"Ramble On"
Turkish single label
Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin II
Released22 October 1969 (1969-10-22)
Recorded1 June 1969; 2 June 1969[1]
StudioGroove Studios, New York City; Juggy Sound Studio, New York City[1]
Genre
Length4:35
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jimmy Page
Audio video
"Ramble On" on YouTube

"Ramble On" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. Co-written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and produced by Page, and recorded in 1969 at Juggy Sound Studio, New York City and A & R Recording, Manhattan, it serves as the seventh track of their second studio album Led Zeppelin II. The song's lyrics were influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings.

The song was not released as a vinyl single in the US or the UK in the 20th century, but the album reached number 1 in both the US and the UK, and over 12 million copies have been sold. When it was eventually released as a digital single, it reached number 66 on the Billboard Canadian Digital Song Sales chart in 2007. Critics have admired the combination of the vocals and the guitar playing on the song.

Composition and lyrics

Style

The song's genre has variously been described as folk rock,[3] hard rock,[4] and blues rock by different critics.[5] The song is 4 minutes 35 seconds long as recorded on the album.[6] "Ramble On" was co-written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant; the lyrics were mainly written by Plant.[7][8][9] The song was recorded in 1969 at Juggy Sound Studio and A & R Recording, New York City, during the band's second concert tour of North America.[7][8] Page explained that he achieved the smooth, sustaining violin-like tone on the solo by using the neck pickup on his Gibson Les Paul guitar with the treble cut and utilising a sustain-producing effects unit built by the audio engineer Roger Mayer.[2]

Allusions to The Lord of the Rings

The song's lyrics, particularly in the first line and the third verse, were influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, mentioning among other things "the darkest depths of Mordor", Gollum, and "The Evil One" (Sauron).[10] Its first line, "Leaves are falling all around", is an adaptation of Tolkien's "Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind", the English translation of the first line of his Quenya (Elvish language) poem "Namárië".[11] The musicologist Caitlin Vaughn Carlos suggests that in the song's references to The Lord of the Rings, Led Zeppelin was relying on its audience's cultural memory "to actively participate in a dialogue of urban criticism and a romanticized vision of rural Britain".[12] Andy Greene, writing in Rolling Stone, commented that "the narrator of [Led Zeppelin's] 1969 classic "Ramble On" finds himself in a very bizarre version of Middle Earth – a land where Mordor appears to be a great place to meet beautiful women, and Gollum and Sauron are more interested in fighting over the narrator's girlfriend than getting their hands on the One Ring".[13]

Personnel

According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:[1]

Reception

In his book Led Zeppelin: A Celebration, Dave Lewis wrote that "Ramble On" was "the highlight" of the Led Zeppelin II album, "slip[ping] effortlessly from quiet mournful passages into an uplifting chorus", and demonstrating the "light and shade dynamism" that became a hallmark of the band.[8] Martin Popoff, in his book Led Zeppelin: All the Albums, All the Songs, commented that while the song starts off with a nod to "idyllic West Coast acoustic rock" with Plant playing the "romantic troubadour", its location is seen to be the dark land of Mordor in Middle-earth, though with un-Tolkienesque events. Popoff calls it "a strange reference", but notes that the music backs it up with the "near-Renaissance feel" of Page's guitar playing in the key of E major.[14]

On American Songwriter, Jacob Uitti agreed that Page's acoustic guitar is stirring and Plant's vocals are electrifying, but emphasized that John Paul Jones's less-noticed bass playing is sublime. Uitti called the song "one of the band's best", because of "its dual-pronged sonic attack".[15] In a retrospective review of Led Zeppelin II (Deluxe Edition), Michael Madden of Consequence of Sound praised the remastering of "Ramble On," commenting that the track now sounds "especially mellow and well-balanced".[7] Madden wrote that the track "gets a boost from John Paul Jones' garter snake bass playing."[7] Madden called the rough mix of "Ramble On" the best of all the bonus tracks in the Deluxe Edition, finding Page's acoustic strums "particularly driving".[7]

The song was not released as a single in the 20th century, but the album reached number 1 in both the US and the UK, and over 12 million copies have been sold.[16] In 2007, "Ramble On" reached number 66 on the Billboard Canadian Digital Song Sales chart.[17] In 2010, the song was ranked number 440 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[18] In 2019, Rolling Stone ranked the song number 5 on its list of the 40 greatest Led Zeppelin songs.[19]

Live performances

"Ramble On" was only played as a tease during Led Zeppelin's 20th century concerts, but never as a complete song.[8][14] The full song was first performed live at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert on 10 December 2007, at the O2 Arena in London; Page ended the song with a brief section of the bridge from "What Is and What Should Never Be".[20]

Charts

Chart performance for "Ramble On"
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Canadian Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[17] 66

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[21] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

Other Led Zeppelin songs which similarly allude to The Lord of the Rings:

References

  1. 1 2 3 Guesdon & Margotin 2018, p. 132.
  2. 1 2 "Led Vault: Jimmy Page Talks First Three Led Zeppelin Albums, Gibson and Harmony Guitars and More". Guitar World. 11 June 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Fricke, David (12 November 2012). "A Última Valsa". Rolling Stone (in Brazilian Portuguese). Universo Online. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019. Translation: Jones stitching the rampant folk-rock of 'Ramble On' with bass counter-melodies;
  4. ↑ Popoff, Martin (15 August 2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7603-4546-7.
  5. ↑ "Led Zeppelin Biography". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2016. Led Zeppelin II found them further tightening up and modernizing their blues-rock approach on such tracks as "Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker" and "Ramble On."
  6. ↑ Led Zeppelin II (Album notes). Led Zeppelin. New York City: Atlantic Records. 1969. Side two label. SD 8236.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Madden, Michael (4 June 2014). "Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II [Reissue]". CoS. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Lewis, Dave (2012) [1995]. "'Ramble On'". Led Zeppelin: A Celebration. Omnibus Press. p. pt 122. ISBN 978-0-85712-819-5.
  9. ↑ Iscan, Melissa (19 March 2022). "Jimmy Page's Explanation On The LOTR-Influenced Led Zeppelin Songs". Rock Celebrities. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  10. ↑ Whatley, Jack (26 April 2021). "How 'Lord of the Rings' inspired one of Led Zeppelin's best songs". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  11. ↑ Meyer, Stephen C.; Yri, Kirsten (2020). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Medievalism. Oxford University Press. p. 732. ISBN 978-0-19-065844-1.
  12. ↑ Carlos, Caitlin Vaughn (5 March 2020), ""Ramble On": Medievalism as a Nostalgic Practice in Led Zeppelin's Use of J. R. R. Tolkien", in Meyer, Stephen C.; Yri, Kirsten (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Music and Medievalism, Oxford University Press, pp. 529–546, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190658441.013.48, ISBN 978-0-19-065844-1
  13. ↑ Greene, Andy (13 December 2012). "Ramble On: Rockers Who Love 'The Lord of the Rings'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018.
  14. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (2018). "Ramble On: Page/Plant/4:35". Led Zeppelin: All the Albums, All the Songs. Voyageur Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-76036-377-5.
  15. ↑ Uitti, Jacob (June 2023). "Behind the Well-Traveled Led Zeppelin Song, "Ramble On"". American Songwriter. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  16. ↑ Springer, Mike (14 October 2013). "Deconstructing Led Zeppelin's Classic Song 'Ramble On' Track by Track: Guitars, Bass, Drums & Vocals". Open Culture. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  17. 1 2 "Hot Digital Singles - 1 December 2007". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  18. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time - May 2010". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "The 40 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  20. ↑ Handler, Shane (11 December 2007). "Good Times, Bad Times - Led Zeppelin Reunion Show". Glide Magazine. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  21. ↑ "British single certifications – Led Zeppelin – Ramble On". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 January 2023.

Bibliography

  • Guesdon, Jean-Michel; Margotin, Philippe (2018). Led Zeppelin All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Running Press. ISBN 978-0-316-448-67-3.
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