SOTD: WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS-LED ZEPPELIN

   When Led Zeppelin reworks an old song into a cover you know it's gonna be good. And that's exactly what happened right here: they took a 1929 blues song and reworked it into a pumping, heavy masterpiece that once you listen to you can't get over.

   "When the Levee Breaks" was originally recorded by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, an original blues that was inspired by the 1927 Great Mississippi Flood. Led Zeppelin reworked it into their unmistakable sound for their 1971 Led Zeppelin IV album. Taking it away from its original country blues sound, they infused it with heavy, pumping, rebellious sounds so common in the late 60s and early 70s making it highly addictive for the listener. Where once it had been a song about a very real disaster physically affecting people, they turned it into a poetic endeavour with a metaphorical meaning you don't need to experience a flood to feel the impending desperation.

   Indeed the song is so good that it rivals "Stairway to Heaven" which is also in this album! The unique drum sound that lends this song the trademark feeling alongside the haunting harmonica was a result of a happy misfortune, as many other great results of the golden era: the drums were dropped off in the hallway, Bonham started banging on them, and as it happened the reverb that was created off the stairwell, as you can hear, was so good they kept the drums where they lay, hanging mics off the stairwell railings to capture the eerie effect! Worked all too well, don't you think? ;)