| "Kashmir" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Led Zeppelin from the album Physical Graffiti | ||||
| Released | 24 February 1975 | |||
| Recorded | 1974 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 8:28 | |||
| Label | Swan Song | |||
| Writer | Page/Plant/Bonham | |||
| Producer | Jimmy Page | |||
| Physical Graffiti track listing | ||||
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"Kashmir" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (with contributions from John Bonham) over a period of three years, with the lyrics dating back to 1973.
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The song centres around a signature chord progression guitar riff, which first appeared on Page's home-studio work tapes.[1] It was initially created in a guitar tuning D-A-D-G-A-D, and was an extension of a guitar-cycle that Page had been working on for years. This was the same cycle that produced "Black Mountain Side", "White Summer" and the unreleased track, "Swan-song".[1] Because bass player and keyboardist John Paul Jones had been late for the recording sessions, Page used the time to work on the riff with drummer John Bonham. The two demoed it late in 1973.[2] Plant later added the middle section and in early 1974 Jones added all the string parts.[1][2]
The guitar was played in an alternative guitar tuning: the strings are tuned to 'Open Dsus4' or DADGAD. Bonham's drums feature a phasing effect (giving the bass drum its heavy, thundering "thump" sound) courtesy of an early Eventide phaser supplied by engineer Ron Nevison.[3] Plant has stated that Bonham's drumming is the key to the song: "It was what he didn't do that made it work".[1]
The song also includes many distinctive musical patterns of classical Moroccan, Indian and Middle Eastern music. Page explained that "I had a sitar for some time and I was interested in modal tunings and Arabic stuff. It started off with a riff and then employed Eastern lines underneath."[4]
Orchestral brass and strings with electric guitar and mellotron strings are also used in the song. This is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs to use outside musicians. Session players were brought in for the string and horn sections.[2] According to Jones, "the secret of successful keyboard string parts is to play only the parts that a real string section would play. That is, one line for the First Violins, one line for Second Violins, one for Violas, one for Cellos, one for Basses. Some divided parts [two or more notes to a line] are allowed, but keep them to a minimum. Think melodically".[5]
The lyrics to the song—originally called "Driving to Kashmir"—were written by Plant in 1973 immediately after Led Zeppelin's 1973 US Tour, in an area he called "the waste lands"[4] of Southern Morocco, while driving from Goulimine to Tantan in the Sahara Desert.[1][2] This was despite the fact that the song is named for Kashmir, a region in the northwestern part of the Himalayas.[6] As Plant explained to rock journalist Cameron Crowe:
The whole inspiration came from the fact that the road went on and on and on. It was a single-track road which neatly cut through the desert. Two miles to the East and West were ridges of sandrock. It basically looked like you were driving down a channel, this dilapidated road, and there was seemingly no end to it. 'Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dreams...' It's one of my favourites...that, 'All My Love' and 'In the Light' and two or three others really were the finest moments. But 'Kashmir' in particular. It was so positive, lyrically.[1]
Plant has also commented on the challenges he faced in writing lyrics for such a complex piece of music:
It was an amazing piece of music to write to, and an incredible challenge for me ... Because of the time signature, the whole deal of the song is… not grandiose, but powerful: it required some kind of epithet, or abstract lyrical setting about the whole idea of life being an adventure and being a series of illuminated moments. But everything is not what you see. It was quite a task, ’cause I couldn’t sing it. It was like the song was bigger than me. It’s true: I was petrified, it’s true. It was painful; I was virtually in tears.[7]
In an interview he gave to William S. Burroughs in 1975, Page mentioned that at the time the song was composed, none of the band members had ever been to Kashmir.[8]
The song runs for 8:32,[9] a length that radio stations usually consider too long to play. However, upon its release radio stations had no problem playing "Kashmir", especially after seeing "Stairway to Heaven", which was almost as long, do so well. (Original LP releases of Physical Graffiti incorrectly list the song's length as 9:41.)
"Kashmir" was played live at almost every Led Zeppelin concert from its debut in 1975. One live version, from Led Zeppelin's performance at Knebworth in 1979, is featured on disc 2 of the Led Zeppelin DVD. This performance came from the band's first show at the venue on 4 August. The surviving members also performed the song at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988. It was again performed at Led Zeppelin's reunion show at the The O2, London on 10 December 2007.
When the band performed the song live, Robert Plant would switch the last verse with the second verse after singing the first verse normally. The original second verse was "With talk and song of tongues of lifting grace...", but live, he would sing the fourth verse as the second verse, and the second verse as the fourth verse. The original fourth verse was "Oh father of the four winds, fill my sails..".
The third verse would also be sung normally in its original spot. When Led Zeppelin came together for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, Robert accidentally sang the second verse twice. He admitted to doing this by singing "Oh father of the four winds fill my sails (again) across the sea of years" during the fourth verse. He never ended up singing the third verse ("Oh pilot of the storm...") before the mistake. However, he did sing "With talk and song from tongues..." during the third verse while trying to correct it by singing "I will return again..." half way through.
Plant, known generally for his improvisation while performing live, would ad lib during live performances of "Kashmir". He would add in "sweet mama", "slowly dyin'", "now just a minute", "sweet darlin'", and he would stutter the words "baby" and "mama". He would also end that section with "there's no denyin'" and "Woman, talkin' to ya!"
Page and Plant recorded another live version of "Kashmir" in 1994, released on their album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. For this arrangement, they added an orchestra and Egyptian musicians.
All four members of Led Zeppelin have agreed that "Kashmir" is one of their best musical achievements.[10] John Paul Jones suggested that it showcases all of the elements that made up the Led Zeppelin sound.[1] Plant has stated that "Kashmir" is the "definitive Led Zeppelin song",[11] and that it "was one of my favourite [Led] Zeppelin tracks because it possessed all the latent energy and power that wasn't heavy metal. It was something else. It was the pride of Led Zeppelin."[4] During a television interview in January 2008, he also named "Kashmir" as his first choice of all Led Zeppelin songs that he would perform, commenting "I'm most proud of that one".[12] Page has indicated he thinks that the song is one of the band's best compositions.[13]
Led Zeppelin expert Dave Lewis describes "Kashmir" as:
Unquestionably the most startling and impressive track on Physical Graffiti, and arguably the most progressive and original track that Led Zeppelin ever recorded. 'Kashmir' went a long way towards establishing their credibility with otherwise sceptical rock critics. Many would regard this track as the finest example of the sheer majesty of Zeppelin's special chemistry.[2]
The song is listed highly in a number of professional music rankings:
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Classic Rock" | United States | "The Top Fifty Classic Rock Songs of All Time"[14] | 1995 | 20 |
| "Classic Rock" | United Kingdom | "Ten of the Best Songs Ever!!.. (Bubbling under)"[15] | 1999 | 23 |
| VH1 | United States | "The 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time"[16] | 2000 | 62 |
| Rolling Stone | United States | "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[17] | 2003 | 141 |
| Blender | United States | "Standout Tracks from the 500 CDs You Must Own"[18] | 2003 | * |
| Q | United Kingdom | "1010 Songs You Must Own!"[19] | 2004 | * |
| Q | United Kingdom | "Ultimate Music Collection - Rock"[20] | 2005 | * |
| Q | United Kingdom | "100 Greatest Songs of All Time"[21] | 2006 | 74 |
| VH1 | United States | "VH1 Greatest Hard Rock Songs"[22] | 2009 | 21 |
| JJJ | Australia | "Hottest 100 of All Time"[23] | 2009 | 98 |
(*) designates unordered lists.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra under Peter Scholes covers this song on the instrumental release Kashmir: Symphonic Led Zeppelin.
Tim Reynolds covers this song by himself on Dave & Tim Live in Vegas.
Bond, the all-girl Australian/British classical crossover string quartet, covers this song on their album Shine.
UK band Anathema covered it a few times during their 2010 tour.
Roger Daltrey sang a duet with Ann Wilson covering this song live on the album British Rock Symphony.
Musician William Joseph covers this song on his album Within.
Israeli singer Ofra Haza performed a haunting a cappella version of it, which was included on her second posthumous greatest hits album as a bonus track. A version more faithful to the original in both structure and instrumentation was released on the single for Ofra's song "Mata Hari" (both versions are from the unreleased album "Queen In Exile", but can be heard on Youtube).
Violinist Lucia Micarelli, playing with Jethro Tull, covered this song during Tull's October–November 2005 United States tour.
Cellist Maya Beisir includes an instrumental version on her middle-eastern themed album Provenance.
Brazilian heavy metal band Angra covered this song on their album The Music Remains the Same: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin.
Kevin Gilbert covered this song on a bonus CD that accompanied his album Thud.
Alice in Chains covered it live.
Alter Bridge has also covered it live.
Escala collaborated with Guns'n'Roses guitarist Slash on a cover for their 2009 debut album, Escala.
The US all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Lez Zeppelin covered this song on their self-titled album. It has less orchestra than the original, more acoustic guitar and runs 8:43 being faster than the original.
David Garrett covered it on his album Rock Symphony.
Gregorian covered it on their album Masters of Chant Chapter VII.
The song has been frequently used on BBC's Top Gear.
Jane's Addiction performed it live with Maynard James Keenan of A Perfect Circle and Tool
Corner Stone Cues covered this song. The cover is featured in the latest trailer for the movie John Carter
The 1988 Schoolly D song "Signifying Rapper", which samples "Kashmir", was the target of lawsuits following its use in the 1992 film Bad Lieutenant.[24] In 1994, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant successfully sued Home Box Office to have the song removed from televised showings of the film[25] and Live Home Video and distributor Aries Film Releasing were ordered to destroy any unsold copies of Bad Lieutenant as part of a copyright infringement ruling.[26] Director Abel Ferrara was angered by the incident, which he felt "ruined the movie".
The tune was subsequently sampled with permission by Sean "Puffy" Combs (AKA, Puff Daddy, Diddy, and P. Diddy) in his song "Come With Me" from the soundtrack to the movie Godzilla (1998). Jimmy Page, who endorsed Combs' adaptation, appears in the video and also played it with him on Saturday Night Live.
The opening riff of the 1992 song "Wake Up" by Rage Against the Machine is adapted from the opening chords of "Kashmir". Snippets of the song were used in The X Factor series 3 (2006) and in the German TV show TV total.
Corner Stone Cues combined "Ten Years Gone" and "Kashmir" and created "Ten Years Kashmir Mvt I & II". The instrumental and choir versions of "Mvt II" were used in The X Factor, Top Gear, and many other British TV shows. Bob Marley's youngest son Damian provided new inspirational lyrics for the full mix version of "Ten Years Kashmir Mvt II".
The song has been adapted and is regularly performed live by Québécois singer Bruno Pelletier into his song, "S'en aller."
The song was employed on the soundtrack to the French 1977 action-adventure film Le Crabe-Tambour (The Drummer Crab).[27]
This song is mentioned in the movie Ocean's 12. It was also featured in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Since mid-2006, the wrestling company Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has used an instrumental remix of "Kashmir" for one of their main performers, Kevin Nash. Mixed Martial Artist Randy Couture used the song as entrance music for his bout against Brandon Vera at UFC 105. The UFC heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira came out to Puff Daddy's version of Kashmir for his UFC 134 fight against up and comer Brendan Schaub. He won by knockout in the first fight he had in his native Brazil. Philadelphia Phillies second basemen Chase Utley uses the song as his batter introductory/walk up music at home games.[28]
1975 7" single (Thailand: Atlantic T 026)
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[29] | 80 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[30] | 64 |
| US Billboard Hot Digital Songs Chart[31] | 42 |
| US Billboard Hot Digital Tracks Chart[32] | 49 |
| Canadian Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart[33] | 33 |
Note: The official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005.
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