Shaken...BLOG POST

Once a week...maybe not, but better late than never, right?

I purposely delayed writing this post mostly because of my lack of knowledge on the song featured in this post (for shame!)

Anyways, You Shook Me, the third track of Led Zeppelin's first album, Led Zeppelin I, will be featured in this post.

This is generally the song I skip whenever I listen to this album, as it strays from the normal hard and energetic tone in Zeppelin songs; on that note, it's also not an acoustic piece either, but rather, a hard blues song, based on the original by Willie Dixon, a favorite "base template" for Led Zeppelin songs. Along with being skipped by me, I also haven't really found the time to learn how to play this song, as I generally stay away from slide-blues songs (I'm really scared of odd tunings!). Despite the slide intro, the song does manage to stay with the standard EADGBE tuning...I guess I'll have to learn this at some point.

As I said above, the song is very blues-driven, being based off, or rather "inspired by" a Willie Dixon song. The very first thing heard in the song is Page's metal slide: it's a rather iconic riff for the die-hard Zeppelin fan, and whenever I hear it calling out (< not a Babe I'm Gonna Leave You reference...), I instantly know what song it is. The chording structure in this song isn't exactly new, and once again is a typical blues rhythm, with the BUH...BUHNUH...BUNUH...(repeat) going through the verses. On the other hand...the solo is truly amazing, and on that note, all the band member's parts are. But back to Page: as the song develops, the guitar part begins to break out of its standard patterning, sometimes following the vocals, sometimes doing a small call-and-respond. Listening to it now, I guess it isn't terribly repetetive, which reflects one of my upper points; I really haven't listened to this song a great deal yet; I'll still try my best to cover it, though.

The bass part is kind of absent in this song, with JPJ staying on the keys and organ for most of the song. JPJ actually did the organ part for another version of this song, back in the Yardbirds for Page and Beck, both of which ironically did their own versions of the song. (I won't get into the details...) Not much else to say on JPJ's part here.

Pertaining to the drum part of this song, Bonham plays through the verses with a very heavy, dragging rhythm, complimented by Page's guitar. This song, if I played it, would probably be an easy first song to learn...at least until the song develops later on. This song is a good showcase for Bonham in the second half, as his iconic fills start entering the song, particularly after Plant's harmonica solo around 3-4 minutes in. This is probably the first song of Zeppelin's to ever have the signature "drum triplets" of Bonham's the second being in Dazed and Confused (hopefully more on it next week...)

Regarding the live versions of this song, there are TONS of versions to look up, as this was featured in every Zeppelin set until 1973, around the time The Song Remains The Same Live conert album was recorded, explaining why it wasn't featured in the soundtrack. You Shook me is featured on the BBC Sessions album, along with the live video from Royal Albert Hall in 1970. Along with Communication Breakdown, You Shook Me is on BBC Sessions multiple times, with a few discreet differences which I still need to take note of as of the writing of this post.

In conlusion (Why does this sound like an essay?!), I really need to listen to this song more...and I also encourage the reader, yes YOU, to listen to it a little more, perhaps complimenting the distortion-driven sound with a little more relaxed blues-driven sound. Or maybe not. Maybe you could go listen to that...whatever it is.

Maybe.