Sunday, November 14, 2010

Hung Up on "Gallows Pole"


The Led Zeppelin song Gallows Pole foreshadowed the masterful (but overplayed) Stairway to Heaven which appeared on their next album. The song introduces each stringed instrument one-by-one, with an increasing tempo. I love how the mandolin chimes in near the beginning, sounding almost like a piano.  Gallows Pole also features a banjo, an unusual instrument in rock music.  You can hear it kick in with the drums here.

More about that drumming: John Bonham is really playing more than just a steady beat. Listen for example here, exactly when Plant sings "upon your face a smile"--his drumming mimics the cadence of Plant's words.

Of course Gallows Pole wasn't standard rock fare to begin with. There's a whole long history behind the song and Led Zeppelin were late to the party. link

5 comments:

  1. We hired a new employee for the store who is a young kid who understands how to download music and stuff and how to put it on the ipod.

    So the wife is having her put on all the latest stuff so we can be up to the minute.

    I am having her do a special Trooper mix. But I won't be puttin all the stuff from my high school days like Led Zep or Jethro Tull or Humble Pie or whatever. Instead I am going to go heavy into the early eighties when I was bouncing around bars and clubs and what not.

    Lots of punk. Blondie, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, The CLash, and stuff like that. With some cheesy disco thrown in for the dancing.

    That ought to drive the wife nuts. Hee.

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  2. Lots of punk. Blondie, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, The CLash, and stuff like that. With some cheesy disco thrown in for the dancing.

    I'll get there (the 80's) too. But I'm looking forward to 1971-72 because of all the Humble Pie. Hee!

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  3. I need to get through the 80s by the end of the year.

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  4. It don't get better than 30 Days in the Hole.

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