what hit song was composed int 1941, & in 1971 another song was named after it by Led Zepplin?

Answer 1

Battle of Evermore??

Answer 2

Hmmm...Led Zeppelin did a LOT of old Blues covers, Most notably, "Whole Lotta Love", "When The Levee Breaks", "Traveling Riverside Blues", "Bring It On Home" & "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", as well as about a zillion others, (especially in thier earlier albums), but none of them were copyrighted by Led Zeppelin in 1971, nor were they originally composed in 1941.

I have been blessed with having a complete song book of all of Led Zeppelin's studio recordings, & I could not find any that had both of the mentioned copyright dates on them.

They did have a few songs listed as 'Traditional' which included "Gallows Pole", which WAS copyrighted by Led Zeppelin in 1971, & "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper", originally arranged by Charels Obscure, which Led Zeppelin copyrighted in 1970, but niether of them sound right to me either.

I can continue searching, but I don't think the song you are thinking of actually exists, honey!

Are you sure these are the correct years and/or artists?

Answer 3

Do you mean 'When the Levee Breaks'?

"When the Levee Breaks" is a blues song written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. The song is based on the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

It was famously re-worked by Led Zeppelin as the last song on their fourth album. The lyrics in Led Zeppelin's song were based on the original recording by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, which Robert Plant had in his personal collection.

The Led Zeppelin version features a distinctive and often-sampled pounding drum beat by John Bonham recorded in a three-story stairwell, driving guitars and a wailing harmonica, all presumably meant to symbolize the relentless storm that threatens to break the levee, backing a powerful vocal performance by Robert Plant. The best-known song on the album may be "Stairway to Heaven", but "When the Levee Breaks" makes for a memorable finale.

The famous drum performance was actually recorded by placing the drumkit and drummer at the bottom of a stairwell at Headley Grange, and recording it using a microphone three stories above, giving the distinctive resonant but slightly muffled sound. The break has long been popular in hip hop and dance music circles for its "heavy" sound and has been used for many tracks, notably including Tomoyasu Hotei's Battle Without Honour Or Humanity from the Kill Bill soundtrack and the Beastie Boys' "Rhymin & Stealin" from their 1986 album Licensed to Ill.

Jimmy Page recorded Plant's harmonica part using the backward echo technique, putting the echo ahead of the sound when mixing, creating a unique effect.

Because this song was heavily produced in the studio, it was difficult to recreate live. The band only played this song a few times on their 1975 US Tour.

The song was also covered by W.A.S.P. on the bonus disk of The Crimson Idol in 1991, John Campbell on his Howlin' Mercy album in 1993, by Leftover Salmon on the classic "Ask the Fish" live album in 1995 and by A Perfect Circle on their third album eMOTIVe in 2004.

In 2004 an alternate version leaked to the bootleg community that had essentially the same instrumentation but a different vocal from Robert Plant with alternative lyrics and some verses out of order.