Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin song)

"Over the Hills and Far Away"
Netherlands single picture sleeve
Single by Led Zeppelin
from the album Houses of the Holy
B-side"Dancing Days"
Released24 May 1973 (1973-05-24) (US)
Recorded1972
StudioStargroves, East Woodhay, England
Genre
Length4:42
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jimmy Page
Led Zeppelin singles chronology
"Rock and Roll"
(1972) 		"Over the Hills and Far Away"
(1973) 		"D'yer Mak'er"
(1973)
Audio sample

"Over the Hills and Far Away" is the third track from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1973 album Houses of the Holy. In the US, it was released as a single, with "Dancing Days" as the B-side.

Composition and recording

Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling North American concert tour.[4] Initially it was titled "Many, Many Times".[5]

Page plays a six-string acoustic guitar introduction and repeats the theme with a 12-string acoustic guitar in unison. This leads into section led by electric guitar with the whole of the band. Following the final verse, the rhythm section fades out, gradually replaced by the echo returns from Page's electric guitar and a few chords played by Jones on clavinet.[6]

Releases and performances

In the US, the song was released as the first single from Houses of the Holy and reached number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The group often performed the song in concert, beginning before its album debut.[7]

Archive footage of the song being performed live in Seattle in 1977 and at Knebworth in 1979 was used for an officially distributed video of the song, used to promote the 1990 Led Zeppelin Remasters release.[7] The video accompanied a CD single which was released following the successful "Travelling Riverside Blues" release.[8]

Reception

Cash Box said the song "is a bit deceiving" in that "what opens as an acoustic song soon turns into an amazingly powerful Led Zeppelin classic complete with rock melody."[9]

In a contemporary review for Houses of the Holy, Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone criticized "Over the Hills and Far Away", calling the track dull, as well as writing the track is "cut from the same mold as "Stairway to Heaven", but becomes dull without that song's torrid guitar solo".[10]

The song has received greater acclaim in more recent years. Rolling Stone ranked "Over the Hills and Far Away" at No. 16 in its list of "The 40 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time" in 2012.[11] Andrew Unterberger of Spin, in 2014, ranked "Over the Hills and Far Away" as Led Zeppelin's best song, writing that it "best demonstrates just about everything the band does well: the unforgettable and impossible-to-pin-down opening riff, the life-affirming transition from acoustic to electric, the constant switches in tone and dynamic, the piercing solo with double-tracked climax, the impeccable interplay of guitar, bass, and drum, the inimitable Plant shrieking, the gorgeous coda, even the super-oblique title".[12] Critic Bill Wyman, writing for Vulture.com in 2015, ranked it as Led Zeppelin's sixth best song.[13]

Charts

1973 singles charts
Chart Peak Ref(s)
Canada RPM 100 63 [14]
US Billboard Hot 100 51 [15]
US Cash Box Top Singles 28 [16]
US Record World 100 Top Pop 31 [17]
2007 digital song charts (download)
Chart Peak Ref(s)
US Billboard Hot Digital Songs 63 [18]

Personnel

According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Houses of the Holy – Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  2. ^ Downing, Brian. "Led Zeppelin: Over the Hills and Far Away – Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  3. ^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1973". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. pp. 285–286. ISBN 9781493064601.
  4. ^ Sutcliffe, Phil (2003). "Back to Nature". Q (Special Led Zeppelin ed.). p. 34.
  5. ^ "Led Zeppelin's official Website HOTH". Led Zeppelin. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  6. ^ Tolinski, Brad; di Benedetto, Greg (January 1998). "Light and Shade: A Historic Look at the Entire Led Zeppelin Catalogue Through the Eyes of Guitarist/Producer/Mastermind Jimmy Page". Guitar World.
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Dave (1994). The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
  8. ^ Lewis, Dave (2003). Led Zeppelin: The 'Tight but Loose' Files: Celebration II (1st ed.). London: Omnibus Press. p. 62. ISBN 1-84449-056-4.
  9. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 2 June 1973. p. 12. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  10. ^ Fletcher, Gordon (7 June 1973). "Houses of the Holy". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  11. ^ "The 40 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time". RollingStone.com. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  12. ^ Unterberger, Andrew (29 September 2014). "All 87 Led Zeppelin Songs, Ranked". Spin.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  13. ^ Wyman, Bill (30 July 2015). "All 74 Led Zeppelin Songs, Ranked from Worst to Best". Vulture.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  14. ^ "RPM Singles Chart – 4 August 1973". RPM. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  15. ^ "Hot 100 Singles – 28 July 1973". Billboard. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  16. ^ "Top 100 Singles – 4 August 1973". Cash Box. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  17. ^ "Top 40 for 1973 – August 1973". Record World. Archived from the original on 30 September 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  18. ^ "Hot 100 Digital Songs – 1 December 2007". Billboard. Archived from the original on 16 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  19. ^ Guesdon & Margotin 2018, p. 322.

Bibliography