Tea for One

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"Tea for One"

Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album Presence
Released	March 31, 1976
Recorded	November-December, 1975
Genre	Hard rock
Length	9:27
Label	Swan Song
Writer(s)	Page/Plant
Producer(s)	Jimmy Page
Presence track listing
"Hots on for Nowhere" (6)	"Tea for One" (7)

"Tea for One" is the last track on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1976 album Presence. It begins with mid-tempo interplay between Jimmy Page and John Bonham before settling into a sotto voce groove. The song evolves into a slow blues epic, featuring lyrics which deal with homesickness and loneliness. Much of this was felt by Robert Plant, who recalls sitting alone in a New York hotel during a U.S. concert tour drinking "tea for one". Other members of the band, notably John Bonham, were also widely reported as suffering from homesickness during Led Zeppelin's concert tours.

The song recalls an earlier Led Zeppelin song in sound and style, "Since I've Been Loving You". "Tea for One" came from the desire of the band to return to their roots in order to see what had changed since they were younger. In the opinion of Page, this song was the only time the band repeated itself.

"Tea for One" was never played live in its entirety at Led Zeppelin concerts, but from 1977 some of the guitar solo was incorporated into "Since I've Been Loving You" at various shows. It was played in full by Page and Plant during their tour of Japan in 1996, where it received three airings backed by an orchestra.

In 2006, blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa covered "Tea for One" song on his album You and Me. Incidentally, the late John Bonham's son Jason Bonham played drums on this song as well as the entire album.

[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