"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'', released in 1970.

Background

The song is named after Bron-Yr-Aur, 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, 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 (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. They completed it at Island Studios 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

used an acoustic guitar, drummer John Bonham 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 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 Remaster refers to quality enhancement of sound and/or picture of a previously existing recording. Remastering may also refer to: *Software remastering Software remastering is software development that recreates system software and software appl ...

process of all nine albums.

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

Background

Composition and recording

Jennings Farm Blues

See also

References