How do you follow the success of Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV? The album that included “Stairway to Heaven” was the second biggest-selling album of the decade (behind only Pink Floyd’s The Wall.) The British quartet had released their first four albums consistently about 12 months apart. The break following the fourth album was 17 months.
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The band braced themselves for the almost certain backlash following such a successful album. Mixed reviews greeted Houses of the Holy when it was released in March 1973. The album would go on to earn Diamond status, selling over 10 million copies in the U.S. Although it sold less than half of its predecessor, think how many bands wish they had a “failure” that sold as many. Led Zeppelin wasn’t a singles band. Houses of the Holy produced “Over The Hills and Far Away” and “D’yer Mak’er,” but it relied just as heavily on songs like “The Ocean,” “The Song Remains The Same,” and “The Rain Song” for its success. Let’s look at the meaning behind the song that started out with the working title “Slush,” “The Rain Song.”
The Beginning
Jimmy Page wrote the music and the melody. He worked out the arrangement at his home studio, incorporating acoustic and electric guitars using various tunings. George Harrison of The Beatles mentioned something about the lack of ballads in Led Zeppelin’s live shows. Page took it to heart and created the lush-sounding, beautiful ballad of all ballads. The backing track was recorded at Olympic Studios in London, where John Paul Jones worked out the string parts on his newly acquired mellotron. The instrument that used tape loops triggered by a keyboard had not been perfected, leading to Jones having to anticipate the timing, which he handled masterfully. The end result is beautiful. The sentimental, nostalgic song sends sunshowers out of the phonograph needle.
It is the springtime of my loving
The second season, I am to know
You are the sunlight in my growing
So little warmth I’ve felt before
It isn’t hard to feel me glowing
I watched the fire that grew so low, oh
The Seasons
Robert Plant composed the lyrics representing stages of a love affair compared and contrasted with the seasonal cycle. The spring signifies rebirth and awakening. The summer fire gives way to the winter freeze. Elements are timeless, and “The Rain Song” is a poignant masterpiece that breathes and swells with the tide. The long stretches of instrumental movements are precise, and the bass and piano round it out perfectly.
It is the summer of my smiles
Flee from me, keepers of the gloom
Speak to me only with your eyes
It is to you I give this tune
Ain’t so hard to recognize, oh
These things are clear to all from time to time, ooh
Happiest with His Voice
Plant told Rolling Stone in 2005, “I’d say that on ‘Rain Song,’ I sounded best. I’d reached a point where I knew that to get good, I couldn’t repeat myself. The high falsetto screams had become quite a kind of calling card. Nowadays, I learn new techniques on my trips to Mali and southern Morocco. I know about restraint and power and using my voice to insinuate.”
Oh
Talk, talk, talk, talk
Hey, I felt the coldness of my winter
I never thought it would ever go
I cursed the gloom that set upon us, ‘pon us, ‘pon us
But I know that I love you so
Oh, but I know
That I love you so
A Light Touch
Drummer John Bonham, who sits out for the first three minutes, plays brushes throughout the rest of the song. As “The Rain Song” builds, Bonham does not switch to regular drumsticks but just plays the brushes harder, leading to a big sound that grows with the tune. The final result is more orchestral and layered than a simple four-piece rock band. Bohnam drops out along with the piano, bass, and mellotron for the ending, where Page’s guitars shimmer and shine.
These are the seasons of emotion
And like the wind, they rise and fall
This is the wonder of devotion
I see the torch
We all must hold
This is the mystery of the quotient, quotient
Upon us all, upon us all, a little rain must fall
Just a little rain, oh, yeah
Oh, ooh, yeah-yeah-yeah
The Song Remains The Same
In the 1976 concert film, each member of Led Zeppelin is represented with a vignette showing their character. During “The Rain Song,” Robert Plant is featured as a Viking figure who has traveled across the waters and received a great sword. As the song begins, the day is beginning, and Plant finds a mushroom. It is implied he is ingesting some of the fungi before he rides a horse through the beautiful countryside, storms the castle, battles the guards, and rescues the beautiful young maiden.
Remastered
When the expanded rerelease of Houses of The Holy was issued in 2014, it included an alternate mix without the piano.
Page shared with Rolling Stone in 2020, “I recently found a really early tape that had been missing for a long while, but it’s got the full orchestration of ‘Rain Song.’ It goes all through to the very end, the same way that you know it, even with the bit in the middle where it goes a bit heavier before it goes back to the light and caressing parts. It’s all in there, the mellotron and everything.”
Renowned producer Rick Rubin reflected on “The Rain Song” this way: “I don’t even know what kind of music this is. It defies classification. There’s such tasteful, beautiful detail in the guitar and a triumphant feel when the drums come in—it’s sad and moody and strong, all at the same time. I could listen to this song all day. That would be a good day.”
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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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