| “Whole Lotta Love” |
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Single by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin II |
| B-side |
"Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" |
| Released |
October 22, 1969 |
| Format |
7" single: US, Japan, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany CD single |
| Recorded |
May 1969, Olympic Studios, London |
| Genre |
Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Length |
Album Version: 5:33 Single: 5:33 (1st pressings) 3:10 (2nd pressings) |
| Label |
Atlantic Records |
| Writer(s) |
Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Willie Dixon |
| Producer |
Jimmy Page |
| Certification |
Gold |
| Led Zeppelin singles chronology |
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| Alternate Cover |
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| Led Zeppelin II track listing |
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| Audio sample |
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"Whole Lotta Love" 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 released in the US (and Japan) as a single. The US release became their first hit single. In common with other Led Zeppelin songs no UK single was released but singles were released in Germany (where it reached number 1), Holland, Belgium and France. 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" by peer Willie Dixon. In 1966 British soul band The Small Faces recorded the song as "You Need Loving" for their début Decca LP. Some of the lyrics of Led Zeppelin's version were borrowed from the Willie Dixon song, a favorite 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" (and "Bring It On Home") would lead to a lawsuit settled out of court in favour of Dixon in 1985.[1] Strangely, 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. The practice of borrowing others' lyrics has long been integral to the blues style. To quote Robert Plant:
| “ |
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 (it was in fact 7 years) and influence that...well, you only get caught when you're successful. That's the game.[2] |
” |
Song construction
Page played the loose Blues riff for the intro, on a Sunburst 1958 Les Paul Standard through a 100W Marshall "Plexi" head amp with distortion from the EL34 output valves, which ascends into the first chorus. Then, beginning at 1:24 (and lasting until 3:02) the song dissolves to a free jazz-like break involving a theremin solo and the moans of Robert Plant (sometimes called the "orgasm section"). Plant did the vocals in one take. As audio engineer Eddie Kramer has explained: "The famous Whole Lotta Love mix, where everything is going bananas, is a combination of Jimmy and myself just flying around on a small console twiddling every knob known to man." Kramer is also quoted as saying:
| “ |
[A]t one point there was bleed-through of a previously recorded vocal in the recording of “Whole Lotta Love.” It was the middle part where Robert [Plant] screams “Wo-man. You need it.” Since we couldn’t re-record at that point, I just threw some echo on it to see how it would sound and Jimmy [Page] said “Great! Just leave it.”[3] |
” |
Led Zeppelin's bass player John Paul Jones has stated that Page's famous riff probably emerged from a stage improvisation during the band's playing of "Dazed and Confused".[4]
Alternatively, Jimmy Page has vehemently denied that the song originated onstage:
| “ |
Interviewer: Is it true "Whole Lotta Love" was written onstage during a gig in America, when you were all jamming on a Garnett Mimms song?
Page: No. No. Absolutely incorrect. No, it was put together when we were rehearsing some music for the second album. I had a riff, everyone was at my house, and we kicked it from there. Never was it written during a gig--where did you hear that?
Interviewer: I read it in a book.
Page (sarcastically): Oh, good. I hope it was that Rough Guide. That's the latest one, the most inaccurate. They're all inaccurate, you know.[5]
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” |
In a separate interview, Page explained:
| “ |
I had [the riff] worked out already before entering the studio. I had rehearsed it. And then all of that other stuff, sonic wave sound and all that, I built it up in the studio, and put effects on it and things, treatments.[6] |
” |
For this track, Page employed the backwards echo production technique.[1]
Release
Upon release of the LP, radio stations looked for a track that would fit their on-air formats from the quickly successful LP with the pulsing, skronk-raunch lead track "Whole Lotta Love" being the prime contender. However, because many radio stations saw the freeform middle section as unfit to air they simply created their own edited versions. Atlantic Records was quick to respond and in addition to the release of the regular single in the US (coupled with "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" from the same LP as the B-side) released a 3:10 version of the track with the freeform section cut and an earlier fade-out on November 7, 1969. Both versions were released as Atlantic #45-2690. The edited version was intended for radio station promotional release but some copies were apparently released commercially in the US and are a collector's item for fans. The song was released as a single in the US, France, Germany (as No 1), Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium and Japan (countries where the band had less control). The edited version was withdrawn.
In the United Kingdom, Atlantic Records had expected to issue the edited version themselves, and pressed initial copies for release on December 5, 1969. However, band manager Peter Grant was adamant that the band maintain a "no-singles" approach to marketing their recorded music in the UK, and he halted the release. An official statement from the band added that they had written a special number which they intended to be their first British single. This never materialised, and despite much record company pressure, they declined to issue official singles in the UK throughout their career.[1]
Several years later, Atlantic Records reissued "Whole Lotta Love" (with its original B-side "Living Loving Maid") on its Oldies Series label (OS-13116) with a slight error. The edited 3:10 version was used for the reissue, but the labels were printed with the unedited running time of 5:33.
In 1997 Atlantic Records released a CD-single edited (to 4:50 this time) from the original 1969 recording of the song. This version charted in the UK where the band had maintained control over single releases during their existence.
Chart success and live history
The song entered the Billboard Top 40 singles chart on December 6, 1969. It remained on the chart for 13 weeks, peaking at #4 and becoming the band's only Top 10 single in the US. Live, the song debuted April 26, 1969. It was described with details on the site [1]. A famous show closer at Led Zeppelin concerts, it was since mid-1970 performed as a medley of blues and R&B covers favoured by the band. This included 1950s and 1960s standards such as:
When performed live, "Whole Lotta Love" also occasionally included segments of other Led Zeppelin songs such as "I Can't Quit You Baby", "You Shook Me", "How Many More Times (inc. The Hunter)", "Your Time Is Gonna Come", "Good Times, Bad Times", "The Lemon Song", "The Crunge", "D'yer Mak'er", "Black Dog", "Out On The Tiles" and "Ramble On".
Live versions of "Whole Lotta Love" were released officially on the following titles:
"Whole Lotta Love" was the last song Led Zeppelin ever played live in their original lineup. It was however performed again at the band's reunions in 1985 and 1988, as well as at the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at the O2 Arena, London on December 10, 2007, with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father. It also featured in the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 24, 2008, in a rewritten version with Jimmy Page on guitar and Leona Lewis providing the vocals. Some of the original lyrics were changed for being too explicit.[7]
Cover versions
An instrumental cover version of the track by CCS was a UK Top 20 hit in 1970. The song is famous in the United Kingdom for having been the theme music for the long-running television programme Top of the Pops during the 1970s and 1980s. It was produced by Mickie Most.
Ike and Tina Turner recorded a funk version which is available on Tina's 1975 Acid Queen album.
American rock band Foreigner would often cover the song in live performances, usually as part of medley including Juke Box Hero.
A cover called "Whole Lotta Love" was released by dance act Goldbug in 1996. The lyrics were intact, but the backing consisted of the music of Pearl & Dean. The single reached #3 in the UK chart.
A cover described as "Raw Harp Version" was released by UK blues harmonica player Will Tang in 2008 as a B-side to his single "The Other Side".
Reportedly, Prince will release a live version of "Whole Lotta Love" with his 2008 release Indigo Nights.
At the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Jimmy Page performed this song with Leona Lewis during the hand over from Beijing to London, which will host the 2012 Olympic Games.
Perry Farrell does a reworked version of the song on his album Rev.
The band Kiss have covered the song live.
References
- ^ a b c Dave Lewis (1994), The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
- ^ Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Triple J Music Specials - Led Zeppelin (first broadcast 2000-07-12)
- ^ Biography at Eddie Kramer website
- ^ Liner notes by Cameron Crowe for The Complete Studio Recordings
- ^ Cavanaugh, David. "Jimmy Page, 'Mission Accomplished.'" Uncut Magazine. Take 132 (May 2008): 49.
- ^ Steven Rosen, 1977 Jimmy Page Interview, Modern Guitars, May 25, 2007 (originally published in the July 1977, issue of Guitar Player magazine).
- ^ Led Zeppelin classic 'too racy' for Olympics, Daily Telegraph, 23 August 2008.
Sources
- Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
- The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
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