Get the Led Out - Ep2540 wk of 29sep

'Get The Led Out' Explores The Incredible History Of The Rock Band Led Zeppelin!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Carol Miller. Welcome to our Get the
Letout calendar. On September twenty ninth, nineteen seventy one, Led
Zeppelin completed their first tour of Japan, playing their final
shows at Festival Hall in Osaka. The Dutch band Shocking
Blue had also played there, recently covering a song by
John Laudermilk called Tobacco Road. That song had become internationally

(00:23):
famous when a hit cover version in nineteen sixty four
by a British group called the Nashville Teens with Jimmy
Page on electric guitar made it a hit. When Zeppelin
played Tobacco Road in Tokyo, the crowd really responded. On

(00:51):
September thirtieth, nineteen seventy two, Led Zeppelin arrived in Japan
for their second tour. Just like the previous year, they
kicked things off by holding a press conference in Tokyo.
Led Zeppelin's long hair was a mainstay, but Jimmy Page
and Robert Plant had shaved their beards unlike last time.
Robert wore a light blue T shirt fully covering his

(01:12):
chest and abdomen. Lawn Cabot was a US Naval service
member stationed in Japan. A journalist for the publication Stars
and Stripes, Lawn transcribed some of the remarks led Zeppelin
made at the press conference, including when Jimmy said quote,
we're musicians, not politicians. Fifty five years ago, around Rocktober first,

(01:43):
nineteen seventy, Robert Plant was looking into reserving another retreat
to Wales with Jimmy page there's no electricity and only
a fireplace for heat. This made it the perfect distraction
free destination for Jimmy to bring a familiar acoustic guitar.
Jimmy was able to write music with his harmony sovereign acoustic,
even if he later decided to use electric guitars on

(02:06):
the finished product.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
This it's not the sort of thing where you would
go home and set up a huge amplification system just
to play a few risks, to explore the guitar and
the writing process. How it drew it on the acoustic
too all the time, but most of the time, and
that particular guitar is a vehicle whereby the first, second,
or third and fourth album is Brittany.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Fifty years ago, around October second, nineteen seventy five, led
Zeppelin had relocated to Malibu California and were now gathering
to rehearse occasionally. They haven't performed live since May at
Earl's Court in London. Led Zeppelin would have been touring
except that Robert Plant had a car accident in August
and was still recuperating from multiple fractures. By the time

(02:49):
led Zeppelin gathered in Malibu, Robert was feeling the blues.
In the early stages of the song two for One
Coming Together, Robert sang some of the forty five year
old lyrics from Cab Calloways Minie the Moochero. On October third,

(03:15):
nineteen sixty eight, Led Zeppelin squeezed in a recording session
at Olympic Sound Studios in London. They were recording their
debut album, but they had plenty of other ideas too Mama. Unfortunately,
Sugar Mama was let go. As Jimmy Page told me

(03:37):
in an interview, it wasn't their strongest short song. They
had enough stronger material than Sugar Mama, so it didn't
make the first album. Allegedly, they had forgotten about it
when they originally released Coda in nineteen eighty two, but
that changed for the deluxe reissue of Coda ten years
ago in twenty fifteen. More recently, the feature film Becoming

(03:59):
led Zeppelin makes ample use of Sugar Mama. This is
Carol Miller. Thanks for Getting the let Out. Check back
next week for another Get the Letout Calendar podcast