Led Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop
Led Zeppelin IV is 40 years old today.
“Misty Mountain Hop” is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album, released in 1971. In the United States and Australia it was the B-side of the “Black Dog” single, but still received considerable FM radio airplay. It was recorded at Headley Grange, a mansion with a recording studio in Hampshire, England, where the band sometimes lived.
Musically the song is a medium tempo rocker which begins with bassist John Paul Jones playing the electric piano. It is notable for the presence of layered guitar and keyboard parts, making it solidly melodic, and is driven by one of drummer John Bonham’s most powerful recorded performances in the studio. The song features a memorable riff, on which Page and Jones harmonize using keyboard and guitar. This repeating riff, heard on the bass guitar, is based on the notes A G E and sounds like a funk rock bassline. At 2:11, in the second half of the second verse, the band erroneously falls out of sync with one another. However, the musicians felt that the rest of the take was too good to discard it.
The most common interpretation of the song’s lyrics is that they point to an encounter with the police after smoking marijuana in the park, and leaving to go to the Misty Mountains (“where the spirits fly”)[citation needed], which seems to be a reference to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. References to the work of Tolkien also exist in other Led Zeppelin songs, such as “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”, “The Battle of Evermore”, “No Quarter, and “Ramble On”.
The group’s recording of this song also appeared as the sole Led Zeppelin track in the 1997 Time-Life 6-CD boxed set, Gold And Platinum: The Ultimate Rock Collection, marking one of the rare times that a Led Zeppelin recording has been released in a commercially-issued various artists compilation.
Walkin’ in the park just the other day, baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin’ on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
“Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?”
And you know how it is.
I really don’t know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay a while.
I didn’t notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, “Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line.”
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.
Why don’t you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin’,
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don’t care if they’re comin’; oh, oh,
I know that it’s all a state of mind.
If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don’t care, really don’t care, don’t care , really don’t , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I’ve decided what I’m gonna do now.
So I’m packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don’t know.
