"Gallows Pole"

The track that opens up the second side of the album "Led Zeppelin III" , is a new take on an old folk song that the group titled, "Gallows Pole". The original song that Zeppelin's version is drawn from is a very old song, some say dating back as far at the 15th century, titled "The Maid Freed From the Gallows Pole". It's origins are murky, and it is thought to have originated in Finland, where there are reportedly over fifty variations. In Finland the song is called, "Lunastettava neito".

Despite it's many many variations, and translations over the years, the basic story or theme has remained intact. It tells the story of a condemned man/woman on a gallows trying to tempt his/her executioner with some form of currency, be it gold or silver, and flesh, sometimes his sister/brother, other times his wife/husband. In some cases the executioner relents and lets the condemned man/woman go free, but more often than not, the condemned man/woman ends the song swinging from a rope.


The members of Led Zeppelin were most likely introduced to the song from a take of the number done by the Mississippi Delta blues guitarist Leadbelly, titled "Gallis Pole". For the arrangement, Jimmy used a version done by folk singer Fred Gerlach. In an interview with Guitar World Jimmy described how his version came about:

"A traditional song which stems from Lead Belly. I first found it by Fred Gerlach. He was one of the first white people on Folkways records to get involved in Lead Belly. We have completely rearranged it and changed the verse. Robert wrote a set of new lyrics. That's John Paul on mandolin and bass and I'm playing the banjo, six-string acoustic, 12-string and electric guitar. The bloke swinging on the gallows pole is saying wait for his relatives to arrive. The drumming builds nicely."

For the song, Jimmy used an acoustic six and twelve string guitar, a mandolin, and a banjo. The song begins softly with just an acoustic guitar, but as it progresses more and more instrumentation is added, and the tempo of the song is accelerated, until it reaches a crescendo when than hangman laughs for so hard to see him swingin' from the gallows pole.

The band played the song live in concert in their mid set acoustic medley in 1971. Robert Plant would also include a few lines from it when the band would play "Trampled Underfoot" in 1975.