Led Zeppelin | Nobody’s Fault But Mine Live ( Knebworth 1979 )ᴴᴰ

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock ( AOR ) and stadium rock. Originally named the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, was a top-ten album in several countries and featured such tracks as “Good Times Bad Times“, “Dazed and Confused“ and “Communication Breakdown“. Led Zeppelin II (1969) was their first number-one album, and yielded “Ramble On“ and “Whole Lotta Love“. In 1970, they released Led Zeppelin III which featured “Immigrant Song“. Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is one of the best-selling albums in history with 37 million copies sold. The album includes “Black Dog“, “Rock and Roll“ and “Stairway to Heaven“, with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock history. Houses of the Holy (1973) yielded “The Ocean“, “Over the Hills and Far Away“ and “The Rain Song“. Physical Graffiti (1975), a double album, featured “Trampled Under Foot“ and “Kashmir“. Page wrote most of Led Zeppelin’s music, particularly early in their career, while Plant wrote most of the lyrics. Jones’s keyboard-based compositions later became central to their music, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their touring and output, which included Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979), grew limited, and the group disbanded following Bonham’s death in 1980, feeling that they would not be “Led Zeppelin“ without him. “It’s Nobody’s Fault but Mine“ or “Nobody’s Fault but Mine“ is a song first recorded by gospel blues artist Blind Willie Johnson in 1927. It is a solo performance with Johnson singing and playing slide guitar. The song has been interpreted and recorded by numerous musicians in a variety of styles, including Led Zeppelin on their 1976 album Presence. “It’s Nobody’s Fault but Mine“ tells of a spiritual struggle, with reading the Bible as the path to salvation, or, rather, the failure to read it leading to damnation. Johnson was blinded at age seven when his stepmother threw a caustic solution and his verses attribute his father, mother, and sister with teaching him how to read. The context of this song is strictly religious. Johnson’s song is a melancholy expression of his spirit, as the blues style echoes the depths of his guilt and his struggle. An early review called the song “violent, tortured and abysmal shouts and groans and his inspired guitar playing in a primitive and frightening Negro religious song“. English rock band Led Zeppelin recorded a rendition titled “Nobody’s Fault but Mine“ for their seventh studio album Presence (1976). Led Zeppelin biographer George Case maintains that Page was probably influenced by John Renbourn’s 1966 acoustic version of the song. Led Zeppelin further developed and recorded the song during the difficult period they faced after Plant’s 1975 automobile accident in Rhodes. The incident left him with serious injuries to his ankle and leg and there was fear that he might not recover completely. The group recorded Presence in November 1975 at the Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, while Plant was largely confined to a wheel chair. Lyrically, “Nobody’s Fault but Mine“ has been compared to Robert Johnson’s “Hell Hound on My Trail“. Johnson’s 1937 Delta blues song tells of a man trying to stay ahead of the evil which is pursuing him, but it does not address the cause or lasting solution for his predicament. In Blind Willie Johnson’s “It’s Nobody’s Fault but Mine“, the problem is clearly stated: he will be doomed, unless he uses his abilities to learn (and presumably live according to) biblical teachings. Led Zeppelin retain Blind Willie’s admission that he ultimately is to blame, but add Robert Johnson’s sense of despair. However, they shift the focus from religion to a more contemporary one. Their lyrics include “that monkey on my back“, a commonly used reference to addiction, and “the devil he told me to roll, how to roll the line tonight“; to overcome, Plant concludes “gonna change my ways tonight“. #BlindWillieJohnson #LedZeppelin #Presence