WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS

Written by: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Memphis Minnie. Run time: 7 minutes 8 seconds Recorded at: Headley Grange, Hampshire, 1971 In a nutshell: The enormous closing statement, and an incendiary reinterpretation from a band with their share of covers up their sleeve. Famed for its cavernous drums and hypnotic hooks, it breathed power and fiery dynamics into a 1920s artefact. Talk about ending on a high. Noted cover versions by: Kristen Hersh (1994), A Perfect Circle (2004), Jeff Buckley (various), W.A.S.P (1998)

“Lots of Led Zeppelin songs show what an amazing drummer John Bonham was, but this is the one. That beat is just momentous. No one could hit as hard as he could. Genesis were always on the road somewhere and Zeppelin were always one the road somewhere else, so our paths never crossed. But I was totally in awe of him in the seventies. He was one of the drummers that really made you raise your game, even though we were very different.”