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D'yer Maker?

Cactus

By Cactus
in Led Zeppelin Master Forum

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Cactus

Cactus

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Does it strike anyone else as weird that D'yer Maker was one of the few Zep singles ever released?

It's hardly one of their best songs and I can't help but wonder if there are heaps of people out there who think Zeppelin is a reggae band based on hearing the one song?

Discuss.

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Reggie29

Reggie29

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As far as singles go it I think was more suited for top 40 than say The Immigrant Song.

Besides they weren't known for their singles anyway.

You're probably right about the Reggae comment, some people only know of Stairway, for Pete's sake!

Slightly off topic here but many years ago I was playing solo at a local pub and some bloke introduced me as Reggae, he misread the poster!

A funny moment.

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zepskier

zepskier

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I don't think they liked releasing singles, they were only to increase album sales, so they probably thought it would be funny to release it as a single.

or maybe they just wanted to see how it would stack up on the charts.

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ZeppFanForever

ZeppFanForever

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Does it strike anyone else as weird that D'yer Maker was one of the few Zep singles ever released?

It's hardly one of their best songs and I can't help but wonder if there are heaps of people out there who think Zeppelin is a reggae band based on hearing the one song?

Discuss.

In my opinion, I have never considered ZEPPELIN to be a Reggae band based on one song. I do believe that they paid tribute to Bob Marley and Johnny Nash by doing a Reggae song. I also think that D'yer Maker is one of the greatest Reggae songs ever written and recorded by anybody. ROCK ON!

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beatbo

beatbo

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As far as singles go it I think was more suited for top 40 than say The Immigrant Song.

Besides they weren't known for their singles anyway.

You're probably right about the Reggae comment, some people only know of Stairway, for Pete's sake!

Slightly off topic here but many years ago I was playing solo at a local pub and some bloke introduced me as Reggae, he misread the poster!

A funny moment.

i can see the sense of 'immigrant song' after the huge amount of airplay afforded 'whole lotta love'. it was the closest thing to it on zep 3.

what song off of hoth is a better single?

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dpat

dpat

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Does it strike anyone else as weird that D'yer Maker was one of the few Zep singles ever released?

It's hardly one of their best songs and I can't help but wonder if there are heaps of people out there who think Zeppelin is a reggae band based on hearing the one song?

Discuss.

I think they:

A. did it tongue-in-cheek

B. wanted to let other bands know they were "into reggae, maaaaan"--reggae unfortunately not getting huge until Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff." Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" was so hook-laden that most folk didn't recognize its Jamaican sound.

C. wanted a light-hearted single to signal the overall summery, light feel of positiveness (not including No Quarter) throughout most of the disc, compared to the previous fourth album.

D. they was really, really, really stoned

:P

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Cactus

Cactus

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I still dont hear it as a reggae song. Never did..when I first started reading that it was a reggae song I was very puzzled...I love the song though...If it is reggae then it is definitely a white boy version

Its got the off-beat reggae thing going on....But you're right, its not proper reggae as we might say Bob Marley is reggae, it's a different sound to that.

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NickZepp

NickZepp

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It's a humor song just like a few others throughout the bands career. But Zeppelin released more singles than anyone ever thinks. I think it was one per album. But they didn't have a lot of songs that were really pop radio type songs.

Here's a list of their singles releases and their Billboards top 100 peak positions.

I-Communication Breakdown/Good Times Bad Times(GTBT 80)

II-Whole Lotta Love/Living Loving Maid(WLL 4th, 65th for LLM)

III-Immigrant Song/Hey Hey What Can I Do(16)

IV-Black Dog/Misty Mountain Hop(15)

Rock and Roll/Four Sticks(47)

HOTH-Over the Hills and Far Away/Dancing Days(51)

D'yer Mak'er/Crunge(20)

Physical Graffiti-Trampled Underfoot/Black Country Woman(38)

Presence-Candy Rock Store/Royal Orleans(50)

ITTOD-Fool in the Rain/Hot Dog(21)

Now in Britain they released no singles if I'm not mistaken.

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Aquamarine

Aquamarine

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It's a humor song just like a few others throughout the bands career. But Zeppelin released more singles than anyone ever thinks. I think it was one per album. But they didn't have a lot of songs that were really pop radio type songs.

Here's a list of their singles releases and their Billboards top 100 peak positions.

I-Communication Breakdown/Good Times Bad Times(GTBT 80)

II-Whole Lotta Love/Living Loving Maid(WLL 4th, 65th for LLM)

III-Immigrant Song/Hey Hey What Can I Do(16)

IV-Black Dog/Misty Mountain Hop(15)

Rock and Roll/Four Sticks(47)

HOTH-Over the Hills and Far Away/Dancing Days(51)

D'yer Mak'er/Crunge(20)

Physical Graffiti-Trampled Underfoot/Black Country Woman(38)

Presence-Candy Rock Store/Royal Orleans(50)

ITTOD-Fool in the Rain/Hot Dog(21)

Now in Britain they released no singles if I'm not mistaken.

Wasn't D'yer Maker a single there? I'm going by the Bob Harris interview with Robert on HTWWW, which (the interview) I haven't watched in a while. I do remember that he pushed for it to be released as a single.

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tyedye

tyedye

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Does it strike anyone else as weird that D'yer Maker was one of the few Zep singles ever released?

It's hardly one of their best songs and I can't help but wonder if there are heaps of people out there who think Zeppelin is a reggae band based on hearing the one song?

Discuss.

Wait. What do you mean it's not one of their best songs? :huh:

It certainly isn't one of their worst.

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Melanie_72

Melanie_72

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I really like D'yer Maker. I think it has a nice groove and I like the reggae-ish feel to it. This is what I love so much about Zeppelin, they can take any style of music and make it their own. I love how they used so many different genres in each of their songs.

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longdistancewinner

longdistancewinner

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Wasn't D'yer Maker a single there? I'm going by the Bob Harris interview with Robert on HTWWW, which (the interview) I haven't watched in a while. I do remember that he pushed for it to be released as a single.

My mum bought the Trampled Underfoot/Black Country Woman single back in the 1970's.

Though the first 'proper' single Zeppelin released in Britain was in 1997 - Whole Lotta Love.

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NickZepp

NickZepp

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Dyer Maker is a great song. Bonzo is so precise with his drumming. I think the biggest reason there were not more singles was due to the length of the songs. No doubt about it. Most of the songs were too long to be put on top 40 in the day.

That's only part of it. But if a song is good it'll get a ton of airplay. Hey Jude was the Beatles biggest song and one of their longest.

Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the longer Queen songs and it was a hit in 2 different decades.

There's a ton of songs throughout the years that get play regardless of length. Zeppelin songs like Stairway and Kashmir also get a ton of play and did 30 years ago.

The thing about Zeppelin and releasing singles is that they were and album oriented band. They wanted to sell albums not singles. That's why they didn't have hit after hit like the Beatles and Stones and other acts. If they released Stairway and Kashmir as singles they would have been number 1 hits.

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Vega

Vega

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I really like D'yer Maker. I think it has a nice groove and I like the reggae-ish feel to it. This is what I love so much about Zeppelin, they can take any style of music and make it their own. I love how they used so many different genres in each of their songs.

I am not so long into Led Zeppelin :blush:, prior to this I used to listen to Plant's solo stuff a lot. His ability to successfully experiment (in a GOOD sense of the word, I guess I could use the word "work") with different style always amazed me. Now I began to realize that it was always within Led Zeppelin. Oh, btw, recently I came across an interesting attempt to interpret the song's name. D'yer Maker, etc.

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Aquamarine

Aquamarine

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I am not so long into Led Zeppelin :blush:, prior to this I used to listen to Plant's solo stuff a lot. His ability to successfully experiment (in a GOOD sense of the word, I guess I could use the word "work") with different style always amazed me. Now I began to realize that it was always within Led Zeppelin. Oh, btw, recently I came across an interesting attempt to interpret the song's name. D'yer Maker, etc.

Interesting, but wrong. :D

The joke in question, which is an ancient English music hall joke (meaning at least early 20th century, if not earlier), known to everybody of the band's generation, goes:

1st guy: My wife's gone to the West Indies.

2nd guy: Jamaica?

1st guy: No, she went of her own accord.

[Rim shot]

Point of the joke is obviously that "Jamaica" sounds like "d''yer make 'er" (did you make her[go]). In the title of the song it's the other way around: D'yer Maker sounds like Jamaica, and the song has a reggae (=Jamaican-influenced) beat.

In other words, it's a humorous (and terrible) pun, and has nothing to do with Plant's infidelities!

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BIGDAN

BIGDAN

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Interesting, but wrong. :D

The joke in question, which is an ancient English music hall joke (meaning at least early 20th century, if not earlier), known to everybody of the band's generation, goes:

1st guy: My wife's gone to the West Indies.

2nd guy: Jamaica?

1st guy: No, she went of her own accord.

[Rim shot]

Point of the joke is obviously that "Jamaica" sounds like "d''yer make 'er" (did you make her[go]). In the title of the song it's the other way around: D'yer Maker sounds like Jamaica, and the song has a reggae (=Jamaican-influenced) beat.

In other words, it's a humorous (and terrible) pun, and has nothing to do with Plant's infidelities!

Hi Aquamarine,

So glad you said "English music hall joke", and you are quite correct in your account of the songs lyrics.

Led Zeppelin released singles in Americia so as to gain air play on radio not to get to No1 in the charts., In England the radio stations were not so friendly to the new Rock scene and only played Pop Chart Music, the top 100 singles if i remember correctly. So there was no point in putting out singles in England because the Radio Stations would not play them.

Just the way Emgland was at the time, seems to have changed quite a lot now as the media cannot get enough of the Zeppelin boys, and good for them and us ah?

Regards, Danny

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kabbalahone

kabbalahone

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Hi Aquamarine,

So glad you said "English music hall joke", and you are quite correct in your account of the songs lyrics.

I almost pissed myself laughing when I found out that in Britain, pants are considered underwear. So, you know, as I know... this is the reason wars for nothing break out. Spying without eyes to see or ears to hear the truth, in proper context. Besides, I think the US would do better had the Pentagoon not been attempting to see into the future, or any organization playing with Torah codes.

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