Darlene (I love you)

One of my favourite Zeppelin tracks is a lesser listened-to ditty called Darlene.

Originally recorded for In Through The Out Door, it was omitted, (along with Ozone Baby and Wearing And Tearing) due to time-restrictions and was only brought to the light of day when Coda was released in '82. It's a highly overlooked song due to it being on "the album that no one really listens to" but I urge you to give it another try for five good reasons.

1. Page. On this song, his riffs and solos are perfection. The riff has that catchy, bouncy quality that makes you want to dance, or at least nod your head in time depending on which is more your style. The two solos are smooth and reasonably lengthy, but not so long that they take away from the jive-quality of the number.
2. Jonesy. This is a wonderful stage for Jonesy's piano playing to take form. He goes from bluesy to almost-honky-tonk in a matter of seconds and can I just say two words? Piano solo. Not many songs can pull of a piano solo, but Darlene does.
3. Robert. For a song that's main lyric is simply "Oooh Darlene", Robert manages to make you feel like you're listening to some of the most important lines in history. He sings every "oooh" slightly differently to the next and manages to sound raspy and bluesy, yet smooth and rock n' roll at the same time. Plus, I love the nod to Don McLean's American Pie with the line "With a pink carnation and a pickup truck.".
4. Bonzo. Now, I didn't actually notice this until recently, but I tend to be drawn to songs that Bonzo had the most credit for. The Ocean being the most notable. He seems to like his riff-driven simple yet powerful songs and I think Darlene is a perfect example of that.
5. 2 in 1. Led Zeppelin seem to be very good at creating one song out of two. A lot of their songs start out in one style and then slowly flow into another and Darlene has an aspect of that.

So go give it another listen, please and see what you think.

~Miss K