20: when the levee breaks-- led zeppelin

some songs affect you and you arent exactly sure why. dont get me wrong, i think this song's awesome. it's bluesy, rootsy, distant, and generally delicious (i dont know why that word came to mind). but, this song does not seem to fit with a lot of the other songs on the list in that it is not exactly an emotional downpour or a heartpounder or a mindblower. there are also other zeppelin songs i like better (like 'the ocean' and 'babe i'm gonna leave you'). but for some reason my mind gravitated toward this song when thinking about songs that changed my life and it felt right.

i am not certain when i first heard this song, but at the time, i did not know much of zep past the standard classic rock radio fare. and while i liked the whole 'stairway to heaven' thing, it didn't exactly bowl me over. this song, on the other hand, appealed to me as being extremely cool, genuinely and honestly badass. it had this kind of hardness about it that didnt seem like it was trying too hard. the guitar sounded otherworldly. robert plant's vocals were empassioned and raspy and dead on. it rocked, but in not in a headbanging way, and i liked that. it just seemed different.

this song also heavily reminds me of christmastime in the year 2000, though i am not exactly sure why. but it seems to fit that time in my life pretty well (something about cold, gray skies and this song connected.). i can credit this song for making me be more open to led zeppelin and classic rock in general, which did play a large part in the growth of my appreciation for music. while i am not currently a big classic rock fan, i still believe pretty much everything zeppelin did was genius, especially this song. it will remain eternally cool, and it was my hope then (and maybe now) that just a bit of that coolness would rub off on me.