Hey Hey What Can I Do

[BillyMacQ]

I'm trying to track down a quote from Peter Grant regarding a song the boys were going to write and record around the time of Led Zeppelin III. According to Grant, the band's intention was to have a single available as a separate release - it wouldn't be included on LZ III. My memory is this was a response to the band's unhappiness over the edited version of Whole Lotta Love being released as a single.

I've always believed the actual song Panama Pete was referring to is HHWCID, but other than that elusive quote, I have no proof to back it up. Hoping someone can help me out here. Not looking for speculation or personal opinions about HHWCID or the idea of the band recording a single. Just the facts, please. Thanks in advance. Carry on...

Love,

Billy

P.S. The quote is in Ritchie Yorke's bio. Unfortunately, I no longer own a copy.

[BillyMacQ]

Some guy named Otto posted this in another thread dedicated to HHWCID:

"It was recorded at Island Studios in July 1970, during the final sessions for Led Zeppelin III, released on October 5 in the U.S. and on October 21 in the U.K. Presumably the vocals for Immigrant Song were done at Island too, since Robert wrote the lyrics in this country late June, but the backing tracks for that song - the single with Hey Hey on the flipside - had been recorded earlier in the year."

Source?

Love,

Billy

[Otto Masson]

Some guy named Otto posted this in another thread dedicated to HHWCID:

"It was recorded at Island Studios in July 1970, during the final sessions for Led Zeppelin III, released on October 5 in the U.S. and on October 21 in the U.K. Presumably the vocals for Immigrant Song were done at Island too, since Robert wrote the lyrics in this country late June, but the backing tracks for that song - the single with Hey Hey on the flipside - had been recorded earlier in the year."

Source?

Love,

Billy

Well, I forgot to add there that the release date of Immigrant Song/HHWCID was November 5.

Some basic information about the songs chosen for the 1990 4CD Remasters box is provided in the pamphlet included therein. Hey Hey was included on there, and you can read there that it was recorded at Island Studios, London, in 1970. That's The Way and Since I've Been Loving You were also recorded there (cf. the booklet with the Boxed Set2 from 1993, and information provided on the Led Zeppelin III CD) - this despite the fact that SIBLY had been written first (as Jimmy said himself in an October 1970 interview in Rock Magazine), and was even performed live on their tours from January-April 1970 (as you no doubt know Bron y Aur Stomp was also something they had been working on since November 1969, cf. "Jenning's Farm Blues", played on electric).

Most of the songs on Led Zeppelin III (and also Poor Tom) were recorded at Headley Grange and Olympic in May and June 1970 - the final recording sessions at Island Studios were in July. Everything thus seems to have been recorded in England. They did the final work on the mixes at an American studio though, Ardent in Memphis.

Robert has confirmed (for instance on Icelandic TV in 2005) what was always obvious, namely that the lyrics for Immigrant Song were written in Iceland. Their concert here was on June 22, i.e. after the earlier sessions, and before the final sessions at Island, and hence we can safely assume that the vocals on Immigrant Song were recorded there, in July. However the backing tracks for IS had been recorded earlier, at Olympic Studios, and Chris Welch was actually present when they were recorded; he describes how the riff became refined through the interplay between Jimmy and Bonzo.

Welch's account of this can be found in a very useful book he wrote, called Dazed and Confused, which goes through the entire catalog of the band and gives information about each song. Dave Lewis has also written a similar overview, called Led Zeppelin: Complete Guide to their Music. Both of these books provide information about Hey Hey. Also worth consulting is an essay by Lewis on “Led Zeppelin in the Studio,” included in his book, Led Zeppelin: A Celebration. Welch does mention that Peter Grant said it was originally meant to be a single. Maybe so, but in the end it was released as the B-side for Immigrant Song.

Andy Johns was the engineer.

Much love, it goes without saying,

Ottó.

[Otto Masson]

Interviews with band members are often enough useful also for this sort of information, and one that is worth mentioning in particular is an interview with Jimmy from Guitar World, January 1991 - that was occasioned by the remasters box set, and he is talking about the studio versions of many of the songs. He mentions there that the SIBLY solo was hard to do because he wasn't pleased with the amp sound he was getting, but in the end he used an amp he happened to find outside the studio, and which actually wasn't his or the band's. This will have been at Island. In the same issue of Guitar World there is also a short interview with Andy Johns.