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Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
Copyright - 1970 Atlantic Records
"Immigrant Song" is the opening track on
English rock band Led Zeppelin's third album,
Led Zeppelin III, written and released in
1970.
The song is famous for its distinctive,
wailing cry from vocalist Robert Plant at the
beginning of the song, and is built around a
repeating, battering Jimmy Page/John Paul
Jones/John Bonham riff. The hiss at the
beginning of the track is feedback from an
echo unit.
"Immigrant Song" was written during Led
Zeppelin's tour of Iceland, Bath and Germany
in the summer of 1970. The opening date of
this tour took place in Iceland, and just six
days later the band performed the song for
the first time on stage during the Bath
Festival. The song is dedicated to the
Icelander Leif Ericson. It is sung from the
perspective of Vikings rowing west from
Scandinavia in search of new lands. The
lyrics make explicit reference to Viking
conquests and the Old Norse religion (Fight
the horde, sing and cry, Valhalla, I am
coming!). In a 1970 radio interview, Plant
jokingly explained:
" We went to Iceland, and it made you think
of Vikings and big ships... and John Bonham's
stomach... and bang, there it was - Immigrant
Song! "
"Immigrant Song" is one of Led Zeppelin's few
single releases, having been released in
November of 1970 by their record label,
Atlantic Records, against the band's wishes.
It reached #16 on the Billboard charts. Its B
side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do", was otherwise
unavailable before the release of the band's
first boxed set in 1990. The single was also
mistakenly released in Japan with "Out on the
Tiles" as the B-side rather than "Hey Hey
What Can I Do." That single is now a rare
collectible.
One of the lines from the song became part of
Led Zeppelin lore. The line, "The hammer of
the gods/will drive our ships to new lands"
prompted many to start referring to Led
Zeppelin's sound as the "Hammer of the Gods."
The phrase was used as the title of Stephen
Davis' famous biography of the band, Hammer
of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. The
lyrics also did much to inspire the classic
Heavy Metal myth, of mighty Viking-esque
figures on an adventure, themes which have
been adopted in the look and music of bands
from Iron Maiden to Manowar.
"Immigrant Song" was used to open Led
Zeppelin concerts from 1970 to 1972. On the
second half of their 1972 concert tour of the
United States, it was introduced by a short
piece of music known as "LA Drone", designed
to heighten the sense of anticipation and
expectation amongst the concert audience. By
1973, "Immigrant Song" was occasionally being
used as an encore, but was then removed from
their live set. Live versions of the song can
be heard on the Led Zeppelin albums How The
West Was Won (featuring a performance at Long
Beach Arena in 1972) and the Led Zeppelin BBC
Sessions (a version from the Paris Theatre in
London in 1971). When played live, Page
played a lengthy guitar solo not included on
the recorded Led Zeppelin III version.
The song is also one of the few Led Zeppelin
songs to have been licensed for a film. For
the 2003 film School of Rock, actor Jack
Black filmed himself on stage, along with
thousands of screaming fans, begging Led
Zeppelin to let them use "Immigrant Song".
The song also appears, in a slightly changed
version due to licensing reasons, in Shrek
the Third, when Snow White attacks the city
gates, guarded by Huorns. She cries the
characteristic war cry of Robert Plant,
backed by the riff, as in the beginning of
the original song.
It has also appeared in the 1999 documentary
about the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre,
One Day in September, and the trailers for
the BBC1 drama series Life on Mars.
The song was allegedly played over open radio
frequencies used by U.S. military pilots
during the Gulf War of 1991.
Lyrics:
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs
blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships
to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal
will be the western shore.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs
blow.
How soft your fields so green, can whisper
tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war. We are
your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal
will be the western shore.
So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your
ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day despite
of all your losing.
Tags : Led Zeppelin III Jimmy Page Robert Plant 1970 |
