"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
song written by
Anne Bredon in the late 1950s.
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
recorded a solo version for her 1962 album ''
Joan Baez in Concert
''Joan Baez in Concert'' (later reissued as ''Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1'') is a live album taken from Joan Baez's 1962 concert tours. It peaked at #10 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart.
History
It was Baez's version of " Babe, I'm Gonna L ...
'' and a variety of musicians subsequently adapted it to a variety of styles, including
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
. Several songwriters have been credited on releases over the years, although Bredon usually receives a sole or partial credit on current releases.
Joan Baez rendition
In 1960, Anne Bredon appeared on a live folk-music show on radio station
KPFA
KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sign ...
in Berkeley, California, where she performed "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".
[
] Janet Smith heard the performance and later Joan Baez learned the song from Smith at
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
.
[
]
The 1962 album ''
Joan Baez in Concert
''Joan Baez in Concert'' (later reissued as ''Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1'') is a live album taken from Joan Baez's 1962 concert tours. It peaked at #10 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart.
History
It was Baez's version of " Babe, I'm Gonna L ...
'' includes a solo performance with her vocal and acoustic guitar picking.
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...
co-owner/producer
Maynard Solomon
Maynard Elliott Solomon (January 5, 1930 – September 28, 2020) was an American music executive and musicologist, a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer."Maynard Solomon" in ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', v ...
commented in the album liner notes: "The strange quality
nd powerof the song is that the narrator inwardly desires exactly the opposite of what he will do, and is torn by the prospect of his self-imposed departure."
He also describes the song as a "white blues", but does not identify the songwriter. When CD versions of Baez' album were later issued, Anne L. Bredon appears as the sole songwriter.
[
]
Due to the popularity of her album,
Baez' rendition was adapted by the Plebs (with members of
the Nashville Teens
The Nashville Teens are a British rock band, formed in Surrey in 1962. They are best known for their 1964 hit single "Tobacco Road", a top 10 UK hit and a top 20 hit in the United States.
Early membership
Art Sharp (born Arthur Sharp, 26 May 1 ...
) (1964 single),
the Association
The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary") and ...
(1965 single),
Mark Wynter
Mark Wynter (born Terence Sidney Lewis; 29 January 1943) is an English singer and actor, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s, including "Venus in Blue Jeans" and "Go Away Little Girl". He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a po ...
(1965 single),
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...
(1968 ''
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
'' soundtrack), and Led Zeppelin (1969 ''
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
''). The songwriters originally listed for these early versions include " Dennis", Anne H. Bredon, Janet Smith, Paul Bennett,
Erik Darling, and "Traditional arr. by
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
".
Led Zeppelin version
Guitarist
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
heard Baez' version and began developing "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" early in his career as a session guitarist.
He played the song for singer
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...
during their first meeting at Page's riverside home at
Pangbourne
Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a village hall. Outside its grouped developed area is an in ...
in late July 1968.
In his book ''Stairway to Heaven'', Zeppelin tour manager
Richard Cole
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
claims that the arrangement evolved when Plant played Page the guitar part that eventually appeared on the album; however, this has been refuted by Page. In an interview, Page commented, "I used to do the song in the days of sitting in the darkness playing my six-string behind
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...
."
Although based on the Baez version, Led Zeppelin came up with a very different approach.
They incorporate
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
sections with electric guitar that are performed by the whole group, thus more than doubling the length of Baez' original.
When the recording appeared on their 1969
debut album, the credit read "Traditional, arr. by Jimmy Page" following the unspecified (at the time) authorship of the track on Baez's album. In the 1980s, Bredon was made aware of Led Zeppelin's version of the song; since 1990, the Led Zeppelin version has been credited to Anne Bredon, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. Bredon received a substantial back-payment of royalties.
The band played this song at
Led Zeppelin concerts
From September 1968 until the summer of 1980, English rock band Led Zeppelin were the world's most popular live music attraction, performing hundreds of sold-out concerts around the world.
History
Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, Led Zeppelin ...
on its 1969
concert tours; a filmed performance at ''
Danmarks Radio'',
Gladsaxe
Gladsaxe Kommune is a municipality (Danish, ''Commune (subnational entity), kommune'') near Copenhagen in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...
, Denmark, on March 17, 1969, is included on the ''
Led Zeppelin DVD
''Led Zeppelin DVD'' is a double DVD set by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2003, and the United States on 27 May 2003. It contains live concert footage of the band spanning the years 1969 to 1979. The D ...
'' (2003). For their 1998 reunion,
Page and Plant
Page and Plant (also known as Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) was an English rock band active between 1994 and 1998. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant (both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin), accompanied ...
performed a 9-minute version of the song. Plant has performed the song as a solo artist and with his bands
Strange Sensation
Strange may refer to:
Fiction
* Strange (comic book), a comic book limited series by Marvel Comics
* Strange (Marvel Comics), one of a pair of Marvel Comics characters known as The Strangers
* Adam Strange, a DC Comics superhero
* The title cha ...
and the
Sensational Space Shifters.
As of 2002, the 1969 promotional EP using the song as the A-side track and "
Dazed and Confused" as B-side had been one of top ten Led Zeppelin music collectibles. A collector, Rick Barrett, dedicated to his Led Zeppelin memorabilia, sold several copies of the promo EP for –500 each, "depending on the condition of the sleeve and of the record itself," said Barrett.
See also
*
List of Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others
In their career, the British rock band Led Zeppelin recorded many songs that consisted, in whole or part, of pre-existing songs, melodies, or lyrics. They sometimes credited those sources; sometimes not. The band has been sued a number of times ove ...
References
External links
* Led Zeppelin
{{Authority control
1969 singles
1950s songs
Atlantic Records singles
Led Zeppelin songs
Joan Baez songs
Songs written by Jimmy Page
Songs written by Robert Plant
Hard rock ballads
Song recordings produced by Jimmy Page
Year of song missing