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Song: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
Album: Led Zeppelin [released Jan 12, 1969 (US) | Mar 28, 1969 (UK)]
Single: N/A
Credited to: Anne Bredon (Earthchild), Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Related Songs:
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Anne Briggs/Anne Bredon (original)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Marianne Faithful (previous cover)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Joan Baez (previous cover)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Quicksilver Messenger Service (previous cover)


Lyrics:

Babe, baby, baby, I'm gonna leave you
I said, baby, you know I'm gonna leave you
I'm 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'll wanna leave you
I ain't jokin', woman, I've got to ramble
Oh, yeah, baby, baby, I will really
Really got to ramble ((I can hear it callin' me))
I can hear it callin' me the way it used to do
I can hear it callin' me back home

Baby, 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

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've gotta quit you, yeah
Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
Oh, don't you hear it callin' me again

Oh, woman, woman, I know, I know
Feels good to have you back again, and I know that one day, baby
It's gonna really grow, yes it is
We're 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

Hoh, oh, god, miss your lips, sweet baby
It was really, really good
You made me happy every single day
But now I've got to go away

Baby, baby, baby
That's when it's callin' me
I said, that's when it's callin' me back home


Personal notes: Outstanding vocal performance by Robert Plant on this song. Very emotional - one of Plant's best, in my opinion. Hard to believe, but this is one of those really good songs that I didn't take much notice of early on, and only really discovered at a later time. But that's a great thing about Zeppelin's music - different songs appeal to you at different times in your life.


Influences: This song is credited to Anne Bredon, also known as Anne Briggs. Joan Baez was known to have performed this song, and it appears on her album Joan Baez in Concert, Pt. 1. [Vanguard Recording Society, VRS-9112], which was recorded (and released) in the second half of the year 1962. Jimmy Page liked this song a lot upon first hearing it, and supposedly recorded a version with Marianne Faithful in his session days. I've also heard that Page recorded a version of the song with Steve Winwood in 1968, but that recording never saw the light of day.

The Quicksilver Messenger Service recorded a version of Babe I'm Gonna Leave You for the soundtrack to the film Revolution, which was released under United Artists in December 1967 [U.A. 5185, U.K. SULP 1226 and reissue UAS 2906 - according to http://www.bay-area-bands.com/bab00030.htm]. Quicksilver Messenger Service credited the song to Anne Bredon, Edward Darling, and Paul Bennett. [The song has been rereleased on subsequent QMS compilations].



Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Joan Baez

Babe, I'm gonna leave you
Tell you when I'm gonna leave you
Leave you when ol' summer time, summer comes a rolling
Leave you when ol' summer comes along

Babe, that highway's a calling
That old highway's a calling
Calling me to travel on, travel on out Westward
Calling me to travel on alone

Babe, I'd like to stay here
You know I'd really like to stay here
My feet start going down, going down that highway
My feet start going down, going down alone

Babe, I got to ramble
You know I got to ramble
My feet start going down and I got to follow
They just start going down, going down, and I got to go



Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Quicksilver Messenger Service (accurate lyrics?)

Baby, do you hear me runnin', do you hear me?
I'm gonna leave you, come along this pay day
Baby, do you hear me, honey, do you hear me?
I'm gonna leave you, come along next pay day

I'm gonna ride ole Cherokee up the St. John's river, not one cent will I give
Aw, baby, I've gotta leave you, you know, I'm gonna leave
I'm gonna leave, baby, when summertime comes around, yeah

I'm gonna ride ole Cherokee up the St. John's river, not one cent will I give
Aw, babe, I'm gonna leave you, you know, I've gotta leave
I'm gonna leave, baby, when summertime comes around, yeah

I got to ride ole Cherokee up the St. John's river, not one cent will I give
Aw, babe, I'm gonna leave you, you know, I'm gonna leave
I've got to leave you, baby, when summertime comes around


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