"Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is a song recorded by English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
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 ...
for their third album, ''
Led Zeppelin III
''Led Zeppelin III'' is the third studio album by the English rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 5 October 1970. It was recorded in three locations. Much of the work was done at Headley Grange, a country house, using the Rolling St ...
'', released in 1970.
Background
The song is named after
Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur (Welsh for "breast of the gold", or by extension, "hill of the gold" or "golden hill"; ) is a privately owned 18th-century cottage, on the outskirts of Machynlleth, in Montgomeryshire, mid-Wales, best known for its association with ...
, a house in
Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...
, Wales, where the members of Led Zeppelin retreated in 1970 to write much of ''Led Zeppelin III'' after having completed a
concert tour of North America.
Bron-Yr-Aur means "golden breast" or "breast of gold" in Welsh, as in a hillside of gold. Its pronunciation is . The cottage had no electricity or running water, but the change of scenery provided inspiration for many of the songs on the album, including "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp".
Composition and recording
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 ...
and
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 ...
wrote "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" in 1970. The song was heavily influenced by a number called "Waggoner's Lad" by
Bert Jansch
Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...
, a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band
Pentangle. It is a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
-inflected
hoedown
A hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it.
Overview
The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, par ...
,
with lyrics about walking in the woods with Plant's blue-eyed
Merle
Merle may refer to:
People
*Merle (given name), a given name used by both men and women
*Merle (surname), a surname of French origin
Others
*Merle (dog coat), a pattern in dogs’ coats
*Merle (grape), another name for the wine grape Merlot
*Akaf ...
dog named Strider.
Plant reportedly named his dog after
Aragorn
Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arno ...
(often called Strider) from
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''.
However, there are no explicit references to Tolkien works in "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp". In live performance, Robert often shouts "Strider!" at the end of the song.
The group recorded the song at
Headley Grange
Headley Grange is a former workhouse in Headley, Hampshire, England. It is a Grade II listed historic building. It is best known for its use as a recording and rehearsal venue in the 1960s and 1970s, by acts including Led Zeppelin, Genesis a ...
in 1970, using the
Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio (also known as the RSM) is a mobile recording studio inside a DAF F1600 Turbo truck, once owned by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Numerous bands and artists have recorded music using the RSM, including ...
.
They completed it at
Island Studios
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
in London, and
Ardent Studios
Ardent Studios is an American recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee, United States.
History
Ardent Studios was founded by John Fry and were initially a studio in his family's garage, where he recorded his first 45s for the Arden ...
in Memphis, Tennessee.
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 ...
used an acoustic guitar, drummer
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Led Zeppelin. Esteemed for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove,J ...
played
spoons
Spoons may refer to:
* Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup
* Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons
Film and TV
* ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show
*Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos''
...
and
castanet
Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar ...
s,
and bassist
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...
played a
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
.
Jennings Farm Blues
Led Zeppelin also recorded the song as an electric
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
instrumental, "Jennings Farm Blues", a rough mix of which later surfaced as a studio out-take on a number of
Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings
The Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings are a collection of audio and video recordings of musical performances by the English rock band Led Zeppelin which were never officially released by the band, or under other legal authority. The recordings consis ...
.
Jennings Farm is the name of the property at
Blakeshall
Blakeshall is a hamlet in Worcestershire, England. It is one of the ancient townships of the manor of Wolverley, whose extent was similar to that of the modern civil parish of Wolverley & Cookley.
Early History
The Sebright family held land in ...
on which the Plant family stayed in the early 1970s.
"Jennings Farm Blues" was released on 2 June 2014, as part of the
remastering process of all nine albums.
See also
*
List of cover versions of Led Zeppelin songs
Led Zeppelin was an English rock band whose career spanned twelve years from 1968 to 1980. They are considered one of the most successful, innovative, and influential rock groups in history. During the band's tenure and in the years since they ...
*
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
{{authority control
1970 songs
Atlantic Records singles
Led Zeppelin songs
Song recordings produced by Jimmy Page
Songs written by Jimmy Page
Songs written by Robert Plant
Songs written by John Paul Jones (musician)
Skiffle songs