Boogie with Stu

"Boogie with Stu"
Song by Led Zeppelin from the album Physical Graffiti
Released 24 February 1975
Recorded 1971
Genre Rock and roll
Length 3:54
Label Swan Song
Writer Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/
Ian Stewart/Mrs. Valens
Physical Graffiti track listing
"The Wanton Song"
(12)
"Boogie with Stu"
(13)
"Black Country Woman"
(14)

"Boogie with Stu" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. It was a jam recorded in 1971 at Headley Grange, where the band had done most of the recording for their fourth album. They were using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and were accompanied by Rolling Stones' road manager and pianist, Ian Stewart, who ended up jamming with the band on piano.[1]

According to Jimmy Page this song would not have emerged had it not been for the particularly informal 'live-in' environment at Headley Grange where it was recorded:

Some of the things that happened there, like "Boogie With Stu" where Stu turns up and plays a piano that's totally unplayable, were incredible. That was too good to miss because Stu wouldn't record, he wouldn't do solo stuff. All of these things wouldn't end up on albums as far as other people were concerned, but they did with us.[2]

The lyric is based on Ritchie Valens' "Ooh, My Head".[1] The working title for this song was "Sloppy Drunk", said to be a title that Robert Plant came up with[1] but in fact that of a Leroy Carr song.[3] The song was credited to "Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Mrs. Valens/Ian Stewart". Valens's publisher, Kemo Music, filed suit for copyright infringement and an out of court settlement was reached.[4] As Page explained:

What we tried to do was give Ritchie's mother credit, because we heard she never received any royalties from any of her son's hits, and Robert did lean on that lyric a bit. So what happens? They tried to sue us for all of the song![5]

It has been reported that Plant played guitar on the track (Page playing mandolin).[6] The slapping guitar came from an overdub session with an ARP guitar synth.[1] The song was never performed live.[1]

Contents

Formats and tracklistings

1975 7" EP (Thailand: Atlantic FT 204)

Personnel

Sources

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Dave Lewis (1994), The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
  2. ^ Phil Alexander, “Up Close & Personal”, Mojo magazine, February 2010, p. 72.
  3. ^ Shadwick, Keith. Led Zeppelin: The Story of a Band and Their Music, 1968-80 (2005): 144
  4. ^ Lehmer, Larry. The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens (2004): 166
  5. ^ Brad Tolinski and Greg Di Bendetto, “Light and Shade”, Guitar World magazine, January 1998.
  6. ^ Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7

External links