Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Heartbreaker" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by Led Zeppelin | ||
| from the album Led Zeppelin II | ||
| Released | October 22, 1969 | |
| Genre | Hard Rock | |
| Length | 4:14 | |
| Label | Atlantic Records | |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Page | |
| Led Zeppelin II track listing | ||
| Thank You (4) |
"Heartbreaker" (5) |
Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) (6) |
"Heartbreaker" is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 album, Led Zeppelin II. It was credited to all four members of the band.
"Heartbreaker" opens Side II of the album, and is probably best known for its famous guitar solo by Jimmy Page, begun by an extremely fast chain of hammer-ons and pull-offs. It inspired Eddie Van Halen to develop his tapping technique. When this is played on radio stations, it almost always segues into the next song on the album, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)," thanks to the similarities of subjects involved between the two songs, and the fact that "Living Loving Maid" segues directly from "Heartbreaker" However, they would never be played together in concert, because the band members were not too fond of "Living Loving Maid".
During live performances of this song Page would frequently improvise the playing in his solo, and was also known to include parts of Bach's Bourrée in E minor from his Lute Suites (this can be heard on the live albums Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions and How the West Was Won), as well as "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)", though on official releases this section has been cut. A live, filmed version of the song from 1973 at Madison Square Garden, New York, is included in the Led Zeppelin concert film, The Song Remains The Same.
"Heartbreaker" also features a famous and very memorable guitar riff. The song was also covered by Nirvana in their live gigs: it can be heard as the first track on their "With the Lights Out" box set.
"Heartbreaker" is one of the songs featured in Nick Hornby's book 31 Songs.
"Heartbreaker" was voted as the 16th greatest guitar solo of all time by Guitar World magazine.
[edit] Trivia
- This opens side 2 of Led Zeppelin II and goes right into "Livin' Lovin' Maid" on the album. Radio stations usually play them together, but "Maid" was never performed live by Led Zeppelin.
- A crowd favorite, Led Zeppelin sometimes opened live shows with it.
- At concerts, Jimmy Page would stretch out the guitar solo and incorporate bits of other songs, like "Greensleeves," "Feeling Groovy," and Bach's "Bourrée in C minor."
- Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father.
- Led Zeppelin opened many of their live shows in 1971 and 1972 with "Immigrant Song," followed by a segue right into this.
- Jimmy Page's legendary guitar solo on this song inspired a young Eddie Van Halen to invent his "tapping" technique after he saw Led Zeppelin perform live at the Long Beach Arena in 1972, which can be heard on the CD How The West Was Won.
- Missouri metalcore band Coalesce recorded a version of this song for their album There is Nothing New Under the Sun, an album entirely composed of Led Zeppelin covers.
[edit] Sources
- Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
- The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
| Led Zeppelin |
|---|
| Jimmy Page · Robert Plant · John Paul Jones · John Bonham |
| Discography - (Category) |
Studio albums: Led Zeppelin · Led Zeppelin II · Led Zeppelin III ·  (Led Zeppelin IV) · Houses of the Holy · Physical Graffiti · Presence · In Through the Out DoorLive albums: The Song Remains the Same · BBC Sessions · How the West Was Won |
| Films |
| The Song Remains the Same · Led Zeppelin DVD |
| Other |
| Peter Grant · Richard Cole · Swan Song Records · The Yardbirds · XYZ · The Firm · Page and Plant · Strange Sensation · Bootlegs ∙ Concerts ∙ Songs |
