The Crunge
| "The Crunge" | |||||||||
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| Single by Led Zeppelin | |||||||||
| from the album Houses of the Holy | |||||||||
| A-side | "D'yer Mak'er" | ||||||||
| Released | 17 September 1973 (US) | ||||||||
| Format | Seven-inch 45 rpm record | ||||||||
| Recorded | 1972 | ||||||||
| Genre | Funk rock[1] | ||||||||
| Length | 3:17 | ||||||||
| Label | Atlantic (no. 2986) | ||||||||
| Writer(s) | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Page | ||||||||
| Led Zeppelin singles chronology | |||||||||
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"The Crunge" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. It was also released as the B-side of "D'yer Mak'er" in the US.
Contents
Overview
The song evolved out of a jam session in the studio. John Bonham started the beat, John Paul Jones came in on bass, Jimmy Page played a funk guitar riff (and a chord sequence that he'd been experimenting with since 1970), and Robert Plant started singing.[2][3] For the recording of this track, Page played on a Fender Stratocaster guitar and it is possible to hear him depressing a whammy bar at the end of each phrase.[2]
A voice is audible at the beginning asking, "You almost ready to go?" and someone answers, "If you like it." The voices that can be heard talking on the recording just as Bonham's drums begin on the intro are those of Jimmy Page and audio engineer George Chkiantz.[3]
This song is a play on James Brown's style of funk in the same way that "D'yer Mak'er" (which it backed on a single release) experiments with reggae.[3] Since most of Brown's earlier studio recordings were done live with almost no rehearsal time, he often gave directions to the band in-song e.g. "take it to the bridge" - the bridge of the song. Robert Plant pays tribute to this at the end by asking "Where's that confounded bridge?" (spoken, just as the song finishes abruptly since the song doesn't contain a bridge).
Prior to 1975, "The Crunge" was only heard live at Led Zeppelin concerts during the band's "Whole Lotta Love" medley and their 1972 tour version of "Dazed and Confused". One example of this arrangement is presented on the live album How the West Was Won, where it also appears with "Walter's Walk" on a 25 minute medley. However, on the 1975 tour of the United States the song was performed almost entirely several times, in the funk jam that would link "Whole Lotta Love" and "Black Dog" at the end of the concert.
The band's bass player John Paul Jones considers this to be one of his favourite Led Zeppelin songs.[4]
Time signatures
Some of the humour of the song derives from the juxtaposition of funk against shifting time signatures. One way to count out the song is as follows:[5]
Intro measure:
1 x 9/8
Part 1:
7 x 9/8 (or 4/8 + 5/8)
1 x 8/8 (or 4/8 + 4/8)
Part 2:
3 x 4/4
1 x 5/8
1 x 2/4
3 x 4/4
1 x 5/8
1 x 2/4
3 x 4/4
1 x 2/4
1 x 2/8
then return to "Part 1", play through pattern two more times, end with roughly
23 x 9/8 (last one ends in the middle of the measure, with drums ending on the 5th beat and the synthesizer continuing for a beat or two).
alternate form analysis:
A:
7 bars 9/8
1 bar 4/4
B:
3 bars 4/4
1 bar 9/8
Repeat
3 bars 4/4
1 bar 6/8
Formats and track listings
1973 7" single (Uruguay: Atlantic 74007)
- A. "D'yer Mak'er" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 4:23
- B. "The Crunge" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:17
Personnel
- Robert Plant - vocals
- Jimmy Page - guitars
- John Paul Jones - bass guitar, synthesizer
- John Bonham - drums
Cover versions
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Sources
- Lewis, Dave (2004) The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
- Welch, Chris (1998) Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Interview with Jimmy Page; Guitar World magazine, 1993
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dave Lewis (1994), The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
