B-side "The Crunge" Genre Reggae rock | Format 7-inch 45 rpm Length 4:19 | |
Released 17 September 1973 (1973-09-17) (US) Recorded Stargroves, East Woodhay, England, 1972 | ||
"D'yer Mak'er" /dʒəˈmeɪkə/ is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. The title is a play on the word "Jamaica" when spoken in an English accent.
Contents
Overview
This song was meant to imitate reggae and its "dub" derivative emerging from Jamaica in the early 1970s. Its genesis is traced to Led Zeppelin's rehearsals at Stargroves in 1972, when drummer John Bonham started with a beat similar to 1950s doo-wop, and then twisted it into a slight off beat tempo, upon which a reggae influence emerged. The distinctive drum sound was created by placing three microphones a good distance away from Bonham's drums.
This track, as well as another song entitled "The Crunge", was initially not taken seriously by many listeners, and some critics reserved their harshest criticism for these two arrangements. In an interview he gave in 1977, Jimmy Page referred to this negative response:
I didn't expect people not to get it. I thought it was pretty obvious. The song itself was a cross between reggae and a '50s number, "Poor Little Fool," Ben E. King's things, stuff like that.
Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones has expressed his distaste for the song, suggesting that it started off as a studio joke and wasn't thought through carefully enough. Upon the album's release, Robert Plant was keen to issue the track as a single in the United Kingdom. Atlantic Records went so far as to distribute advance promotional copies to DJs (now valuable collectors' items). While it was released in the US, and the single peaked at No. 20 on 29 December 1973, it was never released in the UK.
This song was never performed live in its entirety at Led Zeppelin concerts, although snatches of it were played during "Whole Lotta Love" during the 1975 North American concert tour and "Communication Breakdown" at the Earls Court shows in the same year.
"D'yer Mak'er" is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs where all four members share the composer credit. The sleeve on the first album pressing also gives tribute to "Rosie and the Originals", a reference to the doo-wop influence in the song's style.
Pronunciation of song title
The name of the song is derived from an old joke, where two friends have the following exchange: "My wife's gone to the West Indies." "Jamaica?" (which has a similar pronunciation as "D'you make her?") "No, she wanted to go". On 21 July 2005, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant discussed the song during an interview with Mike Halloran, a DJ on radio station FM94.9 in San Diego. During the interview, he talked about the different interpretations and pronunciations of the name of the song. The title, which appears nowhere in the lyrics, was chosen because it reflects the reggae feel of the song. Plant has said that he finds it amusing when fans completely overlook the apostrophes and naively mispronounce the title as "Dire Maker".
Formats and track listings
1973 7" single (US/Australia/New Zealand: Atlantic 45–2986, Austria/Germany: Atlantic ATL 10377, Canada: Atlantic AT 2986, France: Atlantic 10377, Greece: Atlantic 2091236, Japan: Warner Pioneer P–1265A, Mexico: Atlantic G–1275, Peru: Atlantic ALT 2986, Spain: Atlantic HS 987, Venezuela: Atlantic 5–001, Yugoslavia: Atlantic 26077)
1973 7" single (Holland: Atlantic ATL 10374)
1973 7" promo (UK: Atlantic K 10296, South Africa: Trutone 45)
1973 7" EP (Mexico: Atlantic GX 07–818)
1973 7" EP (Argentina: Music Hall 40.019)