Celebration Day | Take It Easy

Usually for Song Lyric Sunday posts I like to play something that won’t be duplicated by others, if I can, as I like to provide some variety. Today I am going completely down the opposite route. The theme for today is to give you a song played by a band that got back together for a reunion, as Jim tells us in his post, Band Reunion. I’m going with the blindingly obvious choice of what in their day was the biggest band in the world, and still to my mind one of the all time greats.

Who? This lot, that’s who:

Led Zeppelin, of course, with Rock And Roll, from Led Zeppelin IV. And here are the lyrics:

It’s been a long time since I rock and rolledIt’s been a long time since I did the strollOoh let me get it back, let me get it backLet me get it back, baby, where I come from

It’s been a long time, been a long timeBeen a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely timeYes, it hasIt’s been a long time since The Book of LoveI can’t count the tears of a life with no loveCarry me back, carry me backCarry me back, baby, where I come from, whoa-oh-oh

It’s been a long time, been a long timeBeen a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time

Oh seems so long since we walked in the moonlightMaking vows that just can’t work right, oh yeahOpen your arms, opens your armsOpen your arms, baby, let love come running in, yeahIt’s been a long time, been a long timeBeen a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time

Yeah-hey, yeah-hey, yeah-hey, yeah-hey

Ooh yeah, ooh yeahOoh yeah, ooh yeahIt’s been a long time, been a long timeBeen a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jimmy Page / John Bonham / John Paul Jones / Robert Plant

Rock and Roll lyrics © Edition JA, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Peermusic Publishing, PFIVE Entertainment Mexico, Songtrust Ave, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Word Collections Publishing

Led Zeppelin were with us from 1968 to December 1980, when they disbanded a couple of months after the death of their drummer, John Bonham. They tried a couple of reunions, with a variety of other drummers, including the US end of Live Aid in 1985 and a show in 1988 to mark forty years of Atlantic Records. Both performances were hated by the band: they brought their differences to a head and were beset by technical problems.

They also played a couple of brief sets at their 1995 induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, which didn’t go much better: probably not helped by John Paul Jones’ remark “Thank you, my friends, for finally remembering my phone number.” See what I mean about differences! For the first time, John Bonham’s son, Jason, played drums for them at that performance.

On 10 December 2007, the band reunited for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at the O₂Arena in London, with Jason Bonham again taking his father’s place on drums. According to Guinness World Records 2009, the show set a record for the “Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert” as 20 million requests were made online. Critics praised the performance and there was widespread speculation about a full reunion but sadly it never happened. I’m playing four songs today, all taken from that show, and this is the second:

I thought I’d play a couple to wake you up on a Sunday morning – apologies if you are hungover from a heavy night! Black Dog was also on the Led Zeppelin IV album, which is probably my favourite of theirs, though II runs it close. These were the first two tracks on Side One, though I have reversed their order, and this is the closing track of the four on that side of the record:

I couldn’t really leave Stairway To Heaven out, could I! Oddly, though, I had to go with an unofficial upload of it as the band’s own YouTube page doesn’t have it. I’ve no idea why, as there are some earlier performances of the song there from back in their heyday. Also a little strange to me is that it took five years for the CD and DVD of this show to be released. They came out in November 2012 as Celebration Day, which I think is an appropriate title, and the concert film also enjoyed a limited release in cinemas. The release was a composite package of a DVD and two CDs, and it peaked at #4 in the UK and #9 in the US. And of course I have it in my collection – it was a fantastic show!

That should really be where I leave it for today, but maybe I can go with an encore? In keeping with the show, this was the first encore, another unofficial upload: