LED ZEPPELIN - SINCE I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU

"I've been working from seven, baby - to eleven every night"

Led Zeppelin's 4th North American Tour concluded after 3 shows at San Francisco's Winterland ballroom on November 6th to 8th 1969. They knew that things were on the rise and had momentum. There was no chance to let up, to relax. A January UK Tour was already on the horizon, with further dates across Europe before the return to their own land of milk and honey in March.

Their own internal musical evolution had been swift and startling, managing to offer complete focus on both their wild and improvisational live performances and powerful, studios recorded work. II had managed to both add a heavier crunch to their sound and material in between more visceral and widescreen aural arrangements on What Is And What Should Never Be and Ramble On. 

Aside from the lift off boogie of Bring It On Home and the sexually charged groinal grind of The Lemon Song, there was little in the way of open, sweet blues on II. The live set included their Lemon Song pastiche at the end of the usually frantic How Many More Times medley, but the weight of blues in the set usually fell on their Willie Dixon cover I Can't Quit You Baby. It was played after the opening bluster, and remained their and in the set through to early 1970 where it survived the European dates and even the opening North American shows in Vancouver and Denver (possibly Seattle, Portland and Salt Lake City too) but was gone when Zeppelin hit the LA Forum. 

So they needed their own blues, something distinct and as original as a real blues song could be. Probably conceived and rehearsed in November and December, Since I've Been Loving You was unveiled on the January 1970 UK Tour. Bristol on January 8th is the first recorded version we have, although it was almost certainly played the previous night at the Birmingham Town Hall, the opening show of the tour. 

A lovely, gentle blues in C, it featured Jonesy on Hammond organ and the next step of the Page-Plant call and response passion play that would evolve so much over the years. Behind it all Bonzo stood true and firm, adding a deft and incredibly potent structure with a perfect mixture of light snare riffs and that insistent and more than occasionally squeaky depth charge bass drum.  

The Bristol performance is really a tentative framework with working lyrics and riffs, a newborn taking those first steps and learning those first words. Sadly absent from the recordings of the next much celebrated show at the Royal Albert Hall, we have 14 more live recordings before Led Zeppelin laid down the definitive studio take. You can hear the song evolve in that time, and by the time it was placed half a dozen songs into the set during the 5th North American Tour it was dramatic and becoming a highpoint. 

The wonderful 'first recording' on June 5th in Olympic No.1 may be very different from the take on III, but the version we all now and love is certainly the definitive one. Taking the live dynamics of I Can't Quit You Baby alongside one off live performances like Buddy Guy's Sitting And Thinking (Fillmore West 27-4-69), the addition of John Paul Jones on Hammond Organ and bass pedals is a revelation. 

The fact Jonesy gets a songwriting credit is testament to his input and influence here. We also have a couple of remarkable bootleg anomalies. The released version with a much rawer vocal eq and a few extra ad lib screams behind Jimmy's iconic solo that were edited from the final mix, and an isolated vocal only track of the first half of the song.

The two live versions we have immediately after the studio session - Bath June 28th and especially Berlin July 19th - are the most similar to that take, and from then on it became a pivotal part of the set, evolving and growing night after night. Already considered a live showcase, it was placed after the restful acoustic set for the 6th North American Tour. 

From the spring of 1971 it had obviously become more dramatic as the sound of the band grew, and from Belfast on March 5th right up until the Tuscon show on June 28th 1972 it remained in the opening part of the show. There are so many fantastic versions from this time, not least because Robert is in his highest and most dramatic voice, duelling against Jimmy's ever changing and chameleon like guitar licks and phrases. The famous bootlegs and official releases - BBC, Berkeley 14-9-71, How The West Was Won - are all stunning and unique, and how about Montreux 7-8-71, Orlando 31-8-71, Tokyo 24-9-71, Brisbane 29-2-72 or the two Nassau shows? All different, all unique, all Led Zeppelin.

In Japan Misty Mountain Hop was added to the show, and linked with SIBLY by way of a frenetic, breathless guitar interlude, the one we all know and love from the movie. By now Jonesy was using electric piano to add a more open sound, lighter and more tactile than the sometimes dated hammond organ undercurrent. This back to back segue remained a highlight of the set right up until the end of the '73 shows, becoming a highly dramatic set highpoint featuring Robert's best Janis Joplin pleading against Jimmy's ridiculously frenetic and charged guitar blasts and nuances. The final tour version from July 29th is the pinnacle of this arrangement and intent, and even the edited and tweaked movie/soundtrack version is one of the finest Led Zeppelin moments to these ears, let alone the drama of the visuals in the movie!

In 1975 the aural landscape had changed for Zeppelin, and a more muscular driving approach was preferred. But every now and again,  when the swagger and belief returned to the set (and band) it made 3 sudden appearances. Nassau on St Valentine's Day was the first (recorded) performance of the tour, then the Seattle 21-3 and final LA marathon. 1977 saw a dramatic return, and a full night after night recall. By now a drama of almost Shakesperean proportions, Jimmy's less fluent playing gave it a more open feel, the call and response now so dramatic and unique each line became a drama in itself. Jonesy and Bonzo punctuated and juxtaposed mood and intensity at will. Proof positive of the unique animal Led Zeppelin had become, total empathy and an 'esp' level of musical connection and understanding.

For the final Led Zeppelin shows in 1979 and 1980 SIBLY had muh more relaxed and almost serene feel. The call and response was by now three and even four way, an extension of the perfect harmony that had instrumentally blossomed in No Quarter (and obviously before then in Dazed And Confused) onstage. 

Jimmy's solo was extended to double length too, with a hushed Tea For One segment adding to the pathos and drama before Bonzo brought it all back up for the finale. Sometimes it felt they were playing a stadium, others a sleazy bar or a Jazz club. No matter. The evolution of such a song, such an arrangement, is pure Led Zeppelin. Those last versions have a sad melancholic feel, sometimes tired too. 

Post Zeppelin Robert would throw lines in during the 83/4 Tour, but no former Zep member would attempt it until the Unledded reunion. Then, with a great Ed Shearer string arrangement that owed a lot to Jonesy's various embellishments and crescendo's, the Unledded Tour brought it back. One of the highlights of the sessions for me, with a different feel again. More reflective, less histrionic.

A beautiful song, a pretty blues as I've heard it described. One of the many paths and avenues explored to great effect by Led Zeppelin, and certainly a cornerstone of their greatness. 

Obviously never a single, it does appear on a Brasilian EP included with the magazine 'Rock Espetacular'...