By Dave Rubin 1 takes cojones to name a song"Rockand Roll” asifit Iwere the embodiment of the genre. But consider the source: Led Zeppelin ruled hard blues-rock in the 1970s with a macho, testosterone-drenched ‘swagger both onstage and off justask PamelaDes Barres Those androgynous-looking British chaps wereno poseurs, however, Ma ist= loan -e eae} Led by superstar gultazst jimmy Page, the mighty Zep roared on record like a 20-ton locomotive, breathing fire and brimstone fueled by the hippest blues licks ‘east ofthe Atlantic Ocean “Rock and Rol,” lately the background ‘music of more than one boomer TVcommercial girded thealbum that many believe to be Zep's best—Led Zeppelin IV (1571), ot “Zoso,"as the band had original: Iy tle 1 As surely as “Stairway to Heaven’ could have been dubbed “Power alla,”*Rockand Rol” earnedits prope withadrum ino lifted from Litle Richard's “Keep a Knockin” (1957)—a boo ale groove that growled like « souped-up “Rocket 88°—and a Singers ying orgasmicsolo,tone as brown as the Mississippi River. Inshore rock’ roll atts finest. ITS BEENALONG TIME Except for the interlude and fuita solo, “Rack and Roll” has been streamlined dawn to one ‘essential guitar part. Following the late Bonzo Bonham's Petes rim-eracking intro, Pagey” serves up a 12-measure -1V-V ea land iwvw sek — table. Dig how he takes the traditional clementsof Ss, hs and $7ths (A-E, A-FE and A-Gin the key of A major, for example) found in boogie patterns and rearranges them ntoamemorabletwo-mea sure rf spiked with a nasty halt step bend of the low Sd to the major 3rd (relative to each BME corporsteda similar change). Fig. 1 contains a varia tion similar to Link Wray’ “Raw: Hid (1956), which may indeed have influenced “Rock and Ral LeTMEGET BACK Page createsanew patter forthe verse with a spacious four-mea sure rft—over I(A7) and IV (D7) ‘hords—that stands in dynane contrast tothe barly contained, ‘compressed energy ofthe intro, Consisting simply of Sths (pre ‘ceded by a bass not, the bluesy $d) stated in measures -3, with abitof propulsive syncopation in measure 4, the riffalso recalls the glorious > pastand ivesanodto rockabilly Fig 2 ff based on Eis Presey’s 1955 version of Lite Junior Packer’ cassie number “Mystery Train,” reveals how gultarstScony Moore (0H YEAH, OOM YEAH lowing the 12-bar interlude, Withits repeating A minor penta tonie mot Page leaves his mark fon rock 'n’ roll history with an Jconic 24-measure solo His rat cous romp throligh the A minor pentatonic scale with a touch of A major pentatonic (A-B-Ct- EFS) thrown in fora lite dia- tonic melody, isa masterpiece of dynamic tension and release Repeating triplets are always @ seat way to create musical ten sion, and Pagelasheshissolowith them in measures 1-4, 8, and 19-20, ripletsalsoadd fash —an appealing aspect of Pages syle, in addition tohis bona fide blues chops. lg-3 shows a gaudy series of triplet pull-offs in the open PositionoftheEbies scale with _gracenotes rom the majorscale, favored byneo-rockabillycasike Brian Setzer. 3 bret} rrr Po ee oo Cre ‘AUGUST 2004% @1 The Magazine You Can Play 131GNX4 Guitar Workstation Powered Deine : ® ROCK AND ROLL As Recorded by Led Zeppelin (From the Atlantic Recording LED ZEPPELIN IV) ‘Music and Lyrics by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham Intro Fast Rock J = 172 iy FigRock and Rol! Fan ani oa ie ete: Va OR eee ees Sa wich De cee ema eaeRock and Roll i ‘ot wi. He aRock and Roll co mF 1A or a 8 a weRock and RollRock and Roll 16 Ry. Fi a DS. al Coda (1. Fi a ew ig ” ee yeah ooh yeh ‘AUGUST 20040 G1 The Magazine You Can Pay 137Prog i Rock and Roll » en ‘simon 7 eee ti Mehta eon ‘este 81 3 sare ae Par 22 SSSS8 PE eae ae Free Time (d = 130) Seo) ne < ” fooone ti ei Reiners se EE —— SS Sens . ss —- e = we? — * = * = ; = ese Sa 3 3. Seems so ong since we walked i the moonlight, ‘Making vows that just couldn't work right. ‘Open your arms, opens your arms, open your arms, Baby, let my love come running i Is been a Tong time, been a Tong time, Been a long, lonely, ionely, lonely lonely, lonely time. | J sessile