(Source: Far Out / YouTube Still / Tidel)
It was 1973, and Led Zeppelin wondered where their revolution would lead next. While critics questioned their rule and many bands took their place, they produced Houses of the Sainta compilation of some of the band’s most outstanding work. It’s a rich, densely textured and incredibly varied record that breathes new life with each listen. The selection of stylistically diverse pieces is partly due to the fact that it’s the first Led Zeppelin record where every member was equally involved in the songwriting.
Houses of the Saint benefited from two of the four band members setting up home studios, a decision that allowed them to develop a carefully curated selection of songs and arrangements and expand their catalog into new and uncharted territory. One product of this was “The Rain Song,” a highly unusual number in that it is intensely balladic. Thundering drums and screaming vocals are far from the way it was, as Led Zeppelin landed in a reflective mood.
For a band that made its name producing stadium rock anthems, The Rain Song was, above all, a huge creative gamble. Led Zeppelin were known and celebrated for the sheer force of their sound, for its gigantic, rump-shaking power, and for their audacious destruction of the hand-holding sentiments of the 1960s. So why did they choose to write such a dark and tender love song at the height of their fame?
At over seven minutes long, “The Rain Song” is one of the slowest songs in Led Zeppelin’s catalog, second only to “Stairway to Heaven.” There is much debate about the song’s origins. Some say John Bonham brought the idea to the studio, others say Jimmy Page originally composed the melody in front of the new mixing desk he had just installed in his home studio in Plumpton, England.
In fact, the nature of “The Rain Song” is clear just from listening to it: it feels like a real collaborative effort, with Led Zeppelin joining forces to piece the track together piece by piece. In fact, it’s one of the few Zeppelin songs where all four members are credited as composers. Unfortunately, it was a fifth honorary member who provided the inspiration.
“The Rain Song” has an astonishing clarity of intent. It’s as if Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham all had a clear goal in mind and executed it with meticulous precision. The truth is that they probably already had a very clear idea of what this track should be when they started putting it together. It’s said that Page wrote “The Rain Song” in response to some comments George Harrison made to John Bonham after the Beatles guitarist attended one of their mammoth concerts.
As Jimmy Page’s biographer Brad Tolinski recalled, Harrison complained that Bonham’s group couldn’t write ballads. Jimmy Page once described it this way: “George was talking to Bonzo one night and said, ‘The trouble with you guys is that you never write ballads.’ I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad,’ and wrote ‘Rain Song,’ which was on Houses of the Saint. In fact, you’ll notice that I even quote ‘Something’ in the first two chords of the song.” This is all the more remarkable because ‘Something’ uses a scale that is quite unique in pop songwriting – typical of Harrison’s simple inventiveness.
The not-so-subtle nod to “Something” gives “The Rain Song” an ironic quality, as if it were written not as a serious ballad but as a pastiche to show how easy it seemed to Page to write one of Harrison’s saccharine love songs. But simple songs can actually be hard, and he honored one of his heroes by going to work and giving the piece everything he could.
Not only does Page quote the opening notes from “Something,” but he also uses the same slowly descending chord progression that Harrison became famous for. And yet the track still stands out as one of Houses of the Saint. Its stirring string sections, surf-inflected slide guitar parts and surprisingly gentle drum sound combine to create one of Zeppelin’s most hypnotic and soothing numbers. How funny that it was written out of seemingly pure malice.
The track is now considered a timeless classic and even Rick Rubin claims that it continues to influence his work. “It cannot be classified,” said the producer Rolling Stone. “The guitar has such tasteful, beautiful detail and when the drums come in there’s a triumphant feeling – it’s sad and moody and strong, all at the same time.” That’s a pretty good description of most of the Beatles, fittingly; a golden discography, so it’s fair to say Page hit the nail on the head – after all, he used to be a session musician and knew how to handle all styles.
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