Thank You (Led Zeppelin song)
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| “Thank You” | |||||
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| Song by Led Zeppelin | |||||
| Album | Led Zeppelin II | ||||
| Released | 22 October 1969 | ||||
| Recorded | 1969, Morgan Studios, London | ||||
| Genre | Hard rock | ||||
| Length | 4:49 | ||||
| Label | Atlantic Records | ||||
| Writer | Page/Plant | ||||
| Producer | Jimmy Page | ||||
| Led Zeppelin II track listing | |||||
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"Thank You" is a song written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page that was released by English rock band Led Zeppelin on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It signaled a deeper involvement in songwriting by singer Robert Plant, being the first Led Zeppelin song that he wrote all the lyrics for. According to various Led Zeppelin biographies, this is also the song that made Jimmy Page realize that Plant could now handle writing the majority of the lyrics for the band's songs. The first lines of Plant's composition heavily resemble those in the Jimi Hendrix song "If 6 Was 9".
The song features some delicate Hammond organ playing by John Paul Jones, and ends with the organ fading into near-silence before coming back about 10 seconds later. This has created a problem for radio stations wishing to play the track, which must decide whether to accept the dead air or cut it off. Some stations typically run edited versions with the silence eliminated, whilst others play "Thank You" together with "The Lemon Song", because there's no pause between them on the album.
For the recording of this track, Page played on a Vox 12-string guitar.[1]
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[edit] Live history
"Thank You" was a popular song when played live at Led Zeppelin concerts, and became something of a showcase for Jones' keyboard work, as he often incorporated an extended keyboard solo. An example of this can be heard on the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions album, which captures a version performed at the Paris Theatre in London in 1971. However, the song was eventually dropped from the band's standard live setlist following the 1973 tour of the United States, when it was only occasionally used as an encore, for example, at the last tour's concert in Madison Square Garden.
[edit] Other versions
In 1992 Plant sang part of "Thank You" before merging in to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen at the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
Page and Plant revived the song in 1994 on their Unledded tour. They played a somewhat mellower arrangement for most of their shows from 1995 through 1998 as either an opening number or an encore.
Several bands have also covered Led Zeppelin's song or played it live:
- The Flaming Lips covered it in 1987 and it can be found on the compilation Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.
- Duran Duran recorded a version for the 1995 Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium.
- Tori Amos covered it on her "Crucify" EP.
- Chris Cornell covered it during his Unplugged concert in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the promotional tour of the new Audioslave album, Revelations.
- In 2001 Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit and Wes Scantlin from Puddle of Mudd performed the song at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
- Tesla covered it and released it as their first single from their CD of covers, Real to Reel in 2007.
- Coalesce covered it on their Led Zeppelin cover album, "There Is Nothing New Under the Sun".
- Lizz Wright recorded a cover of the tune for her 2008 album "The Orchard".
[edit] References
- ^ Interview with Jimmy Page, Guitar World magazine, 1993
[edit] 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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