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Hey Hey What Can I Do?


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This song has always baffled me. I find it to be possibly the most commercial/radio friendly song they ever did. This is not a B-side song. There must have been something they didn't like about it, but I can't can't figure out what the problem was with it. Did they find it too radio friendly? The performance is all around brilliant and has to be one of Plants finest moments, but it has always sounded like a cover song to me. There's something very un-zeppelin like about it and I can't put my finger on it. They even have sing a long chorus at the end. Iconic vocals, bass and drumming in the grand Zeppelin style, but it just doesn't sound like one of their tunes to me. 

Any thoughts on this urgent matter?:D

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2 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

This song has always baffled me. I find it to be possibly the most commercial/radio friendly song they ever did. This is not a B-side song. There must have been something they didn't like about it, but I can't can't figure out what the problem was with it. Did they find it too radio friendly? The performance is all around brilliant and has to be one of Plants finest moments, but it has always sounded like a cover song to me. There's something very un-zeppelin like about it and I can't put my finger on it. They even have sing a long chorus at the end. Iconic vocals, bass and drumming in the grand Zeppelin style, but it just doesn't sound like one of their tunes to me. 

Any thoughts on this urgent matter?:D

I agree with you, apart from the observation that they didn't like the song. The fact that they put it on the 45 as a B side suggests that they too thought that the song was worthy of release, but didn't have room for it on the LP.

Keep in mind that they had an embarrassment of riches to draw from at this time and there were other fantastic songs that got canned for the longest time, and were later released on the LZ III Deluxe Edition; and that doesn't take into account Poor Tom. Hey, Hey is one of my favourite tunes of all time. 

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9 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

This song has always baffled me. I find it to be possibly the most commercial/radio friendly song they ever did. This is not a B-side song. There must have been something they didn't like about it, but I can't can't figure out what the problem was with it. Did they find it too radio friendly? The performance is all around brilliant and has to be one of Plants finest moments, but it has always sounded like a cover song to me. There's something very un-zeppelin like about it and I can't put my finger on it. They even have sing a long chorus at the end. Iconic vocals, bass and drumming in the grand Zeppelin style, but it just doesn't sound like one of their tunes to me. 

Any thoughts on this urgent matter?:D

Not un-Zeppelin at all, unless you consider You're Time is Gonna Come, Good Times, Bad Times, Ramble On, Black Country Woman as un-Zeppelin as well. They are just traditional rock songs with a chorus and a hook. Zeppelin had no problem writing and releasing radio friendly tunes, however they did not focus on it like most bands did / do.

I concur, great song

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They should have put this song on (the 1st edition of Coda).  Not only would it have increased the album's duration in minutes, it would have increased the album's sales.  The song was very popular on the radio and was only available (for purchase) on the B-side of the "Immigrant Song" 45 rpm.  I remember Zep releasing it as a cassette single in 1990.  I still have it somewhere.

 

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On 12/25/2016 at 1:05 AM, IpMan said:

Not un-Zeppelin at all, unless you consider You're Time is Gonna Come, Good Times, Bad Times, Ramble On, Black Country Woman as un-Zeppelin as well. They are just traditional rock songs with a chorus and a hook. Zeppelin had no problem writing and releasing radio friendly tunes, however they did not focus on it like most bands did / do.

I concur, great song

If you want to talk Un-Zeppelin, how about Carouselambra.

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On 12/24/2016 at 9:26 AM, chef free said:

I never could understand why this song didn't make it on to the album!  It would have been a perfect end to it, certainly better than Hats Off to Harper!!!!!

It's on the Strider edition of Led Zeppelin III. ;)

7 hours ago, JTM said:

If you want to talk Un-Zeppelin, how about Carouselambra.

 

4 hours ago, craigled said:

Talking of Carouselambra, I would say that is the track i move about to the most. I like it a lot.

 

2 hours ago, MortSahlFan said:

Never liked this song, and that's a rare thing for me to say about ANY Zeppelin song.

 

I love Carouselambra though!

 

2 hours ago, Clinton P. Desveaux said:

Carouselambra is a Zepp high point 

:threadjacked:

I love "Hey Hey What Can I Do?". I don't consider it un-Zeppelin. I don't consider it a throwaway.

If Led Zeppelin III had been designed to be an all-acoustic affair, then surely it would have been on the album. But since they clearly wanted an eclectic mix for the third album...electric rockers and blues and trance-folk for side one and the acoustic stuff for side two...space was at a premium.

Jimmy was already playing "Bron-Yr-Aur" on tour in 1970 before the album came out, dedicating each performance to the "small derelict cottage" in Snowdonia, Wales. Yet the song was left off the album and shelved until "Physical Graffiti" five years later. The band was a victim of their own creative explosion...they had an embarrassment of riches from 1969-1974.

"Hey Hey" was always fun to hear on the radio in the 1970s. That's when you knew you had a good station that didn't just follow a marketing plan.

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Perhaps I am mistaken, but when this song was on the radio first it didn't fade out, It came to an abrupt end with guitar

and mandolin licks colliding and then total stop. I actually have this on tape from the radio 35 yrs ago. So was this Zep

approved (the sudden stop) or a programmers' edit ?? For a long time now on the radio and the various compilations

the song does slowly fade. Comment ??

 

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2 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

Perhaps I am mistaken, but when this song was on the radio first it didn't fade out, It came to an abrupt end with guitar

and mandolin licks colliding and then total stop. I actually have this on tape from the radio 35 yrs ago. So was this Zep

approved (the sudden stop) or a programmers' edit ?? For a long time now on the radio and the various compilations

the song does slowly fade. Comment ??

 

This has to be a recent trend, for it does not fade on the original B-side single release nor did the radio stations I heard it on fade it out when they played the single.

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6 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

Perhaps I am mistaken, but when this song was on the radio first it didn't fade out, It came to an abrupt end with guitar

and mandolin licks colliding and then total stop. I actually have this on tape from the radio 35 yrs ago. So was this Zep

approved (the sudden stop) or a programmers' edit ?? For a long time now on the radio and the various compilations

the song does slowly fade. Comment ??

 

You're not mistaken; I recall a thread discussing the various 45s and LPs the song is on and some faded out and some didn't. If it wasn't in this forum it was on Steve Hoffman.

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2 hours ago, Pb! said:

You're not mistaken; I recall a thread discussing the various 45s and LPs the song is on and some faded out and some didn't. If it wasn't in this forum it was on Steve Hoffman.

There is certainly something about this in the coda thread in the  reissue section of this forum

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Happy 2017 to everyone on the forum.

With regards to 'Hey, Hey, What Can I Do' not being on any Zeppelin studio album back in the day, I remember Jimmy Page saying in 2015 that the band considered the track somewhat "scrappy" and that's why it didn't make the final version of III  upon release in 1970.

A lovely, sublime little track... just beautiful.

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^ My god, they'd obviously set the bar at a very high level as to what was or wasn't up to snuff in order to make it onto one of their records. I think its a testament to their depth of talent and standards that a song like this couldn't make the cut. It wasn't 100% there to them. I'd say the lack of a fitting ending to the song along with the timing being a little soft, mainly at the :17 second mark right before vocals come in, was enough for them to relegate it to a single B-Side on a 45. A song like this could make a band a one hit wonder, Zeppelin?....not good enough.:blink: 

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Absolutely for me a summer song as well, the lyrics and despite Robert's "angst" about the "street corner girl" still a 

happy sounding track. What still puzzles me is the abrupt ending version of this track is not a cut off of the fadeout

version, the guitar and mandolin combined collide together in a frenetic jumble. This is not anywhere on the fadeout

version.

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I hated Hat's Off for years and felt the same way in regard to HHWCID being left off of the album in favor of such a turd. Once I really got into music on a serious level though, I changed my mind and realized what a brilliant track Hat's Off really is and a perfect album closer. Unfortunately, that's the problem. Unless one is really into both early blues and psychedelic music, combined into one hot mess, this song is gonna suck to most.

HHWCID is a great summer song and fits in well with Out On the Tiles especially. They should have used HHWCID as the album closer, it would have been perfect. Hat's should have been the Immigrant Song B side and relegated as a novelty tune.

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