Song Review: Whole Lotta Love

Introduction

This is one of those songs that I have been hearing since I was very young but didn't what it was called or who it was by until I was a teenager. My dad played it all the time and so I heard it quite often. In fact, I knew most of the lyrics before I knew the name of the song. However, once I started to learn more about Led Zeppelin and classic rock, this song got even better because I began to understand the band, the album, and the song a lot better. So, let's talk about this song! First, I am going to talk about how it sounds. Then, I am going to talk about the lyrics. And finally, I am going to give it an overall score, something that I plan to give to all the songs, albums, bands, and movies that I do review articles for on this blog. So, let's get into the article!

The sound

When the song first starts, you hear this distorted guitar with this really cool echo effect. That effect, it is said, was actually not done with a guitar pedal but rather Jimmy Page did it by placing the microphones in the recording studio at different distances. Once the lead guitar starts, they start to quickly add on the layers. First comes the bass guitar, played by John Paul Jones. Once they do another full bar Robert Plant starts his vocals. He has always had a very loud but clearly blue inspired style and in this song it fits to perfection with the guitar. After the first bit of lyrics is done, the song gets quite a bit louder. The tempo, melody, and vocals don't actually change, we just start to hear John Bonham on the drums!

After the first verse and chorus, the song starts to diverge into a sort of strange jam session that seems weird at first. However, the more I listen to the song, the more I like it. You have to remember that Led Zeppelin was a highly experimental band for their time and they were always trying new things. This jam session part of the song has some interesting vocals and guitar and its all supported by a simple drum track. However, after about a minute of this, the session ends and leads us into one of Jimmy Pages best guitar solos, in my opinion. The solo comes in a few small sections that are broken up by the drums, but to say that this solo is perfectly played and matches the song is an understatement. Half the time that I am listening to this song, I am simply waiting for the guitar solo. 

After this, they go back into the standard melody and Plant continues the Verses and Chorus. The song continues with this sound for about two minutes before it finally diverges into a chaotic silence. The song is simply turned down and faded out at the end, but as it fades out. We can hear Plant and the instruments getting louder. This was the first song off of their Led Zeppelin II album and was immediately a hit single! The song is louder than most songs were at the time and the sounds that they created were way ahead of their time. 

The lyrics

It should be first noted that Robert Plant borrowed some ideas from the Muddy Waters song "You Need Love". Much of the lyrics are similar and you can seriously see where he drew a lot of his inspiration from. I will also say that most of the lyrics in this song are very sexual and explicit. He is using 'Love' as a euphemism for sex and other explicit actions. Let's take a look at some of the lyrics and you will start to see what I mean.

"You need cooling
Baby I'm not fooling
I'm gonna send ya
Back to schooling"

This line is very similar to the first couple of lines from the Muddy Waters song that I mentioned earlier. These are also explicit references though. When he says "You need cooling" he is talking about his lover or the woman in question needing love or sex. Let's take a look at the chorus.

"A-way down inside

A-honey you need it
I'm gonna give you my love

I'm gonna give you my love"

I think that the references are a little easier to see in the chorus. He clearly is making some pretty explicit reference about sex and other explicit actions that are disguised by the word love. The chorus is also similar to the chorus that Muddy Waters had in his song. While the lyrics are not fantastic in this song, Plant's singing of them makes up for it and the sound of the song means that you are not specifically listening to the lyrics, but rather the song as a whole. So, what kind of score is this song going to get?

Overall Scoring

I have always really liked this song, even before I even knew what it was, and so I may be a little biased here but I am going to give this song a 7/10. The skill that is shown by the band on this song is immense. You can tell by the sound of the instruments and by Plant's voice. However, it is very troubling that most of the lyrics on this song were borrowed from Muddy Waters and he was not given any sort of credit or compensation. Plant changed the lyrics just enough to get away with it, and that is where the song loses points. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with a friend or consider subscribing to and following this blog! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!