The Led Zeppelin Top 50 Countdown (#06-04) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends! The top 6 Led Zeppelin songs are one each from their first six albums - these albums also happen to be their best. There was no doubt in my mind as to the top 3 and their order of appearance on this list. The songs at positions 4 to 6, however, were another matter. I like these songs equally, so the order in which they are found is just a snapshot of a moment in time. Let's pay them a visit!

At #6, we find Over the Hills and Far Away, from Houses of the Holy (1973). This is the song that best demonstrates just about everything the band does well: the unforgettable and impossible-to-pin-down opening riff, the life-affirming transition from acoustic to electric, the constant switches in tone and dynamic, the piercing solo with double-tracked climax, the impeccable interplay of guitar, bass, and drum, the inimitable Plant shrieking, the gorgeous coda, even the super-oblique title… it’s Zep through and through, checking all of the boxes and kicking your ass while doing so.

But the thing that really seals it for Over the Hills and Far Away is the sense of wonder it inspires. Zeppelin’s greatest quality, apart from the weird time signatures and otherworldly instrumentation and teenage-male-pandering lyrics, was their ability to elevate, to make you believe that there was a secret world of higher musical understanding that only they as the Ultimate Rock Gods had access to, and which they could transport you to for three to ten minutes at a time, depending on which side of which album you were listening to.

The climax of Over the Hills and Far Away, as the song’s main hook starts to fold in on itself, and Plant does his “You really ought to know…” wailing, as the song echoes on and on into infinity, is as wondrous as the band ever got, achieving a classic-rock nirvana that only a handful of songs in history have ever been lucky enough to be able to touch. The harpsichord outro and brief fade-in of the rest of the band that closes the song bring it back down to earth a little, but the sensation lingers on far after you’re done listening.

Here they are, live at the Madison Square Garden, 1973:

Here's a cover version from folk singer-songwriter John Craigie:

At #5 is the most famous song from the Led Zeppelin III album from 1970: Immigrant Song. No hard-rock song has ever had a more ominous opening line: "We come from the land of the ice and snow." It was inspired by the band's concert in Iceland in June 1970, a month when the sun never fully sets. Plant started fantasizing about Vikings and wrote in the voice of a Norse chieftain leading a sea invasion and expecting to die. It "was supposed to be powerful and funny," he said. Page's menacing staccato riff could scare Thor into surrendering, and Plant's Tarzan holler adds another layer of primal barbarism.

In a contemporary review of Led Zeppelin III, Lester Bangs of Rolling Stone described Immigrant Song as the closest to being as classic as Whole Lotta Love, praising the song's "bulldozer rhythms and Plant's double-tracked wordless vocal crossings echoing behind the main vocal like some cannibal chorus wailing in the infernal light of a savage fertility rite."

This is a dynamite live version:

This is a cover version by Adagio, a French progressive metal band:

Finally for today, at #4, is the signature song of their debut album, Dazed And Confused. This song has an interesting story: Singer-songwriter Jake Holmes wrote and recorded Dazed and Confused for his debut solo album The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes, released in June 1967. Like the other tracks on the album, the song does not include any drums and was recorded with the trio of Holmes on guitar, keyboard and vocals; Ted Irwin on guitar; and Rick Randle on bass.

In August 1967, Holmes opened for the Yardbirds at a Greenwich Village gig in New York. According to Holmes, "That was the infamous moment of my life when Dazed and Confused fell into the loving arms and hands of Jimmy Page." When the track appeared on Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut album in 1969, Holmes was aware of it at the time, but didn't follow up on it: "In the early 1980s, I did write them a letter and I said basically: 'I understand it's a collaborative effort, but I think you should give me credit at least and some remuneration.' But they never contacted me."

In June 2010, Holmes brought suit against Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page for copyright infringement, claiming to have written and recorded Dazed and Confused two years before it appeared on Led Zeppelin's debut album. In court documents, Holmes cited a 1967 copyright registration for Dazed and Confused which was renewed in 1995. The case was "dismissed with prejudice" on January 17, 2012, after the parties reached an undisclosed settlement out of court in the fall of 2011.

Dazed and Confused beats the shit out of just about any hard-rock '70s classic you can name. Ominous beginning, another of those full-bodied Plant vocal performances, a half-dozen or so unique noises, Jones and Bonham both at top furious form - and the mother of all guitar barrages, too. Page does everything to a guitar you can do over the course of this song, from delicate harmonics to sawing it - and then beating it - with a violin bow. It's the best example of how Zeppelin created a drama in their songs that drew listeners in and fended off boredom.

The intro is still one of the most demonic-sounding things ever heard on a major rock record (even more so than the incantation-like breakdown section) and Plant’s guttural squawking over the verses, while questionable in lyrical nature ("Soul of the woman was created below" - sorry, ladies) is undeniable in its transportative power.

Led Zeppelin's ever-expanding live jam, featuring Page's epic bowed solos, often stretched out as long as 45 minutes. Like this live version from the film The Song Remains The Same, clocking just below 29 minutes:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; we had exactly the same number of visits as last week, even though I'm preparing this half a day earlier than usual. All stories did well; last week's Led Zeppelin had the most visits, Donna Summer had the most comments, and the Oscars had the quickest accumulation of visits; in just 24 hours they have overtaken Donna Summer and are just about ready to overtake Led Zeppelin.

As far as countries are concerned, this week's top 10 countries are the same as last week, with their positions slightly rearranged. There is movement in the all-time top 10, however. France, the big winner of the week, has overtaken Greece at #3, although the latter kept its overall rate stable. The United Kingdom at #2 is still increasing its percentage, but France is more active; if the current trend continues, it will overtake the UK in a couple of months. Italy may overtake Cyprus as early as next week; again it's a case of both doing well, but Italy is doing a little better. Canada, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates are also doing well, Germany is steady, while Russia and Belgium dropped. The United States is now under 37%. Not long ago, it was responsible for more than half the number of total visits - now it's a bit more than a third. As I've said before, it's not that our friends from the United States have stopped reading this blog, it's that the rest of the world is eventually catching up...

Here are this week's Top 10 countries.

1. France

2. the United States

3. the United Kingdom

4. Greece

5. Italy

6. Canada

7. Cyprus

8. Germany

9. Brazil

10. the United Arab Emirates

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 36.9%

2. the United Kingdom = 9.7%

3. France = 8.9%

4. Greece = 8.8%

5. Russia = 4.7%

6. Germany = 3.2%

7. Cyprus = 1.39%

8. Italy = 1.37%

9. Canada = 0.85%

10. Belgium = 0.60%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!