"Whole Lotta Love"

Who knew a syncopated E Chord riff could change the world? The first track off of Led Zeppelin's second album, "Led Zeppelin II", "Whole Lotta Love" broke the band wide open and became one of the band's biggest hits, and one of the true classics in Rock and Roll. The song itself paved the way for the band's future success and really and legitimately broke them open to a wider audience, meaning bigger shows, and more bombastic behavior. Led Zeppelin truly took off with this song.

The song itself is loosely structured on the Willie Dixon penned Muddy Waters song "You Need Love" released in 1962. The band did not credit Dixon for the song, and Dixon later sued the band in 1985 over the infringement. The court ruled in favor of Willie Dixon and he was rewarded an undisclosed sum of money. Robert Plant later commented on the whole ordeal to Charles Young in 1990, "Page's riff was Page's riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, 'well, what am I going to sing?' That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time and influence that...well, you only get caught when you're successful. That's the game." Interestingly the British band the Small Faces also recorded a version of the Willie Dixon song that they titled "You Need Loving" which is credited only Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott; Dixon did not see fit to take the two to court over the matter.

Willie Dixon got a Whole Lotta Love from the court in 1985

"Whole Lotta Love" was recorded, just like every other song on Led Zeppelin's second album, in a bit by bit fashion, necessitated by the band's grueling tour schedule. Eddie Kramer, the album's engineer, and producer of Jimi Hendrix described the process, ""We did that album piece-meal. We cut some of the tracks in some of the most bizarre studios you can imagine, little holes in the wall. Cheap studios. But in the end it sounded bloody marvelous. There was a unification of sound on [Led] Zeppelin II because there was one guy in charge and that was Mr. Page."

For the song itself, Jimmy used his trusty 1950's Fender Telecaster plugged into a Marshall 100 watt "Plexi" amplifier cranked up to distort the sound. The main riff, one of the most recognized in rock and roll, revolves around an E chord form. There are various reports that the riff originated from the band's extended live performances of their song "Dazed and Confused" but Page himself has denied this. Page: "It was put together when we were rehearsing some music for the second album. I had a riff, everyone was at my house, and we kicked it from there." and later, "I had [the riff] worked out already before entering the studio. I had rehearsed it. And then all of that other stuff, sonic wave sound and all that, I built it up in the studio, and put effects on it and things, treatments."

Beyond the classic riff, the song is an amalgamation of different sonic palates from an extended free jazz break, a theremin solo, a drum solo, a guitar solo, until returning back home to the main riff and chorus. During the theremin interlude, Page and engineer Eddie Kramer went to great lengths to add abstraction to the breakdown, Kramer: "The famous Whole Lotta Love mix, where everything is going bananas, is a combination of Jimmy and myself just flying around on a small console twiddling every knob known to man."

Interestingly, Robert Plant recorded his vocals in only one take, however, just as on the band's first album, the singer's voice overpowered the track and bled through onto other tracks leaving Jimmy with a problem he needed to find a way to remedy. Jimmy described later on how he managed to save the track, "[A]t one point there was bleed-through of a previously recorded vocal in the recording of "Whole Lotta Love". It was the middle part where Robert [Plant] screams "Wo-man. You need it." Since we couldn't re-record at that point, I just threw some echo on it to see how it would sound and Jimmy [Page] said "Great! Just leave it."

Plant never did realize his own strength

"Whole Lotta Love" was released on the band's second album, but alternately, after much pressure from their label, Atlantic Records, was released as a single in the U.S. and several other countries around Europe. Looking to make the song fit into their format a little better, radio stations around the U.S. cut out the breakdown in the middle of the song, and shortened the whole thing by a minute and a half. Atlantic tried to get the band to issue a single of the song in the U.K. but the band steadfastly refused and released an official statement claiming that had written a special song to be released as a single in their home country; this song never materialized.

The song was a definite success in the U.S. and reached number four on the Billboard Top Ten chart - the band's only entry into the top ten singles chart in America. The song became a staple of their live act, and they performed it on every single tour they embarked on after the song's release. Usually the song was extended into a medley format with the band playing old blues or rock and roll standards in the middle, or even selections from their own back catalog. Live versions of the song can be heard and seen on the official releases, "The Song Remains the Same", "The BBC Sessions", "How the West Was Won", and the Led Zeppelin DVD released in 2003. Jimmy would later play this song to over a billion people around the world at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics with Leona Lewis on vocals in 2008.

Cover of the Single

For this song, I elected to play my Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro plugged into my Marshall Haze 40. I must admit, I did already know how to play a majority of this song, which is understandable as it is pretty accessible number as far as Led Zeppelin songs go.

     Intro:    
e-|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
D-|----------------0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9-------9--------|-
A-|----------------5-----5---|--7-------7-------7-------7--------|-
E-|-------------7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--|-

e-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9-9----0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9-------9--------|-
A-|--7-------7-------7-7----5-----5---|--7-------7-------7-------7--------|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--|-
                                         Verse:
e-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9-9----0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7-7----5-----5---|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|-

e-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|-

e-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|-

e-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|-
                                                             
                                                             Chorus: 
e-|-----------------------------------|---------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------------------------|----------------------7--7-7--7--|-
G-|-----------------------------------|----------------------7--7-7--7--|-
D-|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|--9-------9-------9---7--7-7--7--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|--7-------7-------7---5--5-5--5--|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------|-
      
e-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-
B-|----------------------7--7-7--7--|----------------------7--7-7--7--|-
G-|----------------------7--7-7--7--|----------------------7--7-7--7--|-
D-|--9-------9-------9---7--7-7--7--|--9-------9-------9---7--7-7--7--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7---5--5-5--5--|--7-------7-------7---5--5-5--5--|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------|-
  |                                 |                                 |
  |  Gtr. 2  w/ slide               |                                 |      
e-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-
B-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-
G-|------9\-------------------------|------9\-------------------------|-
D-|------9\-------------------------|------9\-------------------------|-
A-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-
E-|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|-

e-|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|----------------------7--7-7--7--|-----------------------------------|-
G-|----------------------7--7-7--7--|-----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9---7--7-7--7--|--9-------9-------9------0)----0)--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7---5--5-5--5--|--7-------7-------7------5-----5---|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7------|-
  |                                 |                                   |
  |                                 |                                   |      
e-|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
B-|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
G-|------9\-------------------------|------9\---------------------------|-
D-|------9\-------------------------|------9\---------------------------|-
A-|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
E-|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-
Repeat from verse

Guitar solo:
     
e-|----------------------------------------------------------|-
B-|--9----9--------------------------------------------------|-
G-|--9----9--------------------------------------------------|-
D-|--9----9--------------------------------------------------|-
A-|--7----7--------------------------------------------------|-
E-|----------------------------------------------------------|-
  |                                                          |
  |              1                                    1      |
e-|--------------------12------------------------------------|-
B-|--------------)-12------15p12----------------------)~~~~--|-
G-|------------14-----------------15p14p12--14--12--14-------|-
D-|----------------------------------------------------------|-
A-|----------------------------------------------------------|-
E-|----------------------------------------------------------|-

e-|--------------------------------------------------------|-
B-|--9----9------------------------------------------------|-
G-|--9----9------------------------------------------------|-
D-|--9----9------------------------------------------------|-
A-|--7----7------------------------------------------------|-
E-|--------------------------------------------------------|-                                                        | 
                                                           |
e-|--------------------------------------------------------|-
B-|-----------------3--------------------------------------|-
G-|------------2/4-----4p2p0--4p2p0------------------------|-
D-|----------------------------------2p0-----2p0-----------|-
A-|---------------------------------------2-------2-0h2----|-
E-|--------------------------------------------------------|-

e-|-----------------------------------------------|-
B-|--9----9---------------------------------------|-
G-|--9----9---------------------------------------|-
D-|--9----9---------------------------------------|-
A-|--7----7---------------------------------------|-
E-|-----------------------------------------------|-
  |                                               |
  |              1           1   1        1       | 
e-|--------------------12----)---)---15---)~~~----|-
B-|--------------)-12------15--15-------15--------|-
G-|------------14---------------------------------|-
D-|-----------------------------------------------|-
A-|-----------------------------------------------|-
E-|-----------------------------------------------|-

e-|----------------------------------------------------|-
B-|--9----9--------------------------------------------|-
G-|--9----9--------------------------------------------|-
D-|--9----9--------------------------------------------|-
A-|--7----7--------------------------------------------|-
E-|----------------------------------------------------|-                                                    | 
  |                    2                               |  
e-|--------------------)''''''''\----------------------|-
B-|------------17----20------------17------20p17~~~----|-
G-|------------------------------------18--------------|-
D-|----------------------------------------------------|-
A-|----------------------------------------------------|-
E-|----------------------------------------------------|-

e-|-----------------------------------------------------|-
B-|--9----9---------------------------------------------|-
G-|--9----9---------------------------------------------|-
D-|--9----9---------------------------------------------|-
A-|--7----7---------------------------------------------|-
E-|-----------------------------------------------------|-
  |                  1                                  |
  |                  )                                  |
e-|----------------19----19--18--17---------------------|-
B-|------------17--------------------20p17--20p17~~~----|-
G-|-----------------------------------------------------|-
D-|-----------------------------------------------------|-
A-|-----------------------------------------------------|-
E-|-----------------------------------------------------|-

e-|---------------------------------------------------|-
B-|--9----9-------------------------------------------|-
G-|--9----9-------------------------------------------|-
D-|--9----9-------------------------------------------|-
A-|--7----7-------------------------------------------|-
E-|---------------------------------------------------|-
           
e-|----------------------)---)---)----)--19-----------|-
B-|------------17--19--19--19--19---19-------17~~~----|-
G-|---------------------------------------------------|-
D-|---------------------------------------------------|-
A-|---------------------------------------------------|-
E-|---------------------------------------------------|-

Then play verse and chorus again, then there is a
break with no instruments just vocals. At the end 
of the break play B5 and A5.

At the end the main riff changes to this, but the 
main riff is still played sometimes.
 
e-|---------------------------|---------------------------------|-
B-|---------------------------|---------------------------------|-
G-|---------------------------|---------------------------------|-
D-|-----------------0)-----7--|--9-------9-------9-----0)----7--|-
A-|-----------------5------5--|--7-------7-------7-----5-----5--|-
E-|--------------7------7-----|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7----7-----|-

e-|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|-
B-|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|-
G-|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|-
D-|--9-------9-------9------0)----7--|--9-------9-------9------0)----7--|-
A-|--7-------7-------7------5-----5--|--7-------7-------7------5-----5--|-
E-|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7-----|--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-7-----7-----|-

An awesome song indeed! Not too hard, but extremely powerful!

For your viewing pleasure, I've included a clip of Jimmy Playing the main riff to "Whole Lotta Love" to The Edge and Jack White in the amazing documentary, "It Might Get Loud". Just watch their faces!