Royal Orleans
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| “Royal Orleans” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Led Zeppelin | |||||
| Album | Presence | ||||
| Released | March 31, 1976 | ||||
| Recorded | November-December, 1975 | ||||
| Genre | Hard rock | ||||
| Length | 2:59 | ||||
| Label | Swan Song | ||||
| Writer | Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant | ||||
| Producer | Jimmy Page | ||||
| Presence track listing | |||||
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"Royal Orleans" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin, from their 1976 album Presence.
When in New Orleans on concert tours, members of the group would stay at the Royal Orleans Hotel, and the song is reportedly based on an incident that occurred there.[1] The story goes that, once when staying at the hotel in the early 1970s, a member of Led Zeppelin accidentally brought a transvestite up to his room, thinking he was a woman. Both smoked marijuana and fell asleep, the transvestite with a lit joint in her hand, which caught fire and burned the room down (though everyone escaped). The lyrics include lines such as "Be careful how you choose it" and "Poor whiskers set the room alight" to reference the event.
It has been suggested that the member of the band referred to in the song was bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones.[1] The song suggests that it is John Paul Jones from the line:
| “ |
And when the sun peeked through |
” |
John Cameron was a studio rival of John Paul Jones. The song also alludes to Barry White.[1]
In an interview he gave to Mojo magazine in 2007, Jones clarified the reliability of this rumour, stating that:
| “ | The transvestites were actually friends of Richard [Cole's]; normal friendly people and we were all at some bar. That I mistook a transvestite for a girl is rubbish; that happened in another country to somebody else... Anyway 'Stephanie' ended up in my room and we rolled a joint or two and I fell asleep and set fire to the hotel room, as you do, ha ha, and when I woke up it was full of firemen![2] | ” |
"Royal Orleans" is the only song on the album credited to all four members (or any members besides Robert Plant and Jimmy Page). Vocalist Robert Plant wrote most of the lyrics, using the song as a way to poke fun at Jones, allegedly because of a comment Jones once made that vocals were the least important part of the band. The song was the B-side of "Candy Store Rock". Drummer John Bonham played bongo drums on this track.[1]
"Royal Orleans" was never performed live by the band at Led Zeppelin concerts.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Dave Lewis (1994), The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
- ^ Snow, Mat, “The Secret Life of a Superstar”, Mojo magazine, December 2007.
[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
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