LED ZEPPELIN - TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT

"I'm so glad I took a look inside your showroom doors"

So, Led Zeppelin recovened after Xmas 1973 to carry on working on new material. Back at Headley Grange, and with Jonesy's unsettled mind now at ease, a wider spectrum of material was composed and took the band to new, even more sophisticated places.

Before their unscheduled break the harder edged guitar-bass-drums material was honed - Sick Again, The Wanton Song, In My Time Of Dying as well as the insistent DADGAD muse that was to become Kashmir - and by late January they turned to different ideas. Jimmy brought the multi layered home demo's of Ten Years Gone that he'd assembled in Plumpton and the original piano led melody In The Morning would morph and evolve triumphantly into the new age epic In The Light.

One of the other new ideas was a driving, insistent idea led by Jonesy's Harpsichord. Musically it had one foot in Funk and Soul with more than a passing nod to Stevie Wonder's massive hit Superstition. The remarkable rehearsal tapes we have bring to life the light but hard working atmosphere as Bonzo is encouraged to try a variety of evermore complex drum intro's before he says what he knew all along, that Jonesy starts it before he and Jimmy crunch down. 

The original riff isn't quite there, it's reversed and the whole jam has a lighter, almost 'springy' feel. The intensity isn't quite there, but soon starts to emerge as they fine tune the riff and bridge arrangement. The structure comes together quickly - we've got 20 odd minutes of the writing process - to the point where by February 15th the basic track is recorded using Ronnie Lane's Mobile at Headley Grange. 

Now strident and insistent, Trampled Under Foot - the working title Brandy & Coke was used on the original reels as per the companion disc with Physical Graffiti - became a heady, muscular highlight of the new tracks. Jimmy added guitar dubs carefully with each verse, emphasising the hypnotic repetition of the main riff. When It came to the solo section, Jonesy set the tone with a great strident workout as Jimmy added swooping guitars, drenched in wah wah, swirling amid his patented backward echo as the solo section reached its climax. 

The final verses and coda get more and more intense, while maintaining the seemingly simple groove and crunch of the band. And Robert recognised the insistent groove as being overtly sexual, and almost overwhelmingly driving. 

Lyrically he turned to Robert Johnson for inspiration, likening a car to the sexual act as Johnson had done in that hotel room in San Antonio, Texas in 1936 when he laid down Terraplane Blues. It was so named after the Hudson Terraplane, a very popular car in the 1930's. 

Robert's lyrics, full of trouble free transmission, pumping gas and heavy metal underneath the hood were the perfect metaphor indeed. Throughout the early 1975 shows he'd explain the background nightly, more detail especially during the opening leg of the tour when the LP wasn't yet in the shops.

It's a fantastic song, and a masterful use of the power Led Zeppelin could summon up at will and use with consummate ease. It fits perfectly on side two of Graffiti, between the rollicking Houses Of The Holy and the grandeur of Kashmir. Arguably the finest side of music assembled by Led Zeppelin. 

An obvious live candidate, it was rehearsed at Ezyhire in late '74 and immediately put into the new set. Four of the eight new songs would feature in the live set - 5 if you include the brief appearances of The Wanton Song - and after the warm up shows settled into the middle of the set. Placed as a crunching boogie after the extravagant improvisations of No Quarter, Trampled Under Foot was brilliant from the off. 

Despite Robert missing, repeating and swapping lyrics the sheer power alone was enough to get cold concrete stadiums up and shaking. Jimmy added guitar swoops and howls as it began to stretch. Within it all, the band were right on the money, especially during the earlier shows on the tour where it seemed to have an almost overwhelming intensity. Played every night, you'd be hard pushed to find a poor version across the whole '75 Tour.

As Led Zeppelin hit the West Coast Robert would ad lib bits of Gallows Pole as the guys morphed into that crazed yet controlled rhythm as they headed for home. By the time Earls' Court came round it was a magnificent live beast. The version from May 24th sits in my mind to this day, with some of the most exciting footage to bring it to life. 

The 1975 Trampled Under Foot is the perfect live song for Led Zeppelin. It sums up their confidence, their ability to swing and crunch down at the same time and was in many ways the centre piece of a 'heavy' insistent live set. 

After the enforced and extended lay off from live work for some 22 months, the 1977 set had a change of emphasis, away from the subsonic dinosaur stomp of  much of the '75 shows. Both Jimmy and Jonesy had harder, edgier sounds and the acoustic set returned. Subsequently Trampled Under Foot began life as the 'standard' second encore. 

We have nine recordings from the first leg of the tour, from Oklahoma to Pontiac. It's a chaotic, insistent boogie, a farewell stomp after 3 or more hours of Led Zeppelin light and shade. even then,it rarely disappointed, and brilliant performances in Atlanta and the second Cleveland show are real highlights!

Once the second leg kicked off it was again the final fanfare in Houston and the last Maryland show. When Led Zeppelin returned to Broadway it was surprisingly absent for the six night stint. Once on the west coast for the second leg finale it appeared in the set on the 3rd, 4th and 6th nights, placed between Kashmir and Bonzo's showcase. And of the final four shows of the sadly truncated 3rd leg it's only missing from Seattle.

Come 1979 Trampled Under Foot returned for all four shows, once again following Kashmir before the final head for home. Although not as powerful as the early '75 versions it still had moments of magic and summoned up incredible energy and power.

And once more in 1980 it was a pivotal part of the set, right in the middle after All My Love and before the extended blues of Since I've Been Loving You. Like much of the tour in could be perfunctory one night, inspired the next. It grew in confidence and power as the tour rode on, with Zurich and Frankfurt standing out. By the last night in Berlin we had the most extraordinary version - the longest ever version that keeps strangely steady and linear. Over an almost martial tempo Jimmy uses echo endlessly to create crowds of sound and dissonance. 

We do have some live footage, cine clip from '75 include Chicago, Dallas, Long Beach, both Seattle nights, all the LA nights and of course the pro shot 24th & 25th Earls' Court films. In 1977 there's only a tiny clip from the LA Badgeholders show.

For 1979 both Knebworths are of course pro filmed, and there are various 1980 cine clips from Cologne, Rotterdam, Zurich and Munich.

And post Zeppelin Robert brought it back in 1988, linked with John Lee Hooker's 'Dimples'. Of course there was the magical encore jam with Jimmy at Hammersmith on April 17th. 

It was rehearsed for the Atlantic 40th (without Robert)... And, not forgetting the 02 tribute show....

Back in '75 it was a worldwide single with Black Country Woman on the flip. In the UK 5,000 were pressed as a 'special limited edition' giveaway to shops that stocked the Zeppelin vinyl catalogue, coming in a special die-cut black sleeve cat no DC1. 

Years later various rare pressings have turned up from white labels, test pressings, red label 'publisher' copies and even a UK 7" with a proper Swan Song cat no - SSK 19403! 

Of course there are various Worldwide rarities and oddities, from the edited mono/stereo US 7" to Japanese white labels and even a cassette single from the US, but once more the UK rarities top them all....