band ever played as whole.
It was recorded at various studios in New York and Los Angeles during the band's second concert tour of the United States and assembled by Jimmy Page at Olympic Studios in London. Already part of their live repertoire, it saw its first official release on the LP Led Zeppelin II on October 22 1969 (Atlantic LP #8236).
Influences
In 1962 Muddy Waters recorded "You Need Love", written for him by peer Willie Dixon. In 1966 British mod band the Small Faces recorded the song as "You Need Loving" for their eponymous début Decca LP. Some of the lyrics of Led Zeppelin's version were copied from the Willie Dixon song, a favourite of Plant's. Plant's phrasing is particularly similar to that of Steve Marriott's in the Small Faces' version. Similarities with "You Need Love" would lead to a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin, settled out of court in favour of Dixon in 1985. The Small Faces were never sued by Dixon, even though "You Need Loving" still only credits Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott.
Robert Plant, a huge fan of blues and soul singers, regularly quoted other songs, especially live.
- "Page's riff was Page's riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, 'well, what am I going to sing?' That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time and influence that...well, you only get caught when you're successful. That's the game."
See also
