A-side "Trampled Under Foot" Length 4:30 | Format 7-inch 45 rpm | |
Released 2 April 1975 (1975-04-02) (US) Recorded Stargroves, East Woodhay, England, 1972 Genre Blues rock
country blues | ||
"Black Country Woman" is the fourteenth song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti. It was originally intended to be part of the Houses of the Holy album, which had been released two years earlier.
Contents
Recording and production
"Black Country Woman" was an acoustic song recorded in the back garden of Stargroves manor house, in 1972 (around the same time as "D'yer Mak'er"). At the beginning of the track, recording engineer Eddie Kramer can be heard saying, "Shall we roll it Jimmy? We're rolling on what, one, no, one again." followed by saying "Don't want to get this airplane on" about an aeroplane which is heard flying overhead, to which Robert Plant replies "Nah, leave it, yeah."
Recording outdoors proved to be difficult. On one occasion at Headley Grange when Plant tried to go outside to sing the song in the quadrangle, he was attacked by a flock of angry geese.
Original title
Originally the song was subtitled "Never Ending Doubting Woman Blues." This was a reference to a final spoken tag left off the finished version which had Plant proclaiming "What's the matter with you mama, never-ending, nagging, doubting woman blues. 'Black Country' refers to the area near to Birmingham in which Robert Plant and John Bonham were brought up.
Live performances
"Black Country Woman" was played live at Led Zeppelin concerts only when it was merged into a medley with "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" on the band's concert tour of the United States in 1977. For this arrangement, John Paul Jones played an upright bass. It was played in full form only once — at Seattle, Washington on 19 June 1972. Plant has performed the song on his solo tours, as well as with Alison Krauss during their tour supporting the duo's album Raising Sand and while touring with Band of Joy.
Formats and track listings
See "Trampled Under Foot" single.