Sunday, September 4, 2016

KLEM FM

Overheard at Lem's:
She was good for about two seconds, then did the same - walk down that hall, turned her back on me to point at the hall and then she kept rambling on. And rambling on was precisely what I did - information my foot! linkage

The old classic is surprisingly complex for a Zeppelin song, from the Tolkien-inspired lyrics to John Bonham's percussive efforts. Wiki delivers:
There has been much doubt around Bonham's percussions in the background throughout the song, having regard to the particular resonance that it captures. There are no versions consistent in this respect: often mistaken for bongos, some said of a small plastic bin for waste played with the hands from the side of the bottom, others about the sticks on his drum kit vinyl seat pad, or even the soles of the shoes he wore during the recording session and so rhythmically beaten with his drum sticks; the book John Bonham: A Thunder of Drums reports instead of a hard case for guitar on which Bonham improvised percussion background with bare hands. linkage

11 comments:

chickelit said...

Thank and write what you will about Dave Grohl, but he got the geezers to reprise the song live. Note especially how John Paul Jones looks to the drummer. This rhythm section was no where near as tight as Jones and Bonham but they tried!

The Dude said...

I haven't listened to that song since it was current. Mor-der? Brits - can't trust them to pronounce words, now can ya?

I recently watched a documentary entitled Take Me to the River, about Stax records. Among the folks that popped up to fill the badly edited 95 minutes was Robert Plant who acknowledged a debt to the musical heritage of the Mississippi Delta. That was good to see. The rest of the movie was barely watchable. All that great music and they couldn't put together a decent story.

But there is a brief view of Isaac Hayes' Gold Plated Cadillac - yeah, it is every bit as subtle as the name suggests. So the film is not totally without redeeming social value.

Low key, innit?

chickelit said...

@Sixty: I got to within about 75 miles from Clarksdale on my recent road trip.

The Dude said...

Good job, CL - enough exposure to that black soil and humid air can precipitate the cheese right out of your soul.

Gonna hafta call you the Funky Chicken from now on.



Chip Ahoy said...

Wow.

Ex trooh dra knee

It's lit reh lee mynd blow'in.

There I was doing dishes just now before they piled up all by themselves and take over the whole place. SOMEbody bin negle gent.

And Harry Potter Half Blood Prince is on. The girl casts a spell and I'm all, "YOU HAVE TO ENUNCIATE, YOU SILLY BINT, or it doesn't work." Spells are very specific this way. You'll blow the whole thing. You say, "Disarm the guards" and Zeus's Poseidon's, Ares' Apollo's and Artemis' arms fall off.

You say, "Show me who's attending the party" and an image is delivered of your mum sitting the crapper.

You say, "Show me my next career move." And you're shown a apartment in S. Korea.

You say, "What herb should I add to this soup?" And you're shown Herb Albert.

You have to say spells exactly right. GAWL !

Chip Ahoy said...

Barry had this album on 8-track and played it all the time. I never fully appreciated until you explained it. *downloads*

chickelit said...

Good job, CL - enough exposure to that black soil and humid air can precipitate the cheese right out of your soul.

Gonna hafta call you the Funky Chicken from now on.


Sixty: Better still would be Dixie Chicken

chickelit said...

Chip: I first heard that song the day a friend of my older brother brought the album over and plopped it on my parents' Motorola console stereo.

The Dude said...

Never heard that version before - that is some awesome piano playing right there.

And Roy Estrada - yeah, sorry I read his biography. He, like Billy Preston, was a gifted musician who molested children. You can be a rock and roll guy, do all kinds of bad shit in your life, consume intoxicants in prodigious amounts, OD, whatever, but raping children is deserving of the death penalty.

Not that I have any strong opinions on that subject, mind you.

The Dude said...

But back to the subject at hand - I can hear that as hand drumming now - his choice of instrument is unusual, but one can definitely hear his hands slapping the case. Never knew that - well done CL.

virgil xenophon said...

Yes. Boffo job on picking that up, chickenman...and yes, Sixty, didn't before, but like you, can hear the hand drumming knowing now what to listen for..