Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song)
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| "Heartbreaker" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by Led Zeppelin | ||
| from the album Led Zeppelin II | ||
| Released | October 22, 1969 | |
| Genre | Hard Rock, Blues Rock | |
| Length | 4:14 | |
| Label | Atlantic Records | |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Page | |
| Led Zeppelin II track listing | ||
| Thank You (4) |
"Heartbreaker" (5) |
Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) (6) |
"Heartbreaker" is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 album, Led Zeppelin II. It was credited to all four members of the band, was recorded at A&R Studios, New York, and was engineered by Eddie Kramer.
"Heartbreaker" opens Side II of the album, and is famous for its memorable guitar riff by Jimmy Page, along with its a capella solo, which he did not compose but rather improvised on the spot. It was voted as the 16th greatest guitar solo of all time by Guitar World magazine.
The song begins with an aggressive riff in G, constructed around the blues scale, following a powerful power chord assault during the verse. Robert Plant sings about "Old Annie," who is up to her old tricks again; the lyrics recalling a tale of a man painfully wizened after their encounters.
Following a straight 8ths "rave up" by the band, Page's solo fires off a rapid-fire chain of sextuplet hammer-ons and pull-offs, accented by the guitarist bending the G String behind the guitar's nut. Page teases the auidence with a few bluesy licks before launching into a "wall of notes" motif in G, finally bringing it to an end with a blues cliche "goodbye chord."
The rest of the band joins Page for another improvisation as an interlude into the final verse. The solo's trickery purportedly inspired Eddie Van Halen to develop his influential tapping technique. He had seen Led Zeppelin play "Heartbreaker" live at the Long Beach Arena in 1972, a performance which can be heard on the live album How The West Was Won.
In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1998, Page stated that:
| “ | "[T]he interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished "Heartbreaker" - it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle. If you notice, the whole sound of the guitar is different."[1] | ” |
Page also disclosed to Guitar World that this song in general, and the a capella solo in particular, was the first recorded instance of his famous Gibson Les Paul/Marshall stack combination.
In an odd technical note, this recording seems to be the only Led Zeppelin track in which drummer John Bonham's bass drum was placed noticibly low in the mix.
The song was a crowd favorite at Led Zeppelin concerts, and the band opened many of their live shows in 1971 and 1972 with "Immigrant Song" followed by a segue right into "Heartbreaker". On later concert tours it was often played as an encore. "Heartbreaker", along with "Communication Breakdown", were the only songs to be played live during every year that the band toured.
During live performances Page would frequently improvise the playing in his solo, and was also known to include parts of Bach's "Bourrée in E minor" from his Lute Suites (this can be heard on the live albums Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions and How the West Was Won), as well as "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)", though on official releases this section has been cut. Sometimes the solo would also be stretched out to incorporate sections of the traditional English folk song, "Greensleeves".
A live, filmed version of the song from 1973 at Madison Square Garden, New York, is included in the Led Zeppelin concert film, The Song Remains The Same. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones also performed it at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988, with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father.
When "Heartbreaker" is played on radio stations, it almost always segues into the next song on the album, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)," thanks to the similarities of subjects involved between the two songs, and the fact that "Living Loving Maid" segues directly from "Heartbreaker". However, they would never be played together at concerts because the band members were not too fond of "Living Loving Maid".
Missouri metalcore band Coalesce recorded a version of this song for their album There is Nothing New Under the Sun, an album entirely composed of Led Zeppelin covers. The song was also covered by Nirvana in their live gigs, and can be heard as the first track on their With the Lights Out box set and on their composite album Sliver: The Best of the Box.
American comedian Wayne Federman plays the descending "goodbye chord" (including feedback) of Heartbreaker during his hard rock tribute played on his electric ukulele. The clip can be seen on Comedy Central.
Jimmy Page performed this song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. A version of "Heartbreaker" performed by Page and The Black Crowes can be found on the album Live at the Greek.
"Heartbreaker" is one of the songs featured in Nick Hornby's book 31 Songs. In 2004, the song was ranked #320 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
[edit] References
- ^ Brad Tolinski and Greg Di Bendetto, "Light and Shade", Guitar World, January 1998.
[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
Studio albums: Led Zeppelin • Led Zeppelin II • Led Zeppelin III • Live albums: The Song Remains the Same • BBC Sessions • How the West Was Won Compilations: Box Set • Profiled • Remasters • Box Set 2 • Complete Studio Recordings • Early Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One • Latter Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume Two • Coda The Song Remains the Same • Led Zeppelin DVD Peter Grant • Richard Cole • Swan Song Records • The Yardbirds • XYZ • The Firm • Page and Plant • Strange Sensation • Bootlegs • Concerts • Songs |
