Four Sticks

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"Four Sticks"

Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album (Led Zeppelin IV)
Released	November 8, 1971
Recorded	December 1970 – March 1971
Genre	Hard rock
Length	4:44
Label	Atlantic Records
Writer(s)	Page/Plant
Producer(s)	Jimmy Page
(Led Zeppelin IV) track listing
"Misty Mountain Hop" (5)	"Four Sticks" (6)	"Going to California" (7)

"Four Sticks" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their fourth album, released in 1971. The title came from the fact that drummer John Bonham played with two sets of two drumsticks, totalling four. His decision to play the song with four sticks was a result of him being very frustrated with not being able to get the track down right. After he grabbed the second pair of sticks and beat the drums as hard as he could, he recorded the perfect take and that was the one they kept.

Singer Robert Plant's vocals were heavily processed, giving them an electronic sound.

Guitarist Jimmy Page once said of the song: "It was supposed to be abstract." The abstract effect is further achieved by the unusual time signature of the song, featuring riffs in a mixture of 5/4 and 6/8 time signatures. After another failed take during the recording, Jimmy began to play an improvised guitar riff out of frustration. John Bohnam began to play along with a drum track from a Little Richard song. That riff was later on developed into the second track of the album, Rock and Roll.

The band only played this song live once, on their 1971 European tour.

The Rollins Band recorded a cover version of this song in 1994 during the sessions for their album Weight; it was released the next year on the Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium.

Also in 1994, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had rejoined in musical collaboration as Page and Plant. On August 25 and 26, live performances were taped in London, Wales, and Morocco with Egyptian and Moroccan orchestration of several Led Zeppelin tunes - "Four Sticks" was one of them, and the arrangement features drummer Michael Lee playing with four sticks as well as multiple percussionists such as Hossam Ramzy. This new version of "Four Sticks" was also included on the album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, and live performances were so successful commercially and artistically that the ensemble coordinated a 1995/1996 world tour.

[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