Friday, December 6, 2013

Best Version Ever?

There have been more than a few horrible renditions of Led Zeppelin‘s Stairway To Heaven, but when Nancy and Ann Wilson of Heart performed the song in front of the three remaining members of the legendary British rock band at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on Dec. 2, it made Robert Plant cry tears of joy.

Was this the best version of Stairway To Heaven, ever?  If it wasn't, who's version is?

 
 
And by the way, if this performance isn't proof that Heart belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I don't know what is.

37 comments:

KCFleming said...

It was great until Barry and spouse showed up, like turds in a punchbowl.

Unknown said...

The audiental head-bobs - lol.

yeah- why do we always have to see Obama? Doesn't he have a job?

I love Ann and Nancy. I want to be Nancy. Ann would be the most beautiful woman alive if she could trim some fat.
They rocked that song adequately. Hard to compete with the original.

1:51 guitars - great
1:59 - that note!

Shouting Thomas said...

Willie Nelson and the Geezerinlaws (I believe that's how you spell it) did the tune up country.

It was just what the tune needed.

The Dude said...

Is there a link to Willie's version? Even without hearing it I bet it's better than any other version because Willie.

KCFleming said...

Apparently from the exact same concert:
Stairway to Heaven - Live Performance by Rolf Harris

Rabel said...

Mama Cass sure can sing.

Michael Haz said...

Dolly Parton's version is Robert Plant's favorite.

Shouting Thomas said...

This is the only link I can find to Willie and the Geezinslaws's version.

You can play an excerpt.

Heard the full thing once on Sirius Radio and haven't heard it since.

Shouting Thomas said...

Dolly's version is a gas.

She did it so serious, with a whole crew of Nashville backup singers and session guys.

KCFleming said...

Then there's the Elvis STH

KCFleming said...

B-52s cover band STH

chickelit said...

Best reggae version is by Dread Zeppelin

KCFleming said...

Early Beatles STH

Unknown said...

Is that Jason Bonham on drums?

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

I think the original is much better. More soulful, less produced, and Plant just sang it with more passion.

It kind of reminds me of what it would be like to watch the Japanese land on the moon today with modern technology. It would be emotional to see, especially for the astronauts and others who made it happen 4 decades ago, but it's just not the same accomplishment.

They played it much better than most have, and surely hold the record for the budget on it.

I never understood the bashing of Heart. Great songs, fantastic guitar player and lead singer. I always thought they rocked just fine.

bagoh20 said...

I can play a little guitar, but what I'm most proud of is that I never learned or attempted to play STH. I think that makes me better than most. I may not play well, but my talent lies in what I don't play. Yea, that's the ticket.

I'm the Obama of guitar players.

KCFleming said...

All the songs I posted were on a CD I got in like 1992.
Always had strange taste.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That was very good. I'm also impressed that she has taken care of her pipe.

I heart Heart

rhhardin said...

It's good up until it goes into guitar noise mode.

Revenant said...

It is a good cover, but I still prefer the original.

Valentine Smith said...

I hate to say it but I really hate this song regardless of who sings it. No wonder I always feel like a wiseass.

Valentine Smith said...

Smokin' dope out of a hookah in Eddie Grant's apartment the stereo roaring out Led Zep his cat actually crashing the walls over and over til the blood seeped out of his ears sprawled dead by the speaker.

Do suicidal cats get to use the Stairway to Heaven?

john said...

It took the British a lot of scarce resources in the very lean year after WWII to build this escalator to heaven. It was a matter of life and death, however.

chickelit said...

April Apple said...
Is that Jason Bonham on drums?

Yes. He did a good job...except for the intro which his dad did better.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Pollo. I thought so too.

chickelit said...

@AprilApple: Interesting that you point out Bonham playing with Heart. Heart percussion has always closely mimicked John Bonham drumming -- more than people realize. Compare the first minute of drums on Barracuda with John Bonham's drumming on Achille's Last Stand. They're virtually indistinguishable.

Unknown said...

Drums are similar along with that jiggity jiggity guitar.

Chip Ahoy said...

I think so. Spine-tingling. I sent this to my older brother and he usually does not respond but he did with this. "Beautiful"

That guy's got a way with words innit.

He used to play it in his car over and over. That and Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper. Here, Jimmy Page looks like a diplomat with that sash thing.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I like this version a lot too. But any version done by chicks is worth hearing. It's such a guys' song. Plus the Heart girls are pretty cool.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Very good.

Was that Jack Black on the stage at the end? Why would he be there?

And I noticed David Letterman got an award too. For what? The man sits there like he expects all this adulation.

And does anyone else think those rainbow horse collars they give as the award look ridiculous?

chickelit said...

Plus the Heart girls are pretty cool.

They were HOT in 1977: Third row, second from left

chickelit said...

Heart should be in the R & R Hall Of Fame.

Are they eligible?

virgil xenophon said...

LOL, I sit here and watch that and all I can think is: "God, is my generation getting old!"
(69 here)

Mitch H. said...

Why was Joe Biden sitting with Robert Plant, and has he recently had food poisoning, he looks like hell. What, that's Jimmy Page? Talk about having the face you deserve at 65...

Ann Wilson did a pretty good job, but that was grotesquely over-produced and overloaded. She didn't need a chorus half-drowning-her-out, and the orchestra only underlined just how much weaker a guitarist Heart's lead player is, compared to Page, who was a sonofabitch, but at least he was a sonofabitch who could carry his own solos.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

They'd have to be eligible. They inducted RHCP with a barely thirty-year old new guitarist. There's no way Heart wouldn't be eligible.

Dogma Man likes this, too? I'm surprised. It's not too "sinful" or something?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Lol. Chickie you were such a 1970s metal head. I love it. Dazed and confused!