Led Zeppelin III 1841 Broadway "Do What Thou Wilt"/"So Mote Be It" US pressing Vinyl Rip Flac With Bonus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Led Zeppelin III
Studio album by Led Zeppelin
Released 5 October 1970
Recorded January–August 1970 at various locations
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal, folk rock
Length 43:04
Label Atlantic
Producer Jimmy Page
1. "Immigrant Song"/"Hey Hey What Can I Do""
Released: 5 October 1970
Led Zeppelin III is the third album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and July 1970 and was released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's music towards a greater emphasis on folk and acoustic sounds. This surprised many fans and critics, and upon its release the album received rather indifferent reviews. Although it is not one of the highest sellers in Led Zeppelin's catalogue, Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised, and acknowledged as representing an important milestone in the band's history.
Contents
Recording sessions
Bron-Yr-Aur cottage
Many of the songs featured on the album were conceived in mid-1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, an 18th century cottage in Gwynedd, Wales, on a hilltop overlooking the Dyfi Valley, three miles north of the market town Machynlleth. There, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page spent some time after a concert tour of North America to play and compose new music. This remote setting had no running water or electric power, which encouraged a slight change of musical direction for the band towards an emphasis on acoustic arrangements.[1][2] As Page later explained:
After the intense touring that had been taking place through the first two albums, working almost 24 hours a day, basically, we managed to stop and have a proper break, a couple of months as opposed to a couple of weeks. We decided to go off and rent a cottage to provide a contrast to motel rooms. Obviously, it had quite an effect on the material that was written ... It was the tranquility of the place that set the tone of the album. Obviously, we weren't crashing away at 100 watt Marshall stacks. Having played acoustic and being interested in classical guitar, anyway, being in a cottage without electricity, it was acoustic guitar time ... After all the heavy, intense vibe of touring which is reflected in the raw energy of the second album, it was just a totally different feeling.[3]
Plant has expressed similar recollections:
[Bron-Yr-Aur] was a fantastic place in the middle of nowhere with no facilities at all-and it was a fantastic test of what we could do in that environment. Because by that time we'd become obsessed with change, and the great thing was that we were also able to create a pastoral side of Led Zep. Jimmy was listening to Davy Graham and Bert Jansch and was experimenting with different tunings, and I loved John Fahey. So it was a very natural place for us to go to.[4]
After preparing the material that would emerge on the album, Page and Plant were joined by the other members of the band (drummer John Bonham and bass player John Paul Jones) at Headley Grange, a run-down mansion in East Hampshire, to rehearse the songs. With its relaxed atmosphere and rural surroundings, Headley Grange appealed to the band as the favoured alternative to the discipline of a conventional studio.[1]
The album was then recorded in a series of sessions in May and June 1970 at both Headley Grange and at Olympic Studios, London. Some additional work was put in at Island Records' new Basing Street Studios in Notting Hill, London, in July, then mixed at Ardent Studios, Memphis in August 1970 during Led Zeppelin's sixth American concert tour.[1] The album was produced by Page and engineered by Andy Johns and Terry Manning.
Composition
As noted above, Led Zeppelin III marked a change in focus for the band from late 1960s hard rock to a more folk rock or electric folk and acoustic inspired sound.[1] These styles had been present to a lesser degree in the band's first two releases, but here it was the main emphasis—and one that would remain prominent in some of the group's later albums. This development endeared the band to many progressive rock fans who would never have listened to Led Zeppelin's established blues and rock repertoire. With Led Zeppelin III the group's songwriting dynamic also changed, from Page's domination of the first two albums towards a more democratic affair in which all four group members contributed their own compositions and ideas—patterns that would continue in future sessions.[1]
The album contains two songs which became key components of the band's live concert performances for many years: "Immigrant Song" and "Since I've Been Loving You". The first of these, written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, is about the Norse invasions of England and was inspired by the band's recent live performance in Iceland. "Since I've Been Loving You" is a classic, original blues in the key of C minor featuring heartfelt interplay by all four group members. It would become a live performance staple for the band, replacing the slow blues of "I Can't Quit You Baby" from the first album as the band's slow blues showcase.
The album also featured the rock songs "Celebration Day" and "Out on the Tiles", the eastern-influenced "Friends" and the acoustic tracks "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp", "Tangerine" and "That's the Way", the last considered by Page to be a breakthrough for still-developing lyric writer Plant.[5] The song "Gallows Pole" is an updated arrangement of a traditional folk song called "The Maid Freed from the Gallows". The album concludes with "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", a track dedicated to their influential contemporary and friend, Roy Harper, honouring Harper’s work and acknowledging the band’s roots in acoustic music.
Release and critical reaction
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Q 5/5 stars[6]
Blender 3/5 stars[7]
Allmusic 5/5 stars[8]
Rolling Stone (mixed)[9]
Robert Christgau (B+)[10]
Led Zeppelin III was one of the most eagerly awaited albums of 1970, and advance orders in the United States alone were close to a million mark.[1] Its release was trailered by a full page advertisement taken out in Melody Maker magazine at the end of September, which simply said "Thank you for making us the world's number one band."[1]
Although the band's expanding musical boundaries were greeted warmly by some, detractors attacked the heavier tracks as being mindless noise, while the acoustic material was criticised by others for merely imitating the music of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.[11] Page suggested that this comparison was inaccurate, stating in an interview he gave to Cameron Crowe that
when the third LP came out and got its reviews, Crosby, Stills and Nash had just formed. That LP had just come out and because acoustic guitars had come to the forefront all of a sudden: LED ZEPPELIN GO ACOUSTIC! I thought, Christ, where are their heads and ears? There were three acoustic songs on the first album and two on the second.[12]
Page has also said that the negative press given to the third album affected him so much that he did not give press interviews for eighteen months after its release, and was also one of the reasons why the band's subsequent untitled album contained no written information on it at all.[3] However, in more recent years, he has commented on the negative press reaction in somewhat more diplomatic terms:
[W]ith hindsight, I can see how if somebody got Led Zeppelin III, which was so different from what we'd done before, and they only had a short time to review it on the record player in the office, then they missed the content. They were in a rush and they were looking for the new "Whole Lotta Love" and not actually listening to what was there. It was too fresh for them and they didn't get the plot. So, in retrospect, it doesn't surprise me that the diversity and breadth of what we were doing was overlooked or under-appreciated at the time.[13]
Led Zeppelin III was a trans-Atlantic #1 hit. It spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, while it entered that British chart at number one and remained there for three weeks (returning to the top for a further week on 12 December).[1] However, following the lukewarm, if not confused and sometimes dismissive reception from critics, sales lagged after this initial peak.[5] As Plant said:
Led Zeppelin III was not one of the best sellers in the catalogue because the audience turned round and said 'What are we supposed to do with this?' - 'Where is our 'Whole Lotta Love Part 2'? They wanted something like "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath! But we wanted to go acoustic and a piece like "Gallows Pole" still had all the power of "Whole Lotta Love" because it allowed us to be dynamic.[2]
In spite of its initially indifferent reviews and lower sales than Led Zeppelin's other early albums, Led Zeppelin III's reputation has recovered considerably with the passage of time. The RIAA certified the album 2x platinum in 1990, and 6x platinum in 1999.[14]
Accolades
Publication? Country? Accolade? Year? Rank?
The Book of Rock Lists United States "The Top 40 Albums (1970)"[15] 1981 39
Mojo United Kingdom "The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made"[16] 1996 99
Colin Larkin United Kingdom "The Virgin All-Time Album Top 1000 List"[17] 1998 361
Q United Kingdom "50 Best British Albums Ever"[18] 2004 9
Robert Dimery United States 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die[19] 2005 *
Classic Rock United Kingdom "100 Greatest British Rock Album Ever"[20] 2006 31
(*) designates unordered lists.
Album sleeve design
Led Zeppelin III's original vinyl edition was packaged in a gatefold sleeve with an innovative cover, designed by Zacron, a multi-media artist whom Jimmy Page had met in 1963 whilst Zacron was a student at Kingston College of Art.[21] Zacron had recently resigned a lectureship at Leeds Polytechnic to found Zacron Studios, and in 1970 Page contacted him and asked him to design the third album's cover.
The cover and interior gatefold art consisted of a surreal collection of seemingly random images on a white background, many of them connected thematically with flight or aviation (as in "Zeppelin"). Behind the front cover was a rotatable laminated card disc, or volvelle, covered with more images, including photos of the band members, which showed through holes in the cover. Moving an image into place behind one hole would usually bring one or two others into place behind other holes. This could not be replicated on a conventional cassette or CD cover, but there have been Japanese and British CDs packaged in miniature versions of the original sleeve. In France this album was released with a different album cover, simply showing a photo of the four band members.
The volvelle used on the front cover
The idea of including a volvelle, based on crop rotation charts, was initially Jimmy Page's concept.[1] However, the result was a meeting of minds as Zacron had been working on rotating graphics from 1965. Zacron felt that by not including text on the front of the cover, the art would endure.[22]
In an article featured in the December 2007 issue of Classic Rock magazine, Zacron claimed that upon his completion of the artwork, Jimmy Page telephoned him while he was in New York to express his satisfaction with the results, saying "I think it is fantastic".[23] However, in a 1998 interview Page himself gave to Guitar World magazine, he described the results as a disappointment:
I thought it looked very teeny-bopperish. But we were on top of a deadline, so of course there was no way to make any radical changes to it. There were some silly bits—little chunks of corn and nonsense like that.[24]
The album cover featured on the front page of The Daily Mail's Live Magazine in December 2007, which hailed Led Zeppelin III as "The greatest rock album of all time.[22]
The first pressings of the album included the phrases "Do what thou wilt" and "So mote it be", inscribed on the lacquer itself by engineer Terry Manning during the final mastering process. This phrase is from the core tenet of Aleister Crowley's philosophy of Thelema: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will. There is no law beyond do what thou wilt." Page was a scholar of Crowley's work, once owning a private collection of Crowley manuscripts, artwork and other ephemera, and in the 1970s even bought one of his residences, Boleskine House on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland.
Track listing
Side one
1. "Immigrant Song" Page, Plant 2:26
2. "Friends" Page, Plant 3:55
3. "Celebration Day" Jones, Page, Plant 3:29
4. "Since I've Been Loving You" Jones, Page, Plant 7:25
5. "Out on the Tiles" Bonham, Page, Plant 4:04
Side two
1. "Gallows Pole" trad., arr. Page, Plant 4:58
2. "Tangerine" Page 3:12
3. "That's the Way" Page, Plant 5:38
4. "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" Jones, Page, Plant 4:20
5. "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper" trad., arr. Charles Obscure 3:41
Sales chart positions
Album
Chart (1970)? Peak Position?
Norwegian Albums Chart[25] 3
US Billboard 200[26] 1
US Billboard Soul LP's[27] 30
UK Albums Chart[28] 1
Canadian RPM Top 100 Albums Chart[29] 1
Japanese Albums Chart[30] 5
US Record World Top Pop Albums[31] 1
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[32] 1
German Albums Chart[33] 3
Spanish Albums Chart[34] 6
French Albums Chart[35] 4
Australian Go-Set Top 20 Albums Chart[36] 1
Singles
Year Single Chart Peak Position
1970 (release)
1971 (peak position) "Immigrant Song" /
"Hey Hey What Can I Do" Billboard Hot 100 Singles 16[37]
Sales certifications
Album
Country? Sales? Certification?
Switzerland (IFPI) 25,000+ Gold[38]
Germany (IFPI) 100,000+ Gold[39]*
United States (RIAA) 6,000,000+ 6x Platinum[40]
France (SNEP) 300,000+ Platinum[41]
Spain (PROMUSICAE) 40,000+ Gold[42]
Argentina (CAPIF) 40,000+ Platinum[43]
Australia (ARIA) 210,000+ 3x Platinum[44]
Netherlands (NVPI) 30,000+ Gold[45]*
Note: (*) Remastered sales only
Personnel
Led Zeppelin
* Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica
* Jimmy Page – acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar, backing vocals, banjo
* John Paul Jones – bass guitar, organ, synthesiser, mandolin, backing vocals
* John Bonham – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
* Peter Grant – executive producer
* Andy Johns – recording engineer, mixing engineer
* Eddie Kramer – mixing engineer[47]
* Terry Manning – mixing engineer, mastering engineer[46]
* Jimmy Page – production
* Paul Richmond – mastering[46]
Also Included "Immigrant Song"/"Hey Hey What Can I Do"" (Japan Single)
"Immigrant Song"/"Hey Hey What Can I Do"" (U.S Single Cut intro to HHWCID)
"Gallows Pole 12" Promo Mono / Stereo Single (This rip came from someone at the Hotel a couple of years ago, It is not mine I added here because it is a couple of seconds longer than the album version)
Thank you to the original poster at the hotel. ;)
Immigrant Song
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Immigrant Song"
Single by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin III
B-side "Hey Hey What Can I Do"
Released 5 November 1970
Recorded May–August 1970
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length 2:25, 2:23 (single version)
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Producer Jimmy Page
"Immigrant Song" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released as a single from their third album, Led Zeppelin III, in 1970.
Contents
Overview
The song is famous for its distinctive, wailing cry from vocalist Robert Plant at the beginning of the song, and is built around a repeating, staccato Jimmy Page/John Paul Jones/John Bonham riff in the key of F# Phrygian. There is a very faint count-off the beginning of the track with lots of hiss which appears on the album version, but is trimmed from the single version. The hiss is feedback from an echo unit.[1]
"Immigrant Song" was written during Led Zeppelin's tour of Iceland, Bath and Germany in mid-1970. The opening date of this tour took place in Reykjavik, Iceland, which inspired Plant to write the song. As he explained:
We weren't being pompous ... We did come from the land of the ice and snow. We were guests of the Icelandic Government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be cancelled. The university prepared a concert hall for us and it was phenomenal. The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time. "Immigrant Song" was about that trip and it was the opening track on the album that was intended to be incredibly different.[2]
Just six days after Led Zeppelin's appearance in Reykjavik, the band performed the song for the first time on stage during the Bath Festival.[3]
The song's lyrics are written from the perspective of Vikings rowing west from Scandinavia in search of new lands. The lyrics make explicit reference to Viking conquests and the Old Norse religion (Fight the horde, sing and cry, Valhalla, I am coming!). In a 1970 radio interview, Plant jokingly recalled:
We went to Iceland, and it made you think of Vikings and big ships... and John Bonham's stomach... and bang, there it was - Immigrant Song![1]
"Immigrant Song" is one of Led Zeppelin's few single releases, having been released in November 1970 by their record label, Atlantic Records, against the band's wishes.[citation needed] It reached #16 on the Billboard charts.[1] Its B side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do", was otherwise unavailable before the release of the band's first boxed set in 1990. The single was also mistakenly released in Japan with "Out on the Tiles" as the B-side rather than "Hey Hey What Can I Do." That single is now a rare collectible.
First pressings of the U.S. single of the song have a quote from Aleister Crowley inscribed in dead wax by the run-out groove: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."[4]
One of the lines from the song became part of Led Zeppelin lore. The line, "The hammer of the gods/will drive our ships to new lands" prompted some people to start referring to Led Zeppelin's sound as the "Hammer of the Gods." The phrase was used as the title of Stephen Davis' famous biography of the band, Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. The lyrics also did much to inspire the classic heavy metal myth, of mighty Viking-esque figures on an adventure, themes which have been adopted in the look and music of bands from Iron Maiden to Manowar.
"Immigrant Song" was used to open Led Zeppelin concerts from 1970 to 1972. On the second half of their 1972 concert tour of the United States, it was introduced by a short piece of music known as "LA Drone", designed to heighten the sense of anticipation and expectation amongst the concert audience. By 1973, "Immigrant Song" was occasionally being used as an encore, but was then removed from their live set.[1] Live versions of the song can be heard on the Led Zeppelin albums How The West Was Won (featuring a performance at Long Beach Arena in 1972) and the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (a version from the Paris Theatre in London in 1971). When played live, Page played a lengthy guitar solo, which was absent on the recorded Led Zeppelin III version.[1] "Immigrant Song" was played as part of the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Jeff Beck by both Page and Beck.
Cultural influence
The song is commonly played by marching bands at high school and college football games. The song is also one of the few Led Zeppelin songs to have been licensed for a film. For the 2003 film School of Rock, actor Jack Black filmed himself on stage, along with thousands of screaming fans, begging Led Zeppelin to let them use "Immigrant Song".[5] The song also appears, in a slightly changed version due to licensing reasons, in Shrek the Third, when Snow White attacks the city gates, guarded by Huorns. She cries the characteristic war cry of Robert Plant, backed by the riff, as in the beginning of the original song.[6]
"Immigrant Song" also appeared in the 1999 documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre, One Day in September,[7] and the trailers for the BBC1 drama series Life on Mars. Starting from the 2007 season, the Minnesota Vikings play this song during their team introductions and before kickoffs. During the 2007/8 football season, Brentford FC played this song immediately before kick-off. Late professional wrestler Frank Goodish, better know by his ring name Bruiser Brody, used this song as his entrance music, along with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. In Japan, he had a cover of this song without lyrics.
The Max Weinberg 7 played this song regularly during Late Night With Conan O'Brien. The song was placed over an animation of kittens in Viking costumes on rathergood.com.
Comedian Denis Leary did a comedic cover of the song during his MTV Unplugged special in 1993. Vanilla Ice used "Immigrant Song" as the basis for "Power", a rap metal song performed in concerts in 1999.[8][9] An instrumental version of the song was used in the opening credits of a 1973 martial arts film, Young Tiger, staring Fei Meng and a young Jackie Chan.
Formats and tracklistings
1970 7" single (US/Australia/New Zealand: Atlantic 45-2777, Austria/Germany: Atlantic ATL 70460, Belgium: Atlantic BE 650222, Canada: Atlantic AT 2777, France: Atlantic 650 226L, Holland: Atlantic ATL 2091043, Italy/Jamaica: Atlantic ATL 45-2777, Greece: Atlantic 2091 043, Japan: Warner Pioneer P-1007A, Portugal: Atlantic ATL N 28101, South Africa: Atlantic ATS 531, Spain: Atlantic H 671, Sweden: Atlantic ATL 70.460, Turkey: Atlantic 71505)
* A. "Immigrant Song" (Page, Plant) 2:25
* B. "Hey Hey What Can I Do" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:55
Hey Hey What Can I Do
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Hey, Hey What Can I Do"
Single by Led Zeppelin
A-side "Immigrant Song"
Released November 5, 1970 (1970-11-05)
Format 7"
Recorded Island Studios, London 1970
Genre Folk rock
Length 3:55
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) Robert Plant
Jimmy Page
John Paul Jones
John Bonham
Producer Jimmy Page
"Hey, Hey What Can I Do" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin released in 1970 as the B-side of "Immigrant Song" outside the United Kingdom. It is Led Zeppelin's only non-album track released during the band's existence. It did however appear on the Atlantic Records UK various artists LP, The New Age of Atlantic, released in 1972. The song was first released on CD in October 1990 on the 4CD Led Zeppelin box set collection. In 1992, "Immigrant Song"/"Hey Hey What Can I Do" was released as a "vinyl replica" CD single. In 1993, "Hey Hey What Can I Do" was included on The Complete Studio Recordings 10 CD boxed set, as one of four bonus tracks on the Coda disc. The song is not included on the individual version of Coda. In 2007 Led Zeppelin released the track online along with the rest of their back catalogue. The song was also released as the B-side of the "Stairway To Heaven" 7" 45 RPM picture disc.
The lyrics tell of a man's love for a woman who 'won't be true.' The first verse is a declaration of his love and his desire to tell her that she is the only one for him. The second verse describes her infidelity and his jealousy and frustration. In the third verse he comes to the conclusion that he must leave her 'where the guitars play,' a sentiment reinforced by the vamp in which the lead singer, Robert Plant, is backed by the rest of the band repeating the two lines 'Hey hey what can I do' and 'Oh no what can I say.'
Several bands have covered Led Zeppelin's song or played it live:
* A live version of the song was performed and recorded by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes during their 2000 tour, and is featured on the album Live at the Greek.
* The Hold Steady covered the song on a two song 7".
* Hootie & the Blowfish recorded a version for the 1995 Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium. This version also appears on their covers album Scattered Smothered and Covered. The song has become a regular concert staple for the band.
* A Dread Zeppelin cover appeared on the band's first single, appropriately enough as a B-side to a cover of "Immigrant Song."
* The song is one of the handful of Led Zeppelin covers which Robert Plant sang on his live shows in USA and Europe with Alison Krauss during April and May 2008, and it was usually greeted with a very enthusastic audience response. The song was dropped from the setlist later in the tour.
The Maid Freed from the Gallows
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Gallows Pole)
"The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; eleven variants, some fragmentary, are indexed as 95A to 95K.[1] The ballad existed in a number of folkloric variants from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. It was recorded in 1939 as "The Gallis Pole" by folk singer Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, but the most famous version was the 1970 cover of the Fred Gerlach version by English rock band Led Zeppelin, which was entitled "Gallows Pole" on the album Led Zeppelin III.
Contents
Synopsis
Although it exists in many forms, all versions recount a similar story. A maid (a young woman) about to be hanged (for unknown reasons) pleads with the hangman, or judge, to wait for the arrival of someone who may bribe him. The first person (or people) to arrive, who may include the father, mother, brother, and sister, have brought nothing and often have come to see her hanged. The last person to arrive, often her true love, has brought the gold to save her.[1] Although the traditional versions do not resolve the fate of the condemned one way or the other, it may be presumed that the bribe would succeed. She may curse all those who failed her.
The typical refrain would be:
"Hangman, hangman, hangman / slack your rope awhile.
I think I see my father / ridin’ many a mile.
Father, did you bring any silver? / father, did you bring any gold,
Or did you come to see me / hangin' from the gallows pole?"
"No, I didn’t bring any silver, / no I didn’t bring any gold.
I just come to see you / hangin’ from the gallows pole."
It has been suggested that the reference to "gold" may not mean actual gold for a bribe, but may instead stand for the symbolic restoration of the maid's honor, perhaps by proof of her innocence or fidelity.[2][3] Such an interpretation would explain why a number of variations of the song have the maid (or a male condemned) asking whether their visitors had brought them gold or paid their fee. In at least one version, the reply comes that "I haven't brought you gold/ But I have paid your fee."[4]
The song is also known as "The Prickly Bush", a title derived from the oft-used refrain lamenting the maid's situation by likening it to being caught in briery bush, wherein the brier prickles her heart. In versions carrying this theme, the typical refrain may add:
O the prickly bush, the prickly bush,
It pricked my heart full sore;
If ever I get out of the prickly bush,
I'll never get in any more.
Variants
In some versions, the protagonist is male. This appears to be more prevalent in the United States, where hanging of women was uncommon.[3] The crime for which the protagonist faces hanging is occasionally mentioned. The woman may be being held for ransom by pirates; or, she has stolen something from her employer. Other instances tell of her having lost a treasured golden ball,[5][6] or indicate that she is being hanged for fornication.
The most extensive version is not a song at all, but a fairy story titled "The Golden Ball", collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales. It encompasses the theme of the song. The story focuses more on the exploits of the fiance who must recover a golden ball in order to save his love from the noose; the incident resembles The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was.[7] Other fairy tales in the English language, telling the story more fully, always retell some variant on the heroine being hanged for losing an object of gold.[8]
Origin
The song likely originated in a language other than English. Some fifty versions have been reported in Finland,[9] where it is well known as Lunastettava neito. It is titled Den Bortsålda in Sweden, and Die Losgekaufte in German. A Lithuanian version has the maid asking relatives to ransom her with their best animals or belongings (sword, house, crown, ring etc.). The maiden curses her relatives who refuse to give up their property, and blesses her fiancé, who does ransom her.[10]
In a Hungarian version called "Feher Anna," collected by Bela Bartok in his study The Hungarian Folk Song, Anna's brother Lazlo is imprisoned for stealing horses. Anna sleeps with Judge Horvat to free him, but is unsuccessful in sparing his life. She regales the judge with 13 curses.
Francis James Child found the English version "defective and distorted", in that, in most cases, the narrative rationale had been lost and only the ransoming sequence remained. Numerous European variants explain the reason for the ransom: the heroine has been captured by pirates.[11] Of the texts he prints, one (95F) had "degenerated" into a children's game, while others had survived as part of a Northern English cante-fable, The Golden Ball (or Key).[11] Child describes additional examples from Färöe, Iceland, Russia, and Slovenia. Several of these feature a man being ransomed by a woman.[11]
The theme of delaying one's execution while awaiting rescue by relatives appears with a similar structure in the classic fairy tale "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault in 1697[12] (translated into English in 1729).
"Gallows Pole" and the era of recorded music
Leadbelly version
"In the Shadow of the Gallows Pole", a Lead Belly album featuring the song as "The Gallis Pole".
Legendary folksinger Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, who also popularized such songs as "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special" first recorded "The Gallis Pole" in the 1930s, and set the stage for the song's popularity today.[citation needed] Lead Belly's rendition, available through Folkways music and recently re-released by the Library of Congress, differs from more familiar recordings in several notable ways. The Lead Belly version is performed on acoustic twelve string guitar, and following an introductory phrase reminiscent of the vocal melody, Lead Belly launches into a furious fingerpicking pattern.[citation needed] His haunting, shrill tenor delivers the lyrical counterpoint, and his story is punctuated with spoken-word, as he "interrupts his song to discourse on its theme".[13]
Judy Collins and Bob Dylan versions
Judy Collins performed the song "Anathea" throughout 1963 (including a rendition at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival), credited to Neil Roth and Lydia Wood. It is thematically similar to the Hungarian "Feher Anna" cited above, even to the detail of the name of the brother (Lazlo). It appeared on her third album, released in early 1964. Dayle Stanley's folk album "A Child Of Hollow Times," from roughly this era, included an uncredited version of this song ("of Greek origin"), under the name "Ana Thea." Bob Dylan recorded a thematically similar "Seven Curses" in 1963 during the sessions for his Freewheelin' album. The song tells a similar story, but from the point of view of the condemned's daughter. Dylan's song has been recorded by many artists. The definitive folk version of the song is probably that by Nic Jones recorded as 'Prickly Bush' which he performed live and is featured on the 'Unearthed' album. The song has also been played by Spiers & Boden.
Led Zeppelin version
"Gallows Pole"
Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin III
Released October 5, 1970
Recorded May - August 1970
Genre Folk rock
Length 4:56
Label Atlantic Records
Writer trad. arr. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Producer Jimmy Page
This plotline is followed in perhaps the most familiar version today. English band Led Zeppelin recorded the song for their album Led Zeppelin III in 1970. The album is a shift in style for the band towards acoustic material, influenced by a vacation Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took to the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in the Welsh countryside.[14] Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page adapted the song from a version by Fred Gerlach.[14] On the album the track was credited "Traditional: Arranged by Page and Plant".
"Gallows Pole" begins as a simple acoustic guitar rhythm; mandolin is added in, then electric bass guitar shortly afterwards, and then banjo and drums simultaneously join in. The instrumentation builds up to a crescendo, increasing in tempo as the song progresses. The acoustic guitar chord progression (in standard tuning) is simple with a riff based on variations of the open A chord and the chords D and G occurring in the verse. Page played banjo, six and 12 string acoustic guitar and electric guitar (a Gibson Les Paul), while John Paul Jones played mandolin and bass.[14]
Page has stated that, similar to the song "Battle of Evermore" which was included on their fourth album, the song emerged spontaneously when he started experimenting with Jones' mandolin, an instrument he had never before played. "I just picked it up and started moving my fingers around until the chords sounded right, which is the same way I work on compositions when the guitar's in different tunings."[15]
Led Zeppelin would perform the song a few times live during Led Zeppelin concerts in 1971.[14] Singer Plant would sometimes also include lyrics in live performances of the Led Zeppelin song "Trampled Under Foot" in 1975.
The Led Zeppelin version of the song is unique in that, despite the bribes, which the hangman accepts, he still carries out the execution.
Oh yes, you got a fine sister, she warmed my blood from cold,
She warmed my blood to boiling hot to keep you from the Gallows Pole,
Your brother brought me silver, and your sister warmed my soul,
But now I laugh and pull so hard to see you swinging on the Gallows Pole
As in the Dylan "Seven Curses" and many other renditions, the Led Zeppelin version is based on a variant in which the convict is male. This is evident when the convict's brother addresses the convict as "brother" rather than "sister" in the line, "Brother, I brought you some silver, yeah."
"Gallows Pole" single released by Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
Other versions
Led Zeppelin members Page and Plant later recorded a version of this song for their 1994 release No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. They also released this track as a single. The song was performed regularly on the subsequent tour and featured a hurdy gurdy.
The song has also been recorded by numerous other artists, including Odetta, Great Big Sea, The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Nic Jones, Almeda Riddle, Uriah Heep, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Steeleye Span. German folk metal band In Extremo has version of this song called "Der Galgen". Spiers and Boden recorded two variations: Derry Gaol and Prickle Eye Bush, the latter was also recorded with Bellowhead. Jasper Carrott performed a comedy version in which the narrator is hanged before he can finish the first verse. American folk singer John Jacob Niles also recorded a version under the title 'The Hangman', the song was featured in the Harmony Korine film Mister Lonely.
A few lines of the song are sung by a woman strumming a guitar in a 1949 John Wayne movie, "The Fighting Kentuckian". The song is chronologically appropriate to the film, which is set in 1818.
Names
In addition to "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", "The Prickly Bush" and the more recent "Gallows Pole", variations of the song have been recorded or reported under more than a dozen names.[16] These include:
* "The Gallis Pole"
* "The Gallows Tree" (Bert Jansch)
* "The Prickilie Bush"
* "Hangman"
* "Hangman, Slacken"[4]
* "Gallows"
* "Freed from the Gallows"
* "Maid Saved"
* "By a Lover Saved"
* "Down by the Green Willow Tree"
* "Girl to be Hanged for Stealing a Comb"
* "Ropeman"
* "Ropeman's Ballad"
* "Prickle Holly Bush"
* "Derry Gaol"
* "Hold Your Hands, Old Man"[4]
* "Old Rabbit, the Voodoo"
* "The Briery Bush"[17]
* "The Golden Ball"
* "Mama, Did You Bring Any Silver?"
* "Prickle-Eye Bush (Bellowhead and Spiers and Boden)