From: Jeff Barlow Subject: Perth Interview Radio Perth, West Australia, Australia, February 16, 1972 I: Jimmy, I believe when you and John Bonham and John Paul Jones and Robert Plant first got together, you did a Scandinavian tour and you were billed as the New Yardbirds. J: Oh, that was in the very early days, yeah that's right, it's just that I was attached to the Yardbirds you see, and uh, at that particular time it was better for the promoters to get more people in. You know, if they used the name Yardbirds as opposed to Zeppelin, which meant nothing, at least Yardbirds meant something, and there would be one in every fifty; "Oh yeah, Yardbirds, I remember them, and they had a few hit records". They'd think it was something to do with that. And then after we did that, it was only sort of a weeks tour, we decided straight away to call it Led Zeppelin and kicked all the Yardbird things right out, all those sort of tie-ups with that. Because we just felt it merited more than that, you see, the music did, that was it, but you see promoters weren't willing to take that chance. I: What can we look forward to, as far as your music goes, during your concert tour of Australia? J: We're sort of into a lot of things, and trying to present as much as we can really, you know it's not always easy, but uh, we're trying to get a cross section of what we do and what we've done. That's basically, we do, we do a little short acoustic section where we try and uh, show people that we're not a bunch of . Well, a lot of places, you know, the dreadful things. When we started, all these other groups sort of going on like Black Sabbath and Grand Funk and everyone was sort of lumping us in with them, for a short while anyway, and then they suddenly realized there was a bit more to it than just that, you know. At least I hope so anyway. I mean I love what we do, and we all know what we're doing, we, we, the thing is we don't really care about anything else really, or anybody else. I: Do you reckon that releasing "Whole Lotta Love" from Led Zeppelin II as a single became a problem for you, because it was a super hit all over the world, and were people like expecting another "Whole Lotta Love" when the band went in to record again? J: Not really, 'cause it wasn't as though, uh, I mean there were some groups that put a single out and it kills them. A good example of that is Procul Harem, who have made some fantastic records, like "Sailor", I don't know if you've ever heard that one. I put that on at home just a little while ago after not hearing it for a long time and I just sat there riveted to the seat and just wondered why they weren't acclaimed as one of the best bands going, you know, 'cuz it just amazed me. But, I don't know what happened with them with their single, it was just the,everyone thought it was the hype, but you see, we, we, we, we didn't put that out for a long long while, and you know, pressure, pressure, pressure "No, we don't want it out, no we don't want it out", and in the end we still put it out. That's all there was to it, and I think people knew that. I: Jimmy, I'll ask probably a pretty hard question, but what would be you personal favorite tracks from the albums you've recorded so far? J: Obviously, you like more than others, you know, there are some that when, after the records come out, you hate them, but others in the group say "no, it's good", you know. Ummmm, I like, I think "Stairway to Heaven" is the uh, the uh the the epitome really of, uh, what we're up to, that's about the best one. Ummm, on the first LP, I like "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" for the atmosphere, there is a lot of space on that as well, it was a lucky one for the mixing generally, 'cuz that's what you're after anyway, just the atmosphere, sort of. Ummm, "Dazed and Confused". Then, then on to the second one, obviously, "Whole Lotta Love", that was, that was a nice one, and ummm. Third LP, "Friends", actually there's more on the second LP! (Laughing), but, really I want to tell you what I don't like, 'cuz there's only about two, "Living Loving Maid" is about the only one I don't like, and uh, apart from that, you know, every things all right, you know it's sort of in a pattern really the way we, we ,we...... I: Jimmy, could you tell just a little about what motivated you to write "The Immigrant Song"? J: Oh, I'll let Robert tell you about that. R: Well you really have to ask John. No, I'm kidding, give the microphone back to me! No, what happened was we went to Iceland, and uh it was one of those times when you went to bed at night and you don't go to sleep because it's, the daylight is still there, you know, it was a twenty-four hour day, and uh, there was just an amazing hue in the sky, and it was one of those things that umm, made you thing of Vikings and big ships and John Bonham's stomach, and things like that. So, there you are, "Immigrant Song". I: Now listen, can you tell us what Black Dog is all about? J: It is about a dog that was fourteen years old. R: A black Labrador. J: You see, the thing was, we, we did some from of those tracks from that LPs at a big house with a mobile recording unit, a truck that actually is the Stones truck. But there used to be this, there used to be a team of dogs, actually, there were a couple of lurchers and this huge great Labrador, that used to sort of, that looked as though it was grinning at you, see, it would bare it's teeth, but it looked like a smile, and we used to pick it up and play with it and everything, apparently, it was the most ferocious dog, that was really known for biting everybody, you see, and they couldn't believe that we had uh, could even be near it you know. So, anyway it was just called, it was one of the first things that we started to do at the house, the first week we started to play, and we just called it "Black Dog" and stuck. That's right isn't it? R: Yeah, he used to go in the garden for a walk, and he'd find he couldn't get back so we had to carry him back, you see (laughter). He was really doddled, but he was an amazing character. Well that's it. But he couldn't, he didn't sound like anything on the lyrics at all, he wasn't parading about. I: Um, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, off Led Zeppelin Three has got a pretty unusual title, which most of us Aussie mispronounce. What's it all about? R: Well, it's uh, it means "The Golden Breast", it's Welsh for "The Golden Breast", and it's uh, a cottage that was on the side, uh plunked on the side of uh, a semi mountain, and it used to catch the sun in such a way that it glowed really. Glowed even more when we were there, and um, apart from that we've got nothing to do with it. (laughter) J: Well, it's about a glow of love R: It's about a doggy, man's faithful companion, have you seen that dog I've got, the one with all the hair. JPJ: This makes perfect sense, he's a real card isn't he. I: Do you think the band's absorbed any musical influences from any groups or solo performers? J: I dunno, I think every, each one of us has got really wide and varied tastes, you know, I mean for instance things that John Paul Jones might like are probably (different), vice versa, things that I'm really enthused about he might not like, exactly the same with each one of use, we've all got our separate things. I suppose in the beginning I was, I only played with the Yardbirds, that was obviously in me, and its all out now, that sort of thing. (laughter) But obviously, you know, it was like sort of six months after that, or whatever that this group was sort of going, and obviously there was quite a bit in me from that, but I suppose everybody else had their last influences in them as well. Robert had his own group. I: With the band having four super-succesful albums around the world, do you ever think it's going to be a problem the next time you go in to record, that you'll have in you mind that you've got to top the last album? R: Yeah, I think that if you um, taking the four albums, I mean, people have criticized the third album for being far removed from being what they expected of it. But if you listen to those four albums, and we go through our trials and tribulations when we, when we uh write the music, um, much greater than any criticism could ever come along, because we could never put out anything, out at all that we weren't at all happy with, you know. So I mean the four albums, as a, as a whole, the whole four put together, are such a cross section, and I mean every album that we do, I mean we've said this a thousand times but it's a fact, you know, that it's good stuff, we know it's good stuff, you know, otherwise it wouldn't go on the album, because we do all sorts of things far removed from even what you've heard so far. So as far as, I think the variation that we've got is quite vast. It would have been as easy as anything to carry on the one line for as long as possible, you know, and reap the benefit of it. But I really, you know, I don't, I agree with him when he says we are fantastic, but I wouldn't go, I wouldn't agree with the latter part of it. I: Jimmy, back to you, what had you been doing before you joined the Yardbirds? J: I'd been, I'd been a session musician, you know what that is do you? Yea, and uh, I'd just come to the end of my tether on that one, and uh, anyway the opportunity came up. Actually, I went to see the Yardbirds, and uh, I used to go and see them quite a few times you know, and this particular night Paul Samwell-Smith went absolutely berserk, and said "That's it, I'm leaving the group", and, and it was one of those real group dramas, but this time he really meant it, because you know, you always get those sort of things, but, and nobody really means it, but anyway, this particular time he really meant it, and uh, they were really stuck because they had three or four dates right in front of them, and nobody to sort of fulfill the roll, so I said "Well, I'll play bass", I'd never played bass before in my life, and uh. I just played along with them, and uh, enjoyed it, and then, we, we just sort of discussed it, you know the position, and I said "Well, yes, I'll join", but, uh, obviously, not on bass. Chris Dreja had learned the bass and took over and Jeff and I were playing twin lead guitars. That was for as long as that lasted, which wasn't too long, but it was good while it was going. I: Listen, I believe you had a really big hassle with a chick once when you went to Germany, about the name Led Zeppelin. J: Ummm, I don't quite remember what her name was now, she called herself Baroness Zeppelin, but in fact she was a usurper, they, they told us after, somebody, the real authority on Zeppelins, you know, I forget who, who that was even now, but he'd, he'd collected pictures of Zeppelins and film footage, and all this sort for years, and he knew this woman, and he said "Oh she's not even a blood relation, she just married into the family" It didn't, didn't amount to anything did it? She just lodged a complain at the City Hall of Justice, or whatever (laughter). Nobody paid very much attention to it. Oh yes I do remember one thing, she appeared, we were supposed to be doing this television show, and uh, one of the very few occasion that we've ever done one actually. But, she appeared, and uh, we were talking to her and she was, you know they all were really nice people, you know, she went into the studio, you know how they set things up to sort of interplay, sort of shots of photographs and things, they had the first LP cover, which is one of the Zeppelins crashing into a pylon, you know, graphically illustrated. And she saw this and went absolutely berserk, she went mad you know (laughter), really mad. JPJ: Screaming monkeys, wasn't it? Or something like that R: After that, yes (much laughter) I: How come you came to call the group Led Zeppelin? JPJ: Well, it was originally for a group Keith Moon was going to start with somebody else, a band of musicians that made the record "Becks Bolero", and uh, it was just too impossible for words, the personnel in the band, and it seemed a good idea a year later. (laughter) I: Jimmy, on the first Zeppelin album, I noticed you've got a couple of Willie Dixon blues numbers, why did you do that? Do you dig Dixon, or didn't you have enough material for the album, or what? J: The first LP was recorded in , after the group had been together for about a week or something, you know, it was recorded in a very short time as well, and at that time we were just, well, when we first got together and all decided to join up, we had to get some sort of stage act together, you know, so, sort of repertoire, so to speak, and of course, anything and everything was being suggested, and, and, obviously there a good sort of blues roots amongst all of us, and that's why we were doing blues at that stage, and that's why blues was included on the LP. R: The Chess stuff of the 50's was a really amazing sound, you know, with those "Going Down Slow" Howlin' Wolf, and all that sort of thing, they were just superb, you know, I don't think there's ever been anything on the city blues like that, the modern urban blues, just, just surpassed, you know, the sound and the feeling and the whole thing about the atmosphere of those records, you know. I: Robert Plant, the "Friends" track on the third album, what was going thru your head when you wrote that, and the reason I ask is because while we are playing the third album quite a lot, "Friends" was one of the most requested tracks. R: Yeah, I like that a lot as well, and Jimmy does, but I think everybody does. We were hoping to uh, well, we were thinking about doing it again actually, and again, and again.. 'cuz there's something about it that, that, we didn't really get on anything else, you know. I was lying under a rather dilapidated, and much needed to be pruned apple tree when I wrote it. But apart from that I don't... No, It was just how I felt, you know about the high points in your life, you know, things like that, and the possible low points, and all that sort of thing. The highs and lows that you really aware of, not in this business, but being in this position, you know. But, Friends is a good number, but I think there's been four albums of them Jeff Barlow ============================================================================== jsbarlow@mich.com Holt, MI, USA