Songs
Side one
"Black Dog" was named after a dog that hung around Headley Grange during recording. The riff was written by Page and Jones, while the a cappella section was influenced by Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well". Vocalist Robert Plant wrote the lyrics, and later sang portions of the song during solo concerts.[10] The guitar solos on the outro were recorded directly into the desk, without using an amplifier.[11]
"Rock and Roll" was a collaboration with Stewart that came out of a jam early in the recording sessions at Headley Grange. Drummer John Bonham wrote the introduction, which came from jamming around the intro to Little Richard's "Keep A-Knockin'".[12] The track became a live favourite in concert, being performed as the opening number or an encore.[10] It was released as a promotional single in the US, with stereo and mono mixes on either side of the disc.[13]
"The Battle of Evermore" was written by Page on the mandolin, borrowed from Jones. Plant added lyrics inspired by a book he was reading about the Scottish Independence Wars. The track features a duet between Plant and Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny, [14][a] who provides the only female voice to be heard on a Led Zeppelin recording.[16] Plant played the role of narrator in the song, describing events, while Denny sang the part of the town crier representing the people.[15]
A Gibson EDS-1275, similar to this was used for live performances of "Stairway to Heaven". The stop bars on the actual guitar were farther from the bridges.
"Stairway to Heaven" was mostly written by Page, and the bulk of the chord sequence was already worked out when recording started at Basing Street Studios. The lyrics were written by Plant at Headley Grange, about a woman who "took everything without giving anything back".[17] The final take of the song was recorded at Island Studios after the Headley Grange session. The basic backing track featured Bonham on drums, Jones on electric piano and Page on acoustic guitar.[17] The whole group contributed to the arrangement, such as Jones playing recorders on the introduction, and Bonham's distinctive drum entry halfway through the piece.[14] Page played the guitar solo using a Fender Telecaster he had received from Jeff Beck and been his main guitar on the group's first album and early live shows. He put down three different takes of the solo and picked the best to put on the album.[18]
The song was considered the standout track on the album and was played on FM radio stations frequently, but the group resisted all suggestions to release it as a single. It became the centrepiece of the group's live set from 1971 onwards; in order to replicate the changes between acoustic, electric and twelve-string guitar on the studio recording, Page played a Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck guitar during the song.[14]
Side two
"Misty Mountain Hop" was written at Headley Grange and featured Jones playing electric piano.[14] Plant wrote the lyrics about dealing with the clash between students and police over drug possession. The title comes from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.[19] Plant later performed the track on solo tours.[14]
"Four Sticks" took its title from Bonham playing the drum pattern that runs throughout the song with four drum sticks & Jones played analog synth. The track was difficult to record compared to the other material on the album, requiring numerous takes.[14] It was played live only once by Led Zeppelin,[14] and re-recorded with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in 1972.[20] It was reworked for Page and Plant's 1994 album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded.[21]
"Going to California" is a quiet acoustic number. It was written by Page and Plant about Californian earthquakes, and trying to find the perfect woman. The music was inspired by Joni Mitchell, of whom both Plant and Page were fans. The track was originally titled "Guide To California"; the final title comes from the trip to Los Angeles to mix the album.[14][22]
"When the Levee Breaks" comes from a blues song recorded by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. The track opens with Bonham's heavy unaccompanied drumming, which was recorded in the lobby of Headley Grange using two Beyerdynamic M 160 microphones which were hung up a flight of stairs; output from these were passed to a limiter. A Binson Echorec, a delay effects unit, was also used.[23] Page recalled he had tried to record the track at early sessions, but it had sounded flat. The unusual locations around the lobby gave the ideal ambience for the drum sound.[24] This introduction was later extensively sampled for hip hop music in the 1980s.[14] Page and Plant played the song on their 1995 tour promoting No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded.[25]
General
Complete name : Led Zeppelin IV\04 Stairway to Heaven.mp3
Format : MPEG Audio
File size : 7.33 MiB
Duration : 8 min 0 s
Overall bit rate mode : Constant
Overall bit rate : 128 kb/s
Album : Led Zeppelin IV
Album/Performer : Led Zeppelin
Track name : Stairway to Heaven
Track name/Position : 4
Performer : Led Zeppelin
Composer : Jimmy Page; Robert Plant
Publisher : WEA International
Genre : Rock
Recorded date : 1971
Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Format settings : Joint stereo
Duration : 8 min 0 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 38.281 FPS (1152 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 7.33 MiB (100%)
