Middle of the Week Music: «Kashmir» by Led Zeppelin

Now this was always one of my favourite Led Zeppelin songs. I loved the orchestration, the steady, almost marching, Asian rhythm and the way that Robert Plant used his iconic voice to make the song almost a lament, a cry, a calling…

With this song I have to give you the lyrics. It’s a phenomenal group of verses, filled with the amount of mystery, mysticism and symbolism we are accustomed to finding in the music of this, one of the greatest rock groups that ever existed.

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face
And stars fill my dream
I’m a traveler of both time and space
To be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race
This world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait
All will be revealed
Talk in song from tongues of lilting grace
Sounds caress my ear
And not a word I heard could I relate
The story was quite clear
Oh, baby, I been blind
Oh, yeah, mama, there ain’t no denyin’
Oh, ooh yes, I been blind
Mama, mama, ain’t no denyin’, no denyin’
All I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand
As I scan this wasted land
Try to find, try to find the way I feel
Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace
Like sorts inside a dream
Leave the path that led me to that place
Yellow desert stream
My shangri la beneath the summer moon
I will return again
As the dust that floats high in June
We’re moving through Kashmir
Oh, father of the four winds fill my sails
Cross the sea of years
With no provision but an open face
Along the straits of fear
Oh, when I want, when I’m on my way, yeah
And my feet wear my fickle way to stay
Ooh, yeah yeah, oh, yeah yeah,
But I’m down oh, yeah yeah, oh, yeah
Yeah, but I’m down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oh, my baby
Let me take you there
Come on, oh let me take you there
Let me take you there
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: James Patrick (Jimmy) Page / John Bonham / Robert Anthony Plant
Kashmir lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Although the song was recorded in 1974, a different…slightly…version appeared in 1975 in the Physical Graffiti album recorded in London. It is considered…and not just by yours truly…to be the band’s crowning achievement, ahead of «Stairway to Heaven».

Although I find this version, with the Egyptian Orchestra, to be one of the best I have ever heard, I like to give you options and here is the version done at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert. Of course the drummer here is Jason Bonham, son of John, lovingly called «Bonzo». The concert was in 2007. Twenty million tickets were requested…