The Crunge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "The Crunge" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by Led Zeppelin | ||
| from the album 'Houses of the Holy' | ||
| Released | 28 March 1973 | |
| Recorded | 1972 | |
| Genre | Hard rock | |
| Length | 3:17 | |
| Label | Atlantic Records | |
| Writer(s) | Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant | |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Page | |
| 'Houses of the Holy' track listing | ||
| "Over the Hills and Far Away" (3) |
"The Crunge" (4) |
"Dancing Days" (5) |
"The Crunge" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. "The Crunge" is a dance you can't dance to. The band had wanted to include dance steps for it with the album package but were unable to do it logistically, for the song is partially in 9/8 time. This song evolved out of a jam session in the studio. John Bonham started the beat, John Paul Jones came in on bass, Jimmy Page played a guitar riff, and Robert Plant started singing.
This song is a play on James Brown's style of funk in the same way that "D'yer Mak'er" experiments with reggae. Since most of James Brown's earlier studio recordings were done live with almost no rehearsal time, he often gave directions to the band in-song e.g. "take it to the bridge" - the bridge of the song. Plant pays tribute to this at the end by asking "Where's that confounded bridge?" (spoken, just as the song finishes abruptly.) Jimmy Page would slip the guitar riff from this into other songs during concerts. The fullest live versions were usually only heard during the "Whole Lotta Love" medley and their 1972 tour version of "Dazed and Confused".
[edit] Trivia
- You can hear a voice at the beginning ask Bonham if he's "ready to rock."
- The drums at the beginning were sampled by New York DJs Double D and Steinski for a song called "Level 3." In 1989, De La Soul recorded a song called "The Magic Number," which sampled the section of "Level 3" that used the original Zeppelin sample.
- This was released as the B-side of "D'yer Mak'er."
- At the beginning of the song around 11 or 12 seconds in you can hear Page faintly test out a guitar chord to see if it worked with the song.
- A reference in the film Almost Famous is made by Nick's, the Led Zeppelin fanatic, shirt having the four "runes" from Led Zeppelin IV and "Have You Seen The Bridge?".
- The Dave Matthews Band live jam "Anyone Seen the Bridge?" was named after this song.
[edit] Sources
- Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
- The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
| Led Zeppelin |
|---|
| Jimmy Page · Robert Plant · John Paul Jones · John Bonham |
| Discography - (Category) |
Studio albums: Led Zeppelin · Led Zeppelin II · Led Zeppelin III ·  (Led Zeppelin IV) · Houses of the Holy · Physical Graffiti · Presence · In Through the Out DoorLive albums: The Song Remains the Same · BBC Sessions · How the West Was Won |
| Films |
| The Song Remains the Same · Led Zeppelin DVD |
| Other |
| Peter Grant · Richard Cole · Swan Song Records · The Yardbirds · XYZ · The Firm · Page and Plant · Strange Sensation · Bootlegs ∙ Concerts ∙ Songs |
