"Gallows Pole "is another ye olde folk song (like "House of the Rising Sun" considered here the other night). Coincidently, the plot of "Gallows Pole" was also originally written about a woman (called "The Maid Freed From The Gallows"), but Led Zeppelin's version left no doubt that it was about a man who didn't cheat the hangman.
Just like "House of the Rising Sun," Bob Dylan did an earlier version of the song called "Seven Curses." It tells the story of a woman desperately trying to save the life of her condemned father. She gives gold, silver, and herself to the judge who takes everything and hangs him anyway. This sad state of affairs reminded me of an episode of "Foyle's War" -- the one in which a young desperate woman gives herself to the one man who can give her a new life and he ends up taking hers instead (sorry for the spoiler).
Listen to the last lines in the Led Zeppelin version:
Oh yes, you got a fine sister, she warmed my blood from cold,Cruel.
She warmed my blood to boiling hot to keep you from the Gallows Pole,
Your brother brought me silver, and your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard to see you swinging on the Gallows Pole
Led Zeppelin III is an underrated album, IMHO. There is a slew of great songs on that album, many of which were never overplayed. When I first heard it (on vinyl), I thought the recording quality was inferior to their other records. But Jimmy Page remastered it and re-released it this June.
