Whole Lotta Love
hello folks, this week's song will be "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin.
one night, when i was about 12 or 13, we had some sort of power cut that meant we lost all the gas (heating, cooking etc.) but still had electricity in our house. it was the middle of winter, dark and cold, a bit like my current situation (except i was in my house then, not in a room in a uni hall of residence). the whole family moved into the lounge and crowded round a small electric heater (i think we borrowed it from my gran, god bless her) that was the only source of heat in the house that night. to keep our minds off things, like the fact that the gas fire and radiators weren't working so we felt like we were going to freeze, we decided to watch TV (good old telly, it's always there to save the day!). we'd recently got a satellite dish to get european channels, and one of the best channels was BBC World, so we settled on the sofa and floor to watch that.
that night there was a documentary on Led Zeppelin, and me and my younger brother, at our tender ages, witnessed hell-raising rock-and-roll. We were hooked. this band were wild, long-haired, cool, everything... they totally rocked. i thougt they were brilliant, and i remember my brother going through a huge Led Zep phase for the next couple of years (sadly, i think, he is now more interested in stuff like computer games...). the riffs, the drumming, the lifestyle, the tunes, the way that they looked like how you always imagine a rock band to be, the wild, primal singing... and when they played the video for "Whole Lotta Love", well, we fell in love with it. I loved - and still do love (listened to it twice today already) - that distinctive, instantly-hummable opening riff, which used to be used as the theme tune to Top Of The Pops (much better than the current theme tune! ahh, the good old days...).
then there was the rest of the song too: the lyrics which were a bit too adult for us to fully understand at the time (and frankly theyre gibberish half the time, but when a song rocks as much as this, who cares?), the brilliant guitar playing throughout the song, the unearthly singing (the wonderful Robert Plant), the rhythm section... i could go on. but i won't. let the music do the talking, as they say. you know it's a brilliant song, and if you don't, well go out and get some Zep CDs! You can find this song on the albums Led Zeppelin II and Early Days, and also on Remasters and Early Days & Latter Days which i think are boxed sets. It was written by John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and released in 1969.
the lyrics aren't really profound or life-saving (unlike last week's song, "Rubber Ring"), it was the way they were sung that got me, but i've decided that for every song i stick in this blog i'll put the lyrics, so here they are.
You need coolin', baby,
I'm not foolin',
I'm gonna send you back to schoolin',
Way down inside honey, you need it,
I'm gonna give you my love, I'm gonna give you my love.
*Wanna Whole Lotta Love (X4)
You've been learnin', baby,
I been learnin',
All them good times, baby, baby,
I've been yearnin',
Way, way down inside honey, you need it,
I'm gonna give you my love...
I'm gonna give you my love.
* Chorus
You've been coolin', baby,
I've been droolin',
All the good times I've been misusin',
Way, way down inside,
I'm gonna give you my love,
I'm gonna give you every inch of my love,
Gonna give you my love.
* Chorus
Way down inside... woman...
You need... love.
Shake for me, girl. I wanna be your backdoor man.
Keep it coolin', baby...
A postscript: this is one of the songs that sparked a love affair with rock 'n' roll that i'm sure will last a lifetime (or at least outlive my other infatuations...). oh, and we got the gas heating back in the end. hooray!
one night, when i was about 12 or 13, we had some sort of power cut that meant we lost all the gas (heating, cooking etc.) but still had electricity in our house. it was the middle of winter, dark and cold, a bit like my current situation (except i was in my house then, not in a room in a uni hall of residence). the whole family moved into the lounge and crowded round a small electric heater (i think we borrowed it from my gran, god bless her) that was the only source of heat in the house that night. to keep our minds off things, like the fact that the gas fire and radiators weren't working so we felt like we were going to freeze, we decided to watch TV (good old telly, it's always there to save the day!). we'd recently got a satellite dish to get european channels, and one of the best channels was BBC World, so we settled on the sofa and floor to watch that.
that night there was a documentary on Led Zeppelin, and me and my younger brother, at our tender ages, witnessed hell-raising rock-and-roll. We were hooked. this band were wild, long-haired, cool, everything... they totally rocked. i thougt they were brilliant, and i remember my brother going through a huge Led Zep phase for the next couple of years (sadly, i think, he is now more interested in stuff like computer games...). the riffs, the drumming, the lifestyle, the tunes, the way that they looked like how you always imagine a rock band to be, the wild, primal singing... and when they played the video for "Whole Lotta Love", well, we fell in love with it. I loved - and still do love (listened to it twice today already) - that distinctive, instantly-hummable opening riff, which used to be used as the theme tune to Top Of The Pops (much better than the current theme tune! ahh, the good old days...).
then there was the rest of the song too: the lyrics which were a bit too adult for us to fully understand at the time (and frankly theyre gibberish half the time, but when a song rocks as much as this, who cares?), the brilliant guitar playing throughout the song, the unearthly singing (the wonderful Robert Plant), the rhythm section... i could go on. but i won't. let the music do the talking, as they say. you know it's a brilliant song, and if you don't, well go out and get some Zep CDs! You can find this song on the albums Led Zeppelin II and Early Days, and also on Remasters and Early Days & Latter Days which i think are boxed sets. It was written by John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and released in 1969.
the lyrics aren't really profound or life-saving (unlike last week's song, "Rubber Ring"), it was the way they were sung that got me, but i've decided that for every song i stick in this blog i'll put the lyrics, so here they are.
You need coolin', baby,
I'm not foolin',
I'm gonna send you back to schoolin',
Way down inside honey, you need it,
I'm gonna give you my love, I'm gonna give you my love.
*Wanna Whole Lotta Love (X4)
You've been learnin', baby,
I been learnin',
All them good times, baby, baby,
I've been yearnin',
Way, way down inside honey, you need it,
I'm gonna give you my love...
I'm gonna give you my love.
* Chorus
You've been coolin', baby,
I've been droolin',
All the good times I've been misusin',
Way, way down inside,
I'm gonna give you my love,
I'm gonna give you every inch of my love,
Gonna give you my love.
* Chorus
Way down inside... woman...
You need... love.
Shake for me, girl. I wanna be your backdoor man.
Keep it coolin', baby...
A postscript: this is one of the songs that sparked a love affair with rock 'n' roll that i'm sure will last a lifetime (or at least outlive my other infatuations...). oh, and we got the gas heating back in the end. hooray!
posted by Hel at 9:49 pm
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