(Led Zeppelin and Me)

I first heard Led Zeppelin 4 ( ‘4 Symbols’ or ‘Zoso’) or at least bits of it away back in 1976, from a home recorded cassette at a school friend’s house. Crudely scrawled in felt tipped pen on the cassette inlay card were the names of the songs ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Rock ‘n Roll’, they were both loud and raucous , this was rock’n roll , I thought , it reminded me of a louder version of my folks’ Elvis records. This was in fact what was then called ‘hard rock’, or ‘heavy metal ‘ music, I wasn’t overly familiar with the generic labels in those days.

At the time, my musical listening was quite limited , apart from what was on ‘Top of the Pops’, and what was in the Radio 1 Top 40. I only had one LP at at that time, ‘On the Level’ , by Status Quo, it was filed under ‘Rock’ in John Menzies, where I had bought that record, with my saved up pocket money, so that was all I had to compare it to at that time – This music ‘rocked ‘ and was definitely for me, whatever the label!

Led Zeppelin, wow, there was a sound, the crashing of the drums, the screaming vocals, the guitars and bass, the loudness of it all . I filed away the sound of that band for future reference , one I have returned to time and again , throughout my forty odd years of musical listening.

Anyway, back in the late ’70s/early ’80s, when the sonic tsunami of punk rock was sweeping the nation and safety pins, studded belts and ripped clothing were taking the fashion world by storm, I was listening to my burgeoning collection of heavy metal albums by Motorhead, Rush, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath , and Thin Lizzy. In those days, names of rock bands would be embroidered or painted on denim jackets , or schoolbags with varying degrees of artistic prowess, and everyone had badges telling the world which bands they liked, something was very much a prerequisite of the times in the school playground.

I had a couple of Led Zeppelin albums then, obviously Led Zeppelin 4, which most folk I knew had, and Led Zeppelin 3, which wasn’t as ‘heavy’, but had its moments; ‘Immigrant Song’, and ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, stood out for me at that time, and the folky acoustic songs, would filter through and gradually lodge themselves insidiously in my brain, ‘Tangerine’ , ‘Gallows Pole’ , ‘That’s The Way it Is’, classics every one of them, although the younger me didn’t see it that way at the time.

As time passed , I would discover that Zeppelin were more than just a heavy rock band , sure they influenced countless bands that came after them, as had, Black Sabbath or Deep Purple, but Zeppelin drew on a variety of musical influences in their heady intoxicating brew: folk, blues, rock’n’roll, a bit of psychedelia were in there, and also, Indian and Arabic music. There was a lot more to them than just rock.

I was introduced to ‘Physical Graffiti ‘ a wee bit later in 1982, when a work colleague had lent me the album, as folk did in those days, I was really blown away by the Eastern sound of ‘Kashmir’, which really pulled together the Moroccan influence, and orchestral strings, it was still as loud, and yes there were still guitars in there, which was a great thing in 1982, as synthesiser music was very much in vogue, but not something that I was a fan of. I also latched onto ‘In My Time of Dying’, a blues tune with lashings of slide guitar. The same album had a funk rock song in the form of ‘Trampled Underfoot’, with the keyboard sound reminscent of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Supersition’ , which really displayed the versitility of Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin 3 and 4 are both bona fide classics, and albums, I have possessed on cassette, cd and vinyl , they are my absolute favourite albums by the band.

They were also a ‘signpost on the road’ for me, the road to discovering other music , the music they were influenced by , blues for starters. I discovered the blues of Leadbelly ( Gallows Pole), Blind Willie Johnson (Nobody’s Fault But Mine) and Memphis Minnie (When The Levee Breaks) through searching out the roots of Zeppelin’s music, and checking out the ‘originals’.

This was in the days before the Internet, and cd compilations of ‘The Blues Roots of Led Zeppelin’ , so it involved lots of raking in charity shops, record stores and fairs, and there were also books from the Library on music to pore over.

It was the same with folk music, I heard Sandy Denny on ‘The Battle of Evermore’ duetting with Robert Plant , so I sought out her music, by library borrowing and second hand albums.

I was not old enough to have seen Led Zeppelin live, but I did see Robert Plant live at Edinburgh Playhouse on his first post-Zeppelin tour in 1983, promoting his second solo album , ‘The Principle of Moments’ and the hit single ‘Big Log’, we weren’t treated to a Zeppelin song, which was a bit disappointing, but Plant did cover ‘Little Sister’ , an Elvis song, which I suspect was him paying tribute to the music of his youth, and if I remember correctly, Little Feat’s legendary Richie Hayward was the drummer at that gig, though I stand to be corrected on that one.

They reformed in 2007 for a gig at the O2 Arena in London, with Jason Bonham on drums , all the classics were played including storming versions of ‘Black Dog’, ‘Rock’n’ Roll’ and ‘Stairway to Heaven.

So Messrs Plant, Page and Jones still continue to be active in music, after all these years and its really great to see, and to hear that!

Playlist:

Led Zeppelin, 3, 4 and Physical Graffiti.

Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes- Live at the Greek.

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant- Unledded.

I was having a look through my old writing work the other day, and came upon a copy of my poetry chapbook ‘Back Wynd of the Mind’, I flicked through it and came to the poem entitled ‘Westburn Road , 1974‘, this poem describes a winter scene , as seen through the eyes of an eleven year old of the time, way back in simpler times, when the world was a very different place, and winter was a wonderland , if you were a child.

That eleven year old, as you will have guessed was me, and I think I have really captured the atmosphere of those times, when children played outdoors throughout the school holidays no matter what the weather was, carefree times, when all we had to worry about was what was going on at school.

I think there was a sense of wonder also, when you looked at the ice patterns on windows, or looked out the window at the garden covered in snow, an ‘icy kingdom’, in your own backyard.

Winter of course, isn’t such an inviting prospect when you’re older , and with this poem I was trying to evoke the happier days of childhood , as more of a snapshot , an old photograph of the times.

I remember a poem from childhood, which I recently discovered by the a wee internet search , was by Sara Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s daughter.

‘The Garden Year’ its called, but the opening verses I’m sure some of you will know;

‘January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow’,

‘February brings the rain, thaws the frozen pond again’,

I always think of the early ’70s when I first heard that, at school.

Anyway, here is my poem, I hope it does evoke memories ,

Westburn Road , 1974

Winter sprays its frosty swirls

Twists and turns on single glazing.

Icy kingdom: our back garden,

Downy flakes on dying roses.

Created and creative patterns,

Handprints small on frozen windscreen.

Icy kingdom, winter school run,

Endless hum of engines running.

Baking trays as makeshift sledges,

Contravening parents’ laws.

Making slides on whitened grasslands,

Carefree , crossing golden ponds.

Knitted mittens, snow encrusted,

Elastic linked, dried hard by fire.

Kids sip scalding soup , red faced,

Glowing with the winter’s heat.

Through the melting icy patterns,

Life writ large through single glazing,

Snowmen stand on sentry duty,

Traffic trickles tentatively on.

Those who are visit these pages will know about my one time aspirations as a poet, my publication of a chapbook of poems a few years ago, and my performing /reading my work at such events as Wordfringe, Per-Verse, Lemon Zest and the Books and Beans poetry evenings.

I suppose I have always liked poetry of various styles throughout my life , but the poetic influence sunk in indelibly when I was at school, back in the ’70s.

I was in second year, and our teacher, an older man, possibly coming up for retirement, and very ‘old school’ in his attitude , set us the homework to read ‘ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge .

It does make you wonder, given the passage of time since then, how could a 12 year old possibly connect with such an antiquated, lengthy piece of poetry?.

I skimmed over it, I had my Armada Ghost Book to read so that would take priority, Coleridge could wait, but I did get that the poem rhymed , and would sound good if read aloud, I had read a few verses in my bedroom, to myself, so could appreciate that.

Anyway , as I said, the Armada Ghost Book came first, and I was reading a story by H.G. Wells called ‘The Red Room’ tonight , and that , to me, was more interesting at that moment in Time.

The following day, at the English period , our teacher, a tall gaunt individual, who evidently had been an amateur actor in his younger days, read some of ‘The Ancient Mariner’ to us, or more accurately declaimed it, in a stentorian, dramatic voice, those of us in the front desks noticed that as he read, his eyes rolled up into their sockets, leaving the whites of his eyes visible!. He was performing this piece from memory , that was really something else! That helped the poem lodge in my mind for years after though, I couldn’t recite it from memory in a million years, but could recall sections of it if asked to do so.

It also helped me appreciate poetry, which I later encountered through reading , and listening to song lyrics, some of which are poems in themselves. Coleridge would appear in my life later in 1979, when my brother bought the cassette of Rush’s ‘Farewell to Kings’ , we would listen to the lyrics of ‘Xanadu’ which issued from the little speaker of the Grundig cassette player, and hope that the cassette wouldn’t spool out.

There was a bit of Coleridge in there, I told my brother, references to ‘Kubla Khan’, ‘The River Alph’ and so on, not surprisingly, he slagged me off for being a smart-arse.

Years later in the early ’80s, Iron Maiden wrote a song ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ for their ‘Powerslave’ album, ‘ it quoted from the poem, and gladdened me to know that it had been given credibility being ‘covered’ by a rock band.

At that time, I began to gravitate towards some music and singers who wrote ‘poetic’ lyrics, the likes of Bob Dylan, The Doors, Patti Smith and many many more , come to mind.

Later , I tried my hand at poetry, with varying results.

All this this started as they say , back in the day, in that English class in a school in Aberdeen.