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Author: zoo
Date: 06-12-11 21:37
I was in the car with my 5 and 8 year old kids yesterday. I'm flipping channels on the radio and stop on Led Zep's "No Quarter." As soon as the vocals start, both of my kids start cracking up.
Me: "What's so funny?"
Them: "That singer sounds funny!"
Me: "Well, it's not meant to be a funny song."
Son: "What's it about?"
Me: "I don't know, but it's called 'No Quarter.'"
Son: "I have a quarter in my pocket."
Me: "Not that kind of...oh never mind."
Them: continue cracking up when the vocals start again.
As I started to think about it, I realized the song was pretty funny. I think Led Zep were taking themselves a little too seriously with that one.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 06-13-11 00:00
"As I started to think about it, I realized the song was pretty funny. I think Led Zep were taking themselves a little too seriously with that one."
I have to agree and disagree with that one. . .anytime you're talking about the river Styx and by proxy death. . . Well, I have to laugh a bit about the preciousness of long-haired rockers who would write a song about it, but then again I take that shit seriously. It is--and isn't--silly that the band would sing about it (i.e. Plant lost a kid, something I could never imagine being able to bounce back from. . . and I have 5 of them). So, yes, "No Quarter" is both silly. . . and yet it also isn't.
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Author: willie
Date: 06-13-11 00:22
Therein lies the Zep paradox: they were an awesome unit that often fell back on lazy hippie imagery. It is very hard to get lost in the gravitas of the music when lines like "Mellow is the mind/That knows what he's been missing" pop up without warning.
I can't listen to "Ramble On" without laughing once Plant starts yelping about "Gollum and the evil one" creeping up and stealing his girl.
Even "The Immigrant Song," a track so majestic as to be almost critic-defying, ends with the first person narrative giving way to The Hippy in the Sky imploring the monk-slaying Norsemen them to accept that "peace and love can win the day."
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 06-13-11 05:35
Zep are freaking hilarious. Sometimes intentionally and sometimes not so much.
OK;actually, it was just Plant. He really didn't come up with much that was original. Mostly sex metaphors and blues phrases retread.
"Mellow is the mind"
Mellow is the man
"Where's that confounded bridge?"
As an intentional spoof of James Brown - supposed humorous. "Take it to the bridge. Haah! Hehh! Haoow! Take it to the bridge. Take it to the bridge. Un-hunhh. hehhh!!! Haooww!"
Swept New York a glancing kiss.
To those who claim they know,
Below the streets that steam and hiss, the devil's in his hold
Really Robert? The steam coming from those manhole covers isn't just...steam?
Yours is the cloth
mine is the hand that sews time
His is the force that lies within
Ours is the fire and all warmth we can find
He is a feather in the wind
Maybe in '69. But in '79?
^Weird verboseness >
How keen the storied hunter's eye prevails upon the land
to seek the unsuspecting and the weak
and powerless the fabled sat too smug to lift a hand
toward the foe that threatened them from the deep
Who cares to dry the cheeks of those who saddened stand
adrift upon a sea of futile speech
and throw the bane and make a stage as planned
There's no fair memory we cannot reach
Touched by the timely callin', roused from the keeper's sleep
Release the grip, throw down the key
Held now within the knowing, rest now within the beat
Take of the fruit but guard the seed
WTF?? Did Robert cop Peart?
I always thought this line was funny:
Down by the seaside, see the boats go sailing
Can the people hear what the little fish are saying?
It is the springtime of my loving
The second season I am to know
What was the first season, the winter of your eating?
Intentionally funny:
Sex with black woman is (or was) a euphemism tradition in roots rock:
Oh, baby, it ain't the wrapping that sells the goods
got a sweet tooth, but my mouth is full
Yeah! chocolate bite! Yeah!
Well, baby, ya sting like a bee
I like your honey and it sure likes me
I got my spoon inside your jar
Or just calling married pussy "pie" (albeit "custard" is kinda gross)
When you see me coming mama, throw your man out t'door
I ain't no stranger, been this way before
Your custard pie is sweet and nice
When you cut it, mama, save me a slice
I'm chewing a piece of your custard pie
Drop down
The songs about groupies were humorous, especially when Robert's drug use meant he couldn't perform:
You said I was your one and only, with my lemon in your hand
Uh-oh
But exhibition is your habit, emotion's second-hand
Had to pull away to save me
Well, maybe next time around
And she said, "Doncha want cocaine?"
"Hadn't planned to..."
Your wine and roses ain't quite over
To fame, it deals a losing hand
And I said, "Didn't mean to fluff it!"
When you blow it, babe, you got to blow it right
Baby, if you fake it, fake with all your might
With the fine lines of the crystal pane through your nose
And when they couldn't resist ya
I said, "Just go with the flow"
And now your stage is empty
Pull down the curtain
Please, fold up your show
Not sure if sex with the underaged groupies is funny by today's standards though:
One day soon you're gonna reach sixteen
Painted lady in the city of lights
Said ya dug me since ya were thirteen
then you giggled as you heaved and sighed
But if you can't joke about groupies when yr in a 70s band...
Silent woman, in the night you came
Took my seed from my shaking frame
Same old fire, another flame
And the wheel rolls on...
Or just singing about an orgasm.
It starts out like a murmur, and then it grows like thunder
'till it bursts inside of you
Try and hold it steady...wait until you're ready...any second now will do
And supposedly JPJ never quite saw the humor when Robert laid down vox that referenced JPJ's accidentally picking up a trans in New Orleans
Whiskers!
New Orleans queens sure know how to shmooze it
Maybe for some that seems alright
But when I step out and strut down with my sugar
She better not talk like Barry White
There's also the obligatory going-downtown-to-cop that's funny in light of the era and the admitted results
The corner of Bleeker and "nowhere", in the land of not-quite-day
Shiver ran down my backbone, face in the mirror turned gray
So I looked around to hitchup a reindeer
Searching hard, trying to brighten the day
I turned around to look for the snow-man
To my surprise he'd melted away
Post Edited (07-02-11 14:04)
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Author: mats84
Date: 06-13-11 05:36
I have almost died, on 2 separate occasions from laughing at the song "Hot Dog".
In the song "Nobody's Fault But Mine" when Plant sings "got a monkey on my back, m-m-m-m-monkey on my back back back back" I often think "give him the f'n microphone then, I'd rather hear the chimp sing".....which is sorta funny I guess.
Post Edited (06-13-11 05:36)
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 06-13-11 05:40
But the lyrics to No Quarter are some of the least silly and most stylistically fitting (not to a kid unaware of Norse mythology and military terms but oh well).
The winds of Thor are blowing cold
They're wearing steel that's bright and true
They carry news that must get through
They choose the path where no one goes
They hold no quarter
There are of course a few great lyrics in the catalog as well.
Such as the selling-soul-at-the-crossroads metaphor changed to honor the hellhound heroes; only to ultimately find stadium-sized fame a faceless ocean.
And I've always liked the Terraplane, cataloged sports-car-as-sex metaphor of Trampled. Particularly "Come to me for service every hundred miles. Let me check your points/fix your overdrive."
And a few others are great (and not just the ones that were blues standards phrases retreads - by far the majority)
Post Edited (07-02-11 14:06)
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 06-13-11 05:45
Right, unlike the previous year's "Faraway Eyes", "Hot Dog" was parody more than homage.
Post Edited (07-02-11 14:07)
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Author: hoip chiggs
Date: 06-13-11 09:31
Zep lines I found funny:
Now I'm givin all my love to the girl who won my heart.
She is only three years old, and that's a real fine place to start.
But the Norse mythology and Tolkien references are serious as shit.
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Author: Delvin
Date: 06-13-11 09:39
Last year, I told my nephews (ages 16 and 13, at the time) about concerts I'd seen recently. I told them about seeing an all-female LZ tribute band. The younger boy (who was just starting to get into music) asked, "You mean the singer in that band sings like a man?"
The older boy cracked up and said, "Why should she? The singer in the real Led Zeppelin didn't sing like one half the time."
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 06-13-11 09:45
http://www.feistees.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/gdflls.jpg
.
.
.
Listen to "Hot Dog" and ask that question again.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 06-13-11 10:31
I'm not a fan, but I've always thought Led Zeppelin was funny, and often in on the joke. They were critically reviled from the start, so it's not like they could win anyone over with their lyrics.
What I find interesting is that while I don't care for Led Zeppelin, I enjoy and appreciate the fact that Plant, Page and Jones have all continued to do their own things the past 30 years, oftentimes with greater enthusiasm and dedication than their contemporaries.
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Author: Delvin
Date: 06-13-11 10:56
I'm a huge LZ fan. Have been since I first heard them, and always will be. One of the few musical entities from my adolescence that I still enjoy. Yeah, some of those lyrics quoted above are pretty dopey, but so are Prince's, a whole lot of the time, and I love his work too.
I've also enjoyed Robert Plant's solo work a lot. And although Them Crooked Vultures wasn't the greatest album I'd heard all year, I dug it enough to get a ticket to see the band. It was cool to see John Paul Jones in action — one of the greatest utility men in all of rock. (I wonder how Jones felt whenever he looked back at Dave Grohl, who played drums that night with a manic fervor similar to John Bonham's, and even looked a little like Bonzo with his long hair and beard.)
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 06-13-11 11:08
I thought the exact same thing when I saw TCV record their Austin City Limits episode. Jones was all over the place, playing great bass, some cool keyboards and even singing some (not his strong suit, admittedly). I can't say what he brought to the party conceptually, considering that to my ears TCV sound just like Queens of the Stone Age, but he looked like he was having a good time and he was an essential element to the sound.
It's hard to say how much of LZ's, or any 70s arena band's, humor was intentional. Given Plant's numerous erudite and witty interviews, I'd like to think it was, and I'm sure if you asked him he'd claim it so. But given the examples everyone's quoting above, that would likely be revisionism.
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Author: zoo
Date: 06-13-11 12:44
Paganizer wrote:
> btw, zzo
>
> were they laughing at the lyrics or the heavy treatment?
Oh, they were definitely laughing at how he sounded, i.e., the heavy treatment. I'm sure they couldn't make out anything he was saying.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 06-13-11 15:10
Say, uh, that reminds me of this exchange...about balloons...from Raising Arizona:
Evelle Snoats: These blow up into funny shapes and all?
Grocer: Well no...unless round is funny.
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 06-14-11 06:05
Round is freaking hilarious. I always say.
No Quarter does have heavy treatments (reverb, slightly phased, I can't remember what else) on the vox and then the track was a half-step varispeed. I can see it would sound weird to a kid.
Post Edited (07-02-11 14:07)
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 06-16-11 05:21
"12 string guitars have only 6 more strings but they're 85 TIMES as likely to be used in a song about wizards"
-Rob Delaney
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Author: nba1314
Date: 06-22-11 01:51
I was recently in play a game called RS game, I was there are a lot of powerful equipment, are bought with RS Gold". It took me only a week made a lot of Runescape Gold, if you also play RS, I can give you a lot of wow, let you also buy powerful equipment. Extra RS Gold can also get Internet up to sell.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 07-02-11 23:35
Led Zep is funny. Tune your acoustic to C6 tuning, get the tablature going, and play along with the song Friends. Only a hilarious over-the-top band could put across such a ridiculous riff.
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Author: Delvin
Date: 07-03-11 00:06
Come on, guys, let's face it: LZ isn't nearly as funny as these bullshit posts about RS Gold.
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Author: Kenyetta
Date: 04-16-12 23:39
You can use batteries but it what is smd 5050 would be easier to get a small 12 volt led 12 volt lights power supply. You can run it all you want with a power led strip flexible supply and not worry about the batteries running down. Check with Radio Shack or Best Buy for a power supply. Make sure it can produce the current or amps the lights need.
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Author: rhettlawrence
Date: 04-17-12 12:22
Good ol' Kenyetta - always looking at the practical side instead of engaging in this meaningless banter about the Zep. Love ya, man!
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Author: Delvin
Date: 04-17-12 15:41
> You can run it all you want with a power led strip flexible supply ...
Led Zeppelin, Led Flexxible ... It's all good.
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Author: hoip chiggs
Date: 04-17-12 23:10
You can use batteries but it what is smd 5050
Livin, Lovin
She's just a woman
You can run it all you want with a power led strip flexible supply ...
Livin, Lovin
She's just a woman
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Author: Delvin
Date: 04-18-12 15:45
Oh yeah, the one with "Whole Lotta Hoip" and "Hoipbreaker." And who could forget the drum solo in "Moby Chiggs."
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