Swan Song 200
Producer: Jimmy Page
Custard Pie / The Rover / In My Time of Dying / Houses of the Holy / Trampled Under Foot / Kashmir / In the Light / Bron-Y-Aur Stomp / Down by the Seaside / Ten Years Gone / Night Flight / The Wanton Song / Boogie with Stu / Black Country Woman / Sick Again
March 22, 1975
6 weeks
High on the success of Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin returned to the Headley Grange mansion where the band had recorded much of Led Zeppelin III and IV. The band came armed with so much material, it was decided that the next album, Physical Graffiti, would be a two-record set. It was also set to be the debut release on Swan Song, Led Zeppelin’s own Atlantic-distributed label.
The centerpiece of the album was a song called “Kashmir.” Vocalist Robert Plant was inspired to write the lyrics for the song after completing a lengthy drive in southern Morocco. Guitarist Jimmy Page originally came up with the riff for the track with drummer John Bonham. Bassist John Paul Jones added the finishing touches.
“We had real strings and brass on that,” says Jones. “On the main riff, I did all the Arabic parts on mellotron.” Despite the fact that “Stairway to Heaven” is the band’s best-known song, “Kashmir” is generally considered the ultimate Zeppelin track. “I’m inclined to agree with that,” says Jones. “It was definitely one of my favorites.”
The choice to record most of the album at Headley Grange, rather than at a traditional recording studio, once again gave Zeppelin’s recorded material a loose, live feel. “In My Time of Dying,” for example, ended with nearly a half-minute of conversation and laughter. “The tape tended to be running a lot,” says Jones. “That was the vibe. It was recorded at a house, so there was a pretty relaxed vibe about the whole thing. It wasn’t like we went in the studio everyday — we kind of lived in the studio. That captured the atmosphere, so we decided to leave it on the tape. There was always lots of laughing. It was like a boys’ club. Everyone had a good time.”
Another standout track was “Trampled Under Foot.” Says Jones, “The instruments were set up all the time in the house. For ‘Trampled Under Foot’ I was playing the clavinet and just came across the riff while playing and I made it into a song.”
A few of the tracks on Physical Graffiti were left over from previous album sessions, including “Houses of the Holy,” “Down by the Seaside,” and “Boogie with Stu.” The latter cut featured Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart and was originally cut during the Led Zeppelin IV sessions. “Jimmy and Robert had worked that out,” says Jones. “I was away for the day and Ian Stewart was there jamming along with them. It was a fantastic jam, because Stewart [was] a great boogie-woogie player. I came back the next day and added my bass part.” The liner notes of the album credited the song to Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant, Stewart, and Mrs. Valens. The members of Led Zeppelin wanted to give a portion of the royalties to the mother of Ritchie Valens, since the song’s lyrics were borrowed from Valens’s “Ooh My Head.”
Although Physical Graffiti was originally scheduled to be the debut release on Swan Song, the album’s elaborate cover art, which features a New York City tenement with interchangeable images visible through the building’s die-cut windows, forced a delay. Bad Company’s self-titled debut became the first Swan Song release and the label’s first chart-topper. Within six months, Physical Graffiti also hit the peak, giving Led Zeppelin its fourth Number One album.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of March 22, 1975
1. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin
2. Have You Never Been Mellow, Olivia Newton-John
3. Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan
4. What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, Doobie Brothers
5. Perfect Angel, Minnie Riperton