A-side "Black Dog" Genre Hard rock | Format 7-inch 45 rpm Length 4:39 | |
Released 2 December 1971 (1971-12-02) (US) Recorded Headley Grange, Headley, England, 1971 | ||
"Misty Mountain Hop" is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album, released in 1971. In the United States and Australia it was the B-side of the "Black Dog" single, but still received considerable FM radio airplay. It was recorded at Headley Grange, a mansion with a recording studio in Hampshire, England, where the band sometimes lived.
Contents
Overview
The song is a medium tempo rocker which begins with bassist John Paul Jones on Hohner electric piano. The basic structure developed from a riff Jimmy Page came up with which was enhanced by John Paul Jones, whose electric piano introduces the theme on the finished track. It is notable for the presence of layered, melodic guitar and keyboard parts. The song features a memorable riff, on which Page and Jones harmonize using keyboard and guitar. This repeating riff, heard on the bass guitar, is based on the notes A G E and sounds like a funk rock bassline. At 2:11, in the second half of the second verse, the band members briefly fall out of sync with one another. However, the band felt that the rest of the take was too good to discard the recording.
The most common interpretation of the song's title involves a reference to the Misty Mountains in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. The lyrics refer to the events of the 7 July 1968 "Legalise Pot Rally" in Hyde Park, London, in which police made arrests for marijuana possession. The lyrics reflect Plant's quest for a better society, a place and time when hangups are replaced with individual freedom and a life of mutual support and rapport.
The song also appeared as a Led Zeppelin track in the 1997 Time-Life 6-CD boxed set Gold And Platinum: The Ultimate Rock Collection, marking one of the rare times that a recording by the band has been included in a various artists compilation.
Live performances
"Misty Mountain Hop" debuted at the show in Copenhagen on the 1971 Led Zeppelin European Tour and was regularly played live at Led Zeppelin concerts from late 1972 through 1973, often linking directly into "Since I've Been Loving You" (as can be seen on the Led Zeppelin DVD). This portion of the DVD was also part of the band's performance at Madison Square Garden in 1973 on the film The Song Remains the Same. It was also played at the band's two performances at Knebworth in 1979. For the second of the two performances, Jimmy used a 1977 Gibson RD Artist, due to a broken string on his main Les Paul. The surviving members of the band additionally performed the song at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham filling in on drums for his late father, and again with Jason at Robert Plant's daughter's 21st birthday party the following year. "Misty Mountain Hop" was also performed at Led Zeppelin's reunion show at the O2 Arena, London on 10 December 2007.
Robert Plant performed a version of the song on his solo tours. Jimmy Page performed the song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. Although not included on their original album Live at the Greek, a version of "Misty Mountain Hop" can be found as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the album released in 2000.
Other versions
A different version of this song is featured on the second disc of the remastered two CD deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin IV.