Black Country Woman

When I was growing up and listening to my parent's records or tapes I had purchased, I always heard a perfectly played, well engineered piece of music.  The correct notes were played, the right words were sung, and nary an error was heard.  That was the product you delivered to the paying customer: something perfect.  

Then I heard Zeppelin's "Black Country Woman."  At the start of the song, you hear people talking, an airplane flying by, followed by a laugh and "Nah, leave it."  What was this?  How did this make it past an editor?  Have a listen:

Careful listening will reveal errors all over in Zeppelin's music.  In "Since I've Been Loving You," the pedal used to beat the bass drum has a squeak to it.  That squeak is as much a part of that song as the guitar solo.  In "Out On the Tiles," after Plant sings the line "I'm so glad I'm livin'," you can hear someone say "STOP!".  This was obviously from a previous take of that dong, captured on the tape and included for all eternity. 

There are other errata in their song catalog, but to me, they aren't mistakes; they are part of the music.  More than that, they reveal a human side of the band. Not just masters at creating music, telling a story, sharing heartbreak; now something went wrong, and they laughed it off.  They played through.  They didn't try to re-take the song, or oil up the bass pedal.  

They laughed it off.

When I played in high school band, there was such a focus on getting it exactly, technically right.  Crescendo now, and play staccato there and get exactly the right notes. One year, our jazz band had a Zeppelin-like moment. We were recording all the songs we had played that year. We had to be deathly quiet after a song so our instructor could pause the tape and we could get set up for the next song, then the deathly silence.  As we were finishing up one of the songs, it was getting close to the start of the school day.  With only a few measures left, the school bell went off and the assistant principal came on the intercom to call various miscreants to the office.  Someone said "we should start over" but we left it in. I love hearing that when I listen to that tape (yes, I still have it).

I've made a lot of damn mistakes in my life. Some, I've come to learn, were pretty intentional and not so much mistakes based on my attitude, the words I chose to use, or the tone of my voice.  I had a lot of focus on some sense of perfection. I was trying to live to some unattainable ideal, and I expected others around me to live to this ideal, one which I hadn't clearly communicated to them.   I'd like to think that I'm better now at laughing it off.  That I'm better at understanding and accepting that so much in my life is out of my control, and moving onto the next thing to affect change where I can.