Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

This whole blog doesn't have to be -- and isn't going to be -- all about my divorce.  This month of Zeptember, I'm writing about the songs of Led Zeppelin that impact me and mean something to me, and a little bit of why.  While the blog won't be all about it, my divorce is a fact in my life, and I can't ignore it any more than I can ignore that I have two feet.

Whilst going through the separation and divorce, I hadn't been listening to Zeppelin much. A lot of their songs and the messages and meanings were just not something I wanted or needed to hear then. Today, I want to hear them. I love their music. 

The song "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You," expresses a lot of the emotion that I felt through different times in the process of separation and divorce.   This song embodies the mastery of Page, Plant, Jones, and Bonham to take emotion and give it a voice.  To give me something that I can share with someone who has no perspective on what I went through.  Not that a song can fully explain it all; it's so much more complex than even this song. However, it's as good a representation as I can think of.

This song starts with a peaceful guitar melody, and the first stanza, then a harder rhythm, a second guitar, drums.  Back to peacefulness, another verse and then more of the heavy, the loudness of the drums.  Bonham is just pounding on those drums; no dynamics tonight.

The guitar work in this song is superb; alternating over and over from the peaceful melody, to the more intense part of the song is indicative of the nature of what goes on during these times:  times of harmony, times of acrimony.  There are two different voices, two different patterns of speech in the guitars as well, clearly representing the viewpoints of the two affected parties.   Plant's voice and desperate wailing are also a perfect representation of the emotion felt by either side, at the pain of one leaving, or being sent away.

The latter part of the song is a cacophony of noise; acoustic guitars, electric guitar, drums, vocals.  So many voices, so many emotions calling out. Yelling, talking, each trying to speak over the other. 

Everyone is talking. Nobody is listening.

A lot more went on than just not listening.  It's more complex than that.  It's just part of what I hear in this song, and it relates to what was going on at that time in my life.