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Led Zeppelin in the months following Bonzo's passing


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3 hours ago, jasonlovesvids said:

 Can you produce the interview where he said that? 

From Wikipedia on Presence.. book by Chris Welch..

"I spent the whole process in a wheelchair, so physically I was really frustrated. I think my vocal performance is pretty poor. It sounds strained and tired. The saving grace on the album was "Candy Store Rock" and "Achilles Last Stand". The rhythm section on that it was so inspired ... I was furious at Page and Peter Grant. I was just furious that I couldn't get back to the woman and the children that I loved. And I was thinking, is this rock'n'roll worth anything at all?"

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=363

Robert Plant wrote the lyrics in Malibu while recovering from a car accident. The band wrote the rest of the song in a German studio in about an hour. They had to finish the album quickly because the Rolling Stones needed to use the studio.

  • In an audio documentary on the band, Plant said that the lyrics reflected not only his physically trapped situation at the time, but his general frustrations with Jimmy Page and their manager Peter Grant, whom Plant was convinced weren't sensitive to his point of view. Hence the line, "I've got friends who would give me f--k all." However, he slurred the pronunciation of the F-bomb, hoping to dodge it onto the radio. Didn't work.
 
I was burned in the heat of the moment
Though it couldn't have been the heat of the day
When I learned how my time had been wasted,
(And a) tear fell as I turned away
Now I've got friends who will give me their shoulder,
Event I should happen to fall
Time and his bride growing older
I've got friends who will give me fuck all

Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala, my baby
Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala

On the corner of Bleeker and nowhere
In the land of not quite day
A shiver ran down my backbone
Face in the mirror turns grey
So I looked round to hitch up the reindeer
Searching hard trying to brighten the day
I turned around to look for the snowman
To my surprise he'd melted away, yeah

Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala, my baby
Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala

As the moon and the stars call the order
Inside my tides dance the ebb and sway
The sun in my soul's sinking lower
While the hope in my hands turns to clay
I don't ask that my field's full of clover
I don't moan at opportunity's door
And if you ask my advice, take it slower
Then your story'd be your finest reward

Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala, my baby
Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala
Lost on the path to attainment
Search in the eyes of the wise
When I bled from the heart of the matter
I started bleeding without a disguise

Now everything's fine under heaven
Now and then you've got to take time to pause
When you're down on the ground, don't be messin' around
Or you'll land in a boat without oars

Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala, my baby
Lalalalalalalala, yeah
Lalalalalalalala

Hey babe, Hey babe, Hey babe
I lost my way

Hey babe, hey babe
I really, really, really

Hey babe, hey babe
I don't know where I'm gonna find it

Hey babe, hey babe
Do you want to know
Do you really, really, want to help me, yeah?

Let me tell you now, babe
Let me tell you
That it feels so good that it must be right

Now my babe
Let me tell you
That it feels so good that it must be right

Now my babe
Let me tell you
It just feels, it just feels, it just feels, it just feels so good
So good, so good
oh yeah
 

 
Edited by the chase
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Am I missing something?

I thought each member was taxed on their individual earnings, so Plant ultimately had the choice to stay or leave the UK.

Was he under pressure from Page and Grant to join the band in Malibu and work on new material?

And if he was away from home anyway, would it not be better to keep busy with an album rather than have more spare time to mope around and miss his family?

I get why Plant is frustrated with his injury and the exile bit, but not why he was fuming at Page and Grant.

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Yeah, this thing about Plant  being furious about the stress of recording and being "forced" into tax exile, this is from

some mag interview in the last 5 yrs or so ??? I have almost all the Zep books readily available. Don't remember reading

that, but the push into recording, certainly that could have been one more step towards eventually wanting out. Sorry, never saw that Chris Welch book, first time I ever heard Plant

venting like that.

Edited by Mithril46
Mistake
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4 hours ago, Boleskinner said:

Am I missing something?

I thought each member was taxed on their individual earnings, so Plant ultimately had the choice to stay or leave the UK.

Was he under pressure from Page and Grant to join the band in Malibu and work on new material?

And if he was away from home anyway, would it not be better to keep busy with an album rather than have more spare time to mope around and miss his family?

I get why Plant is frustrated with his injury and the exile bit, but not why he was fuming at Page and Grant.

I think what you are missing ( and I must stress I think, I'm not totally sure) is that due to the tax situation in the U.K at the time if Robert ( or any member)  had stayed in the UK they would be in debt. Therefore rather than Robert abandoning his family so he could selfishly keep his money it could be seen that his actions to avoid bankruptcy were perhaps the more sensible and responsible thing to do by them.

Edited by babysquid
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11 minutes ago, babysquid said:

I think what you are missing ( and I must stress I think, I'm not totally sure) is that due to the tax situation in the U.K at the time if Robert ( or any member)  had stayed in the UK they would be in debt. Therefore rather than Robert abandoning his family so he could selfishly keep his money it could be seen that his actions to avoid bankruptcy were perhaps the more sensible and responsible thing to do by them.

Yeah, I get all that - it's his beef with Grant and Page I don't fully understand.

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10 minutes ago, Boleskinner said:

Am I missing something?

I thought each member was taxed on their individual earnings, so Plant ultimately had the choice to stay or leave the UK.

Was he under pressure from Page and Grant to join the band in Malibu and work on new material?

And if he was away from home anyway, would it not be better to keep busy with an album rather than have more spare time to mope around and miss his family?

I get why Plant is frustrated with his injury and the exile bit, but not why he was fuming at Page and Grant.

I think he felt / was pressured to record when he wanted time to heal  and be with his family either in or out of his country. 

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3 hours ago, Boleskinner said:

Yeah, I get all that - it's his beef with Grant and Page I don't fully understand.

To be honest we can only speculate. He was still quite young, possibly angry at his and his family's situation and needed to lay the blame somewhere. Whilst you rightly pointed out that it was quite possibly ultimately his decision to leave I would suspect that Grant and Page, having his (and the bands) best interests at heart, strongly suggested that he go and they became the scapegoat for his frustrations.

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On 24/02/2017 at 9:36 AM, Mook said:

Why does anyone have to be blamed for anything? The tax laws were what they were (I'm a socialist myself so have no issues with them) & no-one was forced to stay in any country against their will as far as I'm aware.

The then-Labour government should be blamed in this case, absolutely they should; forcing people who have become successful in life's endeavors to leave their home and family rather than hand over the near-totality of their earnings to the government isn't socialism, it's outright tyranny... Zeppelin were right to leave, but they shouldn't have been forced to in the first place, no-one should.

Anyone who lived in the UK that time will remember just how BAD things were... but then, every time Labour is in 10 Downing Street, they always end up wrecking the country.

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For anyone who thinks Plant wasn't onboard for the tax exile, I suggest watching Plants banter right before Communication Breakdown at Earls Court on the 25th. Looks to me like Plant was pretty excited to be leaving England. 

"Gentlemen with white shirts will be passing a hat around because the equipment cost so much that we got no bread 'to fly out of the country'. So if u see a hat coming round, please put bread in it. Somebody's gonna make some money somewhere". 

Don't let Plants hippie persona fool you into thinking that $$$ wasn't a priority to him. He wanted to hold on to his cash as much as anybody else, and rightfully so. But, nobody had to twist his arm, and why would they? You want to keep your money or give it all to the tax man? The Stones went into tax exile (Exile on Main Street) in 1971. Its called business.

 

 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, blindwillie127 said:

For anyone who thinks Plant wasn't onboard for the tax exile, I suggest watching Plants banter right before Communication Breakdown at Earls Court on the 25th. Looks to me like Plant was pretty excited to be leaving England. 

"Gentlemen with white shirts will be passing a hat around because the equipment cost so much that we got no bread 'to fly out of the country'. So if u see a hat coming round, please put bread in it. Somebody's gonna make some money somewhere". 

Don't let Plants hippie persona fool you into thinking that $$$ wasn't a priority to him. He wanted to hold on to his cash as much as anybody else, and rightfully so. But, nobody had to twist his arm, and why would they? You want to keep your money or give it all to the tax man? The Stones went into tax exile (Exile on Main Street) in 1971. Its called business.

 

 

 

 

Agree but leaving for a planned summer tour is one thing...  leaving after you, your wife and 2 young kids were almost killed in a horrific car accident is another. I think to call him out for this is wrong.. if he did leave them, reluctantly, no doubt in my mind he left them with people, family and or  medics to help out every step of the way.. 

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6 minutes ago, the chase said:

Agree but leaving for a planned summer tour is one thing...  leaving after you, your wife and 2 young kids were almost killed in a horrific car accident is another. I think to call him out for this is wrong.. if he did leave them, reluctantly, no doubt in my mind he left them with people, family and or  medics to help out every step of the way.. 

Also I'm sure it was a joint decision between him and Maureen. They probably weighed everything and thought it was best.

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I've always felt that it is a mistake to get involved into the personal family lives of artists of any kind. Its really none of our business why Plant wasn't with his family at this time, or why Page and Jones didn't make it to Plants sons funeral....etc. Its best to just enjoy the music and stay out of their personal lives and decisions. 

Edited by blindwillie127
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Plant's interview personality can be really chaotic. Half the time he's joking, the other half of the time he's not remembering or contradicting things he's said in previous years. It's really difficult to gauge whether he's being sincere. Our latest example was when he blamed "the Capricorns" for a reunion not happening and said "I'm not doing anything in 2014." He didn't mean any of it, not really, and when the Capricorns tried to follow up, they got nowhere and he later told interviewers that he would do it if it was acoustic, or something to that effect. It's mostly bullocks. Charlie Rose had it right when he just dismissed him and said Plant was being "too ... something." Plant is a historian's nightmare.

But is there a better rock singer? Page and Jones can make a good album together whenever they want, but they need Plant to make it great.  As for the drummer, I'm not sure Jason is the right guy. I mean, I like Black Country Communion and I think it's far and away Jason's best work. That's a good band.  Some have even called it the ghost of the Led Zeppelin reunion sessions (and there's some of that running through Them Crooked Vultures). But i have a hard time putting Plant into that context.  Would the late, great Michael Lee not have been the better drummer for the project?

In any case, there was no reunion record because Plant wouldn't make it happen. It seems silly a decade later to be blaming Page or other reasons. They left a great album on the session room floor, much like the Yardbirds did in 1967-1968.  And wasn't this Yardbirds album (much of which is out there in one form or another) going to be the next project for Page? 

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5 hours ago, blindwillie127 said:

I've always felt that it is a mistake to get involved into the personal family lives of artists of any kind. Its really none of our business why Plant wasn't with his family at this time, or why Page and Jones didn't make it to Plants sons funeral....etc. Its best to just enjoy the music and stay out of their personal lives and decisions. 

Agree with that. Yes we do all want to know a little bit more about our absolute favourite artists/celebrities etc. But it so ott. In this day and age its made much worse with all the gossip inches/websites.

Edited by craigled
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4 hours ago, bluecongo said:

In a Richard Cole interview, he claimed one time Bonzo, in 1975, told him he'd just gotten a check for 5 million dollars.   In 1975.  That's like 20 million today.  Imagine giving almost 90% to the government.  

 

Id be an exile tooI

And it's not "just the money", you're talking kids educations, college, insurance, etc. It's way too much to give away.

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Plant being angry with Page and Grant......Another thread maybe, but who knows what Plant may have been angry about

within Zep pre-75'-76'. Always interesting to hear what Zep would have done had Bonzo lived. I don't think they would have made it to 82' at best, Plant was gone gone gone, that simple.

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 It's ridiculous because they were in Malibu for about two or three months, four months? And in the studio for about 13 days so it's not like those 13 days was a huge long period of time.  And I don't think all of them had to be out of the country in order to save their individual fortunes. Wasn't it true that later Bonzo stayed in country when the rest were in exile? 

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On 25/02/2017 at 2:12 PM, The Old Hermit said:

The then-Labour government should be blamed in this case, absolutely they should; forcing people who have become successful in life's endeavors to leave their home and family rather than hand over the near-totality of their earnings to the government isn't socialism, it's outright tyranny... Zeppelin were right to leave, but they shouldn't have been forced to in the first place, no-one should.

Anyone who lived in the UK that time will remember just how BAD things were... but then, every time Labour is in 10 Downing Street, they always end up wrecking the country.

So we should just let some people earn 100 times what other people earn?

No, capitalism is destroying the World and people defending it are the problem.

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On 2/26/2017 at 8:39 AM, Mook said:

So we should just let some people earn 100 times what other people earn?

No, capitalism is destroying the World and people defending it are the problem.

I believe in a middle ground with a graduated tax schedule capping out at 70% max per the Laffer Curve.

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10 hours ago, IpMan said:

I believe in a middle ground with a graduated tax schedule capping out at 70% max per the Laffer Curve.

Yes, well some sort of middle ground where the rich aren't constantly getting richer while the poor live in squalor would be a good start.

Anyway, apologies for dragging things off topic.

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On 2/26/2017 at 0:09 AM, the chase said:

Agree but leaving for a planned summer tour is one thing...  leaving after you, your wife and 2 young kids were almost killed in a horrific car accident is another. I think to call him out for this is wrong.. if he did leave them, reluctantly, no doubt in my mind he left them with people, family and or  medics to help out every step of the way.. 

The injuries in their single vehicle accident, though painful, were hardly life threatening. He had an injured elbow and a shattered leg and she had a fractured pelvis. The kids came out of it with...essentially nothing. Regardless, I've already posted to this thread his direct quotes about his leaving for Los Angeles being as much about being therapeutic for his spirit as it was about tax exile.     

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I've read that Maureen in particular was in very bad shape. A fratcured skull and pelvis. She also was in need of a very rare blood type..  

I would think the last thing on RP's mind with his leg in plaster and his wife all banged up was going to a studio. 

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