And so today, my world smiles.

I'll kick off this blog with one of my favorites- Thank You, by Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin consists of four men: Robert Plant, the vocalist, Jimmy Page, the guitarist, John Paul Jones, the bassist, and John Bottom, the drummer (RIP). Led Zeppelin is a rock band formed in London, England around 1968. Thank You came from their second self-titled album, which was released on October 22^nd, 1969. The song was written by Page and Plant, who wrote all of Zeppelin’s songs.

 

Thank You is the most beautiful love song ever written. Not only well written lyrics, but excellent music. The soft acoustic line mixed with the still fairly hyper drumming is insane. How John Bottom and Jimmy Page were able to meld two very differing instruments is intoxicating to me. Though out the song, if the drums are not laying down a driving rhythm, the guitar is picking up the slack by gently pushing a simple melody on the ears. Using this, the song fades in at the beginning and fades out at the end, which is an excellent touch with the light organ tune in the background. The organ is an odd instrument which is incredibly hard to play (who played it for the recording, I don’t know), like a piano on steroids. The music paints a picture of being on a hill on a spring day; it’s a little chilly and the wind is to your back while you look down the hill peacefully. Maybe I’m just a little too into it though.

 

When I first heard the lyrics, a chill ran down my spine. “If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you. When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.” Nothing like ‘oh yeah you’re pretty and you make awesome mac and cheese’ NO. Plant went straight for the real meaning; that nothing would stop his love or even hinder it. He went deep and came back successfully, his words not sounding cliché or jumbled. “Little drops of rain, whispers of the pain, tears of love lost in the days gone by. My love is strong, for you is no wrong. Together we shall go until we die. Inspiration is what you are to me, inspiration, look see.” I mean dang! If that didn’t seriously move you, read it again. This song is so honest that the inspiration didn’t just come out of nowhere. Someone made Plant feel so happy that he feel into an insane love with them and wrote these lyrics.

 

Link to the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDo9AE5r8w