i cant believe i never heard this song...and then the other day i heard it...and it really hit me hard. i know it's not abuse related, but it certainly speaks to me as a survivor of a hurricane. i just cant believe that it was written so long ago but it seems to be about new orleans!
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WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS by led zeppelin

If it keeps on rainin, levees goin to break,
If it keeps on rainin, levees goin to break,
When the levee breaks Ill have no place to stay.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Lord, mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,

Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Dont it make you feel bad
When youre tryin to find your way home,
You dont know which way to go?
If youre goin down south
They got no work to do,
If you dont know about chicago.

Cryin wont help you, prayin wont do you no good,
Now, cryin wont help you, prayin wont do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin bout my baby and my happy home.
Going, gon to chicago,
Gon to chicago,
Sorry but I cant take you.
Going down, going down now, going down.

Hi Kuurt,

That's a classic Zeppelin song, full of the blues of living life with the levee and missing a woman. It's one of my favorites from the Zeppeling IV album (hell, they're all my favorites) because of that driving drum of Bonham and the wailing harmonica of Plant. I see this song as really the pinacle of Zeppelin's blues.

If you want to hear another really good levee song, check out "Louisiana 1927" by Marcia Ball. Another great song about the floods that were "trying to wash us away".

"'All las nite sat on the levee and moan'

Thas Memhpis Minnie.

Thas Memphis Minnie with a krunk grind twang an howl from the highway 61 black nite of America's past. Thas her song an lyrics that Robt Plant covered from an 'ole black vinyl that some how found its way into England's heartland and backdoored its way into white America's soul. Thas a record no one knows but a sound from yer lower spine. Any body out there know Memphis Minnie? Hear her moan 'bout the death of New Orleans tonight. Hear her moan all nite."

- Anonymous

Thanks, Nobby, I was thinking it was an influence from an earlier blues person but didn't know which one. Plant and Page were heavily influenced by Memphis blues musicians, such as Muddy Waters and Memphis Minnie. There are several of their earlier blues tunes which have lyrics that were obviously influenced by others, some nearly word for word. What's the old saying? "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

American blues is as close to the music of the soul as you can get.

thats cool that everyone else knows this song and likes it so much.

One of my favourites from LZ4.

If you like blues, try Robbie Robertson, my fav, is somewhere down that crazy river.
He puts so much passion into his music, but he never did much, but what he did do, was excellent.

Jack Kerouac, set to lyrics,

ste

i cant ever get enough of this song it is GREAT!

I'm a huge zepp fan, probably my favorite band of all time. You might also like to give a listen to a cover of this song by A Perfect Circle... off of the Emotive album. Really interesting interpretation of this song, kind of distant, very different than your average APC sound, although this whole album has different sound...

otherwise, this is a great tune in general!!

peace,
cpt.

Robert Plant lives a few miles from where I live and sometimes he can be found jamming with some local band at some pub or bar.

He's a hero, one of the greats!

Dave

Dave,

thats incredible! you are so lucky to have such a legend so close to you!! wish I could see Robert Plant live (especially when he was in his prime!) but every time he comes to Chicago it sells out so fast, and then it gets really expensive... ticketmaster sucks!

peace,
cpt.

if we are talking about a perfect circle i should point out that tool does an amazing good cover of led zeppelin's "no quarter." it is on the album "salival" that comes with the tool box set.

batcountry..

most definitely a GREAT cover of No Quarter by Tool on Salival. very good call my friend, I completely agree!
Also, might I add... Tool (in my opinion) is one of the only bands around nowadays that can even hold a candle to Led Zeppelin. Danny Carey is probably the only drummer I would even mention in the same sentance as John Bonham (as I just did) . I only wish I could have seen Bonham play live... *sigh*

peace,
cpt.

sorry to bring this so far off topic...

heh, i think thats cool that you guys said all of this...tool and a perfect circle are two of my favorite bands and i really like APC version of levee, and tool's version of no quarter. thanks you guys for mentioning those two awesome songs.