Originally named the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, was a top-ten album in several countries and featured such tracks as "Good Times Bad Times", "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown". Led Zeppelin II (1969) was their first number-one album, and yielded "Ramble On" and "Whole Lotta Love". In 1970, they released Led Zeppelin III which featured "Immigrant Song". Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is one of the best-selling albums in history with 37 million copies sold. The album includes "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll" and "Stairway to Heaven", with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock history. Houses of the Holy (1973) yielded "The Ocean", "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "The Rain Song". Physical Graffiti (1975), a double album, featured "Trampled Under Foot" and "Kashmir".
Page wrote most of Led Zeppelin's music, particularly early in their career, while Plant wrote most of the lyrics. Jones's keyboard-based compositions later became central to their music, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their touring and output, which included Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979), grew limited, and the group disbanded following Bonham's death in 1980. Since then, the surviving former members have sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off reunions. The most successful of these was the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Bonham's son Jason Bonham on drums.
Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists of all time; their total record sales are estimated to be between 200 and 300 million units worldwide. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums and six number-one albums on the US Billboard 200, with five of their albums certified Diamond in the US. Rolling Stone magazine described them as "the heaviest band of all time", "the biggest band of the Seventies", and "unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum's biography of the band states that they were "as influential" during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s.
Albums
Led Zeppelin (1969)
Led Zeppelin II (1969)
Led Zeppelin III (1970)
Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
Houses of the Holy (1973)
Physical Graffiti (1975)
Presence (1976)
In Through the Out Door (1979)
Coda (1982)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You #1
Led Zeppelin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I said baby, you know I'm gonna leave you
I'll leave you when the summertime
Leave you when the summer comes a-rollin'
Leave you when the summer comes along
Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, baby
Baby, I wanna leave you
Oh yeah
Baby, baby, I be leavin'
We really got to ramble
I can hear it callin' me the way it used to do
I can hear it callin' me back home
Babe, oh
Babe, I'm gonna leave you
Oh, baby
You know, I've really got to leave you
Oh, I can hear it callin' me
I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?
Oh
I know, I know
I know I never, never, never, never, never gonna leave you, babe
But I gotta go away from this place
I gotta quit you, yeah
Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby
Baby, baby, baby, oh
Don't you hear it callin' me?
Oh, woman, woman, I know, I know
It feels good to have you back again
And I know that one day, baby, it's really gonna grow, yes, it is
We gonna go walkin' through the park every day
Come what may, every day
Oh, my, my, my, my, my, my babe
I'm gonna leave you, go away
Oh
So good, see, baby
It was really, really good
You made me happy every single day
But now, I've got to go away
Oh, oh, oh
Baby, baby, baby
That's when it's callin' me
I said that's when it's callin' me back home
The song "Baby I'm Gonna Leave You" by Led Zeppelin is a classic rock ballad that explores the conflicting emotions of a man who is planning on leaving his lover. The song starts with the man making it clear that he is going to leave her come summertime. The lyrics convey that the man feels conflicted and sad about leaving her but he has to "ramble" and go back home where he hears something calling him. In the end, he makes the decision to leave her, despite his deep love for her.
The chorus of the song emphasizes his deep love for the woman and his struggle to leave her. He repeats "Babe, babe, babe" several times, showing his deep affection for her. The chorus ends with the line "I know I never never never never never gonna leave your babe, But I got to go away from this place." This line emphasizes his internal struggle and reluctance to leave her.
The final verse of the song brings a sense of peace and acceptance. He acknowledges that leaving her was not an easy decision but that it was something he had to do. The final line, "I said that's when it's callin' me back home," suggests that he will always carry a part of her with him and that he will return to her someday.
Overall, the song "Baby I'm Gonna Leave You" is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and the difficult choices that one must make in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Babe, baby, baby, I'm gonna leave you
I'm addressing my lover, saying that I'm going to leave them
I said baby, you know I'm gonna leave you
I repeat that I am planning to leave my lover
I'll leave you when the summertime
I'll leave you in the summer
Leave you when the summer comes a rollin'
I'll leave you when summer arrives
Leave you when the summer comes along
I'll leave you in the summer season
Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, baby, baby
I address my lover with several pet names
I don't want to leave you
I express that I don't want to leave my lover
I ain't jokin' woman, I got to ramble
I'm not kidding, I have to leave and travel
Oh yeah
I show agreement with my previous statement
Baby, baby, babe, I believin'
I address my lover again with affectionate names, and express that we need to go on a journey
We really got to ramble
We need to travel
I can hear it callin' me the way it used to do
I can hear the call to travel again, as I used to hear it before
I can hear it callin' me back home
I can hear the call to return home
Babe, I'm gonna leave you
I repeat that I'm going to leave my lover
Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you
I repeat that I have to leave my lover
I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?
I ask my lover if they don't hear the call to travel, as they used to before
Oh
I express sadness or regret
I know, I know
I know, and I acknowledge my previous statement
I know I never never never never never gonna leave your babe
I reassure my lover that, despite leaving, I won't truly leave or forget them
But I got to go away from this place
Regardless, I still have to leave here
I've got to quit you, yeah
I have to stop seeing my lover, at least for now
Ooh, baby baby baby baby baby baby ooh
I address my lover again with pet names and express my emotional connection to them
Don't you hear it callin' me?
I ask if my lover doesn't hear the call to travel
Woman, woman, I know, I know
I address my lover with another affectionate term, and express understanding of how they feel
It feels good to have you back again
I express how happy I am to be with my lover again
And I know that one day baby, it's really gonna grow, yes it is
I express hope that our relationship will one day become even better
We gonna go walkin' through the park every day
I describe something we'll do together in the future, walking through a park daily
Come what may, every day
No matter what happens, we'll still do this every day
Oh, mama baby
I address my lover again with pet names
I'm gonna leave you go away
I repeat that I'm going to leave my lover and go away
It was really, really good
I express that our time together was really good
You made me happy every single day
I express how much my lover means to me and how happy they made me every day
But now
But things have changed
I've got to go away
I repeat that I have to leave
Baby, baby, baby
I address my lover again with pet names
That's when it's callin' me
I explain that the call to travel is coming again
I said that's when it's callin' me back home
I clarify that the call is to come home again
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Robert Anthony Plant, James Patrick Page, Anne L. Bredon
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gitfiddle 7766
Honestly after years of studying Led Zep I have a sneaking suspicion that is a misfretted note by Jimmy and he just left it in because it’s close enough for rock and roll
Levente Szemán
Nah, he was way too good to do that :D
gdawgs101
@Levente Szemán Nah, he missed notes all the time even though he was a legend
MuffinTheMoaf -_-
@Levente Szemán you’d be surprised how many times a good guitarist messes up😅
Ken Salazar
@gdawgs101 was intentional..
he meant to do that....
Gitfiddle 7766
@Ken Salazar well it was intentional that he left it in. Mistakes can be decisions also.
Mike Kavalerchik
Like with all Zeppelin songs You can listen to them thousands of times and then something pops up that you've never noticed before. You're are absolutely correct on that flutter in the beginning.
Dreamy liquid
Fiddlee-flee thing is a perfect description!
Kathryn H
Flamenco fledelee flee
Katarzyna Kate Idzikowska
But it doesn’t sound like the author of this channel plays it.