The history of Whole Lotta Love is full of interesting events. It turned out to be Led Zeppelin’s first hit single, was repeatedly included in various authoritative ratings of the best tracks, and even became the cause of legal disputes between the band members and blues legend Willie Dixon (Willie Dixon).
The history of creation and the meaning of the song Whole Lotta Love
First, Page came up with a riff that became the basis for the future song. Bassist John Paul Jones once said that Jimmy composed the break while improvising on stage, but the author denied this claim:
No no. It’s not like that at all. No. She [песня] was put together when we were rehearsing some tune for the second album. I had a riff. Everyone was at my house, and we started with him. She has never written during a performance …
Uncut, 2008
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Jimmy elaborated on Whole Lotta Love’s story:
I came up with the guitar riff for Whole Lotta Love in the summer of 1968 while on my houseboat on the Thames in Pangbourne, UK. I guess the inspiration came from my longtime love of long introductions by country rock guitarists. But as soon as I wrote the riff, I realized that it was powerful enough to not just start the song, but to completely pull it on itself. When I played a riff to the band in my living room a few weeks later during rehearsals for our first album, it got everyone excited. We felt that this riff attracts like something forbidden.
WSJ
At the initiative of Robert Plant, the lyrics of Whole Lotta Love, full of obscene allusions, used entire lines from the famous composition You Need Love, which Willy Dixon wrote for Muddy Waters. Such frivolous treatment of other people’s property led to a trial that ended not in favor of Led Zeppelin.
Jimmy Page said:
Later, some people said that Whole Lotta Love was based on Willie Dixon’s You Need Love and You Need Loving The Small Faces. My riff – the basis of the whole song – sounds completely different from either the first or the second. Robert referred to Dixon’s lyrics because they seemed to fit my riff. Later, because of this, we were forced to recognize Dixon as a co-author of our song. But if you take out Robert’s vocals, there are no musical references to any of those songs.
WSJ
Interestingly, back in 1966, Dixon’s composition was performed under the name You Need Loving by The Small Faces, but the legendary bluesman did not sue them, although in that case he was also not indicated by the author.
Recording and release
The studio version of Whole Lotta Love was recorded at the London Olympic Studios with the participation of sound engineers George Chkiantz and Eddie Kramer, without whom the final result would hardly have been so spectacular. Jimmy Page did not trust anyone to manage the recording process and acted as a producer himself.
In November 1969, the song was released as the first single from the Atlantic album Led Zeppelin II. She entered the top 10 charts in many countries. By April 1970, more than a million copies had been sold and the record was officially certified gold.
Whole Lotta Love is one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs. In addition, it is included in the ratings of the most deserving guitar tracks by readers of Rolling Stone and Q. It is also one of the most significant hard rock songs according to VH1. And BBC Radio 2 listeners voted the famous break as the best guitar riff of all time.
Clip Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
And now let’s see the music video of Whole Lotta Love, which is called the official video for the song on the band’s YouTube channel.
On the same channel, the following video is also called the official video clip of Whole Lotta Love.
Interesting Facts
- Especially for radio stations, Atlantic released a stripped down (from the original 5:33 to 3:12) version of the song. According to Page, he played the record once, hated it immediately, and never listened to it again.
- The song features the theremin, an electric musical instrument invented by Lev Theremin in 1919.
- It is believed that Whole Lotta Love was the first track to use the back echo effect.
- For many years, the composition remained the main theme song of the popular TV show Top of the Pops.
- At concerts, the band often inserted excerpts from their other songs into Whole Lotta Love.
- The song with a slightly edited version of the lyrics sounded in a spectacular number at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. It was played by Jimmy Page himself, and the vocals were performed by Leona Lewis.
Whole Lotta Love Lyrics
You need cooling, baby, I’m not fooling
I’m going to send you back to schooling
Way down inside, honey, you need it
I’m going to give you my love
I’m going to give you my love
Chorus x4
Want a whole lot of love?
You’ve been learning, baby, I’ve been learning
All them good times, baby, baby, I’ve been yearning
Way, way down inside honey, you need it
I’m gonna give you my love…
I’m going to give you my love
You’ve been cooling, baby, I’ve been drooling
All the good times I’ve been misusing
Way, way down inside
I’m going to give you my love
I’m going to give you every inch of my love
Going to give you my love
Way down inside… woman… You need… love
Shake for me girl. I want to be your backdoor man
Keep it cool, baby
Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin Lyrics
Cool down, baby, I’m not joking
I will train you
Somewhere in there, baby, you need it
I will give you my love
I will give you my love
Chorus 4 times
Do you want lots of love?
You’re learning baby and I’m learning
How long, baby, I burned with passion
Somewhere inside you need it
I will give you my love
I will give you my love
You’re chilling baby and I’m drooling
How much time have I wasted
Somewhere inside
I will give you my love
I will give you every inch of my love
I will give you my love
Somewhere inside… a woman… you need… love
Shake it up, girl. I want to visit you from the back door.
Keep up the good work, baby
