WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS
THE BASICS
Written by: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Memphis Minnie. Run time: 7 minutes 8 seconds
Recorded at: Headley Grange, Hampshire, 1971
In a nutshell: The enormous closing statement, and an incendiary reinterpretation from a band with their share of covers up their sleeve. Famed for its cavernous drums and hypnotic hooks, it breathed power and fiery dynamics into a 1920s artefact. Talk about ending on a high.
Noted cover versions by: Kristen Hersh (1994), A Perfect Circle (2004), Jeff Buckley (various), W.A.S.P (1998)
THE BAND
“You’ve got backwards harmonica, backwards echo, phasing, and there’s also flanging, and at the end you get this super-dense sound, in layers, that’s all built around the drum track. And you’ve got Robert, constant in the
