Thank You (Led Zeppelin song)
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| "Thank You" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Song by Led Zeppelin | ||
| from the album 'Led Zeppelin II' | ||
| Released | 22 October 1969 | |
| Recorded | 1969 | |
| Genre | Hard Rock | |
| Length | 4:49 | |
| Label | Atlantic Records | |
| Writer(s) | Page/Plant | |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Page | |
| 'Led Zeppelin II' track listing | ||
| "The Lemon Song" (3) |
"Thank You" (4) |
"Heartbreaker" (5) |
"Thank You" is a song written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page which was released by English rock band Led Zeppelin on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It is a slow ballad and signaled a deeper involvement in song writing by Plant, being the first Led Zeppelin song that he wrote all the lyrics for, though, the first lines resemble heavily the song "If 6 was 9" of Jimi Hendrix "if the sun refuse to shine, I don't mind/if the mountains fell in the sea, let it be, it ain't me". He dedicated it to his wife, Maureen.
The song features some delicate organ playing by John Paul Jones, and ends with the organ fading into silence before coming back about ten seconds later. This has created a problem for radio stations wishing to play to track, which must decide whether to accept the "dead air" or cut it off. Some stations typically run edited versions with the silence eliminated, whilst others play "Thank You" together with "The Lemon Song", because there's no pause between them on the album.
"Thank You" was a popular song when played live at Led Zeppelin concerts, and became something of a showcase for Jones' keyboard work. An example of this can be heard on the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions album, which captures a version performed at the Paris Theater in London in 1971. However, the song was eventually dropped from the band's standard live setlist following the 1973 Houses of the Holy concert tour, when it was only occasionally used as an encore.
In 1992 Robert Plant sang part of "Thank You" before merging in to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen at the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.
Page and Plant revived the song in 1994 on their Unledded tour. They played a somewhat mellower arrangement for most of their shows from 1995 through 1998 as either an opening number or an encore.
Several bands have covered Led Zeppelin's song or played it live:
- The Flaming Lips covered it in 1987 and it can be found on the compilation Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid.
- Duran Duran covered it in the early 1990s.
- Tori Amos covered it on her "Crucify" EP.
- Chris Cornell covered it during his Unplugged concert in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the promotional tour of the new Audioslave album, Revelations.
- In 2001 Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit and Wes Scantlin from Puddle of Mudd performed the song at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
[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
