Achilles Last Stand

"Achilles Last Stand"
Song

"Achilles Last Stand" is a song by the English rock group Led Zeppelin, featured as the opening track on their 1976 album Presence. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at Page's house in Malibu, California where they stayed for a month while Plant was recovering from injuries he sustained in a car accident in Greece in 1975. The song was then recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany. It is often seen as a precursor to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound that would expand soon after.

Overview

"Achilles Last Stand", at 10 minutes and 25 seconds, is the third longest studio recording released by Led Zeppelin (after "In My Time of Dying" at 11:06 and "Carouselambra" at 10:34). It is famous for John Bonham's powerful drumming, John Paul Jones's galloping bass line (played on a custom-built Alembic eight string bass) and Jimmy Page's overdubbed orchestral guitar arrangement (the dozen or so guitar tracks having been recorded in Munich in a single session). Page applied vari-speed during production of this song to speed up some of the guitar overdubs, one of the few times he employed that device in the studio for Led Zeppelin songs. In 1977, he explained:

I'll tell you about doing all the guitar overdubs to "Achilles Last Stand." There were basically two sections to the song when we rehearsed it. I know John Paul Jones didn't think I could succeed in what I was attempting to do. He said I couldn't do a scale over a certain section, that it just wouldn't work. But it did. What I planned to try and get that epic quality into it so it wouldn't just sound like two sections repeated, was to give the piece a totally new identity by orchestrating the guitars, which is something I've been into for quite some time. I knew it had to be jolly good, because the number was so long it just couldn't afford to be half-baked. It was all down to me how to do this. I had a lot of it mapped out in my mind, anyway, but to make a long story short, I did all the overdubs in one night ... I thought as far as I can value tying up that kind of emotion as a package and trying to convey it through two speakers, it was fairly successful.

It has been suggested that the title of the song was originally supposed to be known as "Wheelchair Song" as an acknowledgment of Plant's broken ankle which caused him to fear he would never walk again, and which was a result of a car accident. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Plant's experiences in Morocco, where he and Page travelled following Led Zeppelin's 1975 Earl's Court concerts. Plant specifically refers to Morocco's Atlas Mountains in the line: "The mighty arms of Atlas hold the heavens from the Earth". This is a double-meaning to imply the Atlas mountains in a physical sense seeming to hold up the sky, as well as the reference to the Titan Atlas and his task to hold up the sky on his shoulders and thus separate it from the Earth. Plant's lyrics were also inspired by some of the poetry he was reading at the time, which includes William Blake. "Albion remains/sleeping now to rise again" is a reference to Blake's engraving The Dance Of Albion. The following is an excerpt from the poem that goes with the song:

Albion rose from where he labour'd at the Mill with Slaves.
Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death.

Albion is the most ancient name of Great Britain.

Jimmy Page has been quoted as saying that "Achilles Last Stand" is his favourite Led Zeppelin song.

"Achilles Last Stand" was used in the film Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001), one of the few times the band allowed a number from its catalogue to be used in a motion picture.

Live renditions

"Achilles Last Stand" became an integral component of almost every Led Zeppelin concert from their 1977 tour of the United States onwards. Though Page initially expected that he would need to use his Gibson EDS-1275 double-necked guitar to play the song live, he realised that it was possible to use the Gibson Les Paul (or occasionally his Fender Telecaster). One live version, from Led Zeppelin's performance at Knebworth in 1979 is featured on disc two of Led Zeppelin DVD. The "Achilles Last Stand"'s riff was also used in the 'San Francisco part' in "Dazed and Confused", as seen in the 1976 concert film The Song Remains The Same.

Page and Plant performed the song twice during their mid-'90's reunion.

Page has mentioned that this song, like several others the band recorded which involved guitar overdubs, was quite challenging to adapt for live performances on stage:

"Achilles" is the classic one. When Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards came to hear us play, Keith said, "You ought to get another guitarist; you're rapidly becoming known as the most overworked guitarist in the business." Quite amusing. There are times when I'd just love to get another guitarist on, but it just wouldn't look right to the audience.

Personnel

• Robert Plant – vocals
• Jimmy Page – guitars
• John Paul Jones – eight string bass guitar
• John Bonham – drums

See also

• List of cover versions of Led Zeppelin songs

External links

• "Achilles Last Stand" at ledzeppelin.com