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Song: Since I've Been Loving You
Album: Led Zeppelin III [released Oct 5, 1970 (US) | Oct 23, 1970 (UK)]
Single: N/A
Credited to: Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant
Related Songs:
Never - Moby Grape (lyrics)
New York City Blues - Yardbirds (music)
I Woke Up This Morning - Ten Years After (music?)
Mean Mistreater Mama - Leroy Carr (reference - original)
Mean Mistreatin' Mama - Elmore James (reference - cover)
Mean Mistreatin' Mama - Fleetwood Mac (reference - cover)
Lyrics:
Workin' from seven
to eleven every night
really makes life a drag
I don't think that's right
I've really been the best, the best of fools
I did what I could, yeah
'Cause I love you, baby, how I love you, darlin'
How I love you, baby, mama, love, little girl, little girl
But, baby, since I've been lovin' you, yeah
I'm about to lose my worried mind, aw, yeah
Everybody tryin' to tell me
that you didn't mean me no good
I've been tryin'
lord, let me tell ya
Let me tell ya, I really did the best I could
I've been
I've been workin' from seven
to eleven every night
I said, it kind of makes your life a drag, drag, drag, drag
Lord, yeah, that ain't right, now, now
Since I've been lovin' you, yeah
I'm about to lose my worried mind, yeah
Watch out
(Guitar Solo)
I said, I've been cryin', yeah
Whoa, my tears, they fell like rain
Don'tcha hear them, don'tcha hear them fallin'
Don'tcha hear them, don'tcha hear them fallin'
Do you remember, mama, when I knocked upon your door
I said, you had the nerve to tell me
you didn't want me no more, yeah
I open my front door, I hear my back door slam
You know, I must have one of them new-fangled, new-fangled
back-door man, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I've been a-workin' from seven, seven, seven
to eleven every night, it kinda makin' life a drag
drag, a drag, drag, ohh, yeah, it makes it a drag
Baby, since I've been lovin' you
I'm about to lose
I'm about to lose, lose my worried mind
And just one more, just one more
Oh, yeah, since I've been lovin' you
I'm gonna lose my, my worried mind
Personal notes: This is one of my top favorite Led Zeppelin songs, and one of my favorite songs of all time. This is what blues is all about. And the lead guitar on this song is totally out of this world. A little left of heaven, you might say. I first heard this song on The Song Remains The Same film, before I ever heard it on Zeppelin's third album. The performance in that film is incredible. Best performance of SIBLY I have ever heard, and my favorite live performance of all time. The opening particularly, Jimmy just goes off the wall. Seeing that convinced me to buy my first guitar and learn to be a guitarist myself, that's how incredible and how inspiring it was. Of my three favorite traditional sounding blues pieces Led Zeppelin played, this one's my favorite (the other two are I Can't Quit You Baby and Tea For One).
Influences: This song was inspired by the song Never by Moby Grape, a band that Robert Plant is a fan of. Never is also a slow blues, and some of the lyrics were borrowed for Since I've Been Loving You, notably the seven/eleven line. Also, the opening notes that Jimmy plays on this song are strikingly similar to the opening notes of a Yardbirds song titled New York City Blues, which the Yardbirds recorded with Jeff Beck. There is also a similarity between the opening of Since I've Been Loving You and the song I Woke Up This Morning by Ten Years After, which was released on the 1969 album Ssssh.
One line from Since I've Been Loving You ("do you remember, mama, when I knocked upon your door, I said you had the nerve to tell me you didn't want me no more") is likely taken from the song Mean Mistreatin' Mama, recorded in 1934 by Leroy Carr [thanks swandown], popularized in 1961 by Elmore James, and was also performed by Fleetwood Mac (who have been known to have inspired Led Zeppelin) with their resident Elmore James enthusiast, Jeremy Spencer, as early as 1968.
Never - Moby Grape
Working from eleven
To seven every night
Ought to make life a drag
Now I know that ain't right
Thinkin' 'bout those bad times
I wish you really knew
How happy I would be
If I were living love with you
Yeah, I've gone a long time
At best, I'm glad of that
I've been to see the best of fools
Yeah, and I thought I had it pat
Know I love you, baby
I don't need no one else
Come love me, baby
Hear me crying
Can't you hear me?
Come on back, baby
Bring your love on home
I'm needin' you bad
And knowin' I'm sad
Bring your love
Bring it on home
Cause I love you
Yeah, yeah, I love you
I need you, baby
Oh, can't you hear me, baby, I'm cryin'
I'm so all alone
I ain't got nobody here
It's so far
And it's so deep...
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