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Led Zep Fool in the Rain

I recently posted a thread on “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” mainly due to its iconic drum lick so thought I’d follow up with this one — another iconic drum part I really enjoyed learning. To be honest, when this song first came out I was disappointed and scratching my head cause it was so radically different from all their prior work. As I matured I realized it’s an awesome song, which is why I endeavored to eventually learn the drum part.  And it’s a shuffle for those not familiar with drum lingo but with an interesting twist with an open hi hat hit on the and of 1 that really gives it its iconic sound. I later learned that, for some reason, Led Zep never played this song live, and since I can’t find it live anywhere I’m starting to believe it and why I’m just copying the production version here. Still well worth listening to IMHO, but wondering if anyone has any insights as to why they never played this song live? Anyway…

https://youtu.be/RFBHYRpA1LY?si=PbGsNuYVi5c7dKSD

soix
yesiam_a_pirate's avatar
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yesiam_a_pirate
195 posts
 

As I understand the lore this was a John Paul Jones arrangement which tinkered with a Brazilian motif. It was written around when Presence was being arranged/recorded. The problem at that time was heroin. Page was truly strung out as was Plant- to a lesser extent. Plant described talking to Page as "tapping on a thick glass". Jonsie stepped up and managed the sessions saving Page "Led Wallet" a fortune in studio time. Supposedly Page and Plant would no-show at studio time and get billed for it. 

As for "just my opinion" as to why it was not played live: It's a radio song. The 1st 6 notes get repeated ad-nauseum and the Brazilian Carnival whistling and stomping is irritating. It's probably hard to duplicate in a 4 piece live presentation as well.  

I'm not insulting anyone's preferences for or against this tune- just proffering my personal take on it. Obviously I'm a huge Zep fan and their worst stuff is superior to most other's work. 

acmaier3's avatar
acmaier3
55 posts
 

As a massive Zeppelin fan and broad music connoisseurs, this is my favorite Zep song. Granted a more mature me. I think it points directly toward what was coming from Plant's solo work. The drumming is incredible and changes style. The guitar solo is unique and very cool - it grew on me over the years. The lyrics completely emotive and brilliant.  It's not classic sounding for them except in that it is definitely a unique creation and still theirs. 

dawgfish
157 posts
 

I'm not a drummer, but I found this explanation of Bonham's drumming on a number of Zep songs to be really interesting:  What Makes John Bonham Such a Good Drummer? (youtube.com).

Happy Listening.

df

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