I’ve got to quit you, yeah…
Don’t you hear it callin’ me?

Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” has an interesting history. It was originally written by Anne Bredon as a folk song and covered by Joan Baez. Jimmy Page supposedly heard it and turned into something different. Baez’ version is not that similar to Led Zeppelin’s at all, but it is interesting to see the influence.

Led Zeppelin did this on a lot of their songs. Sometimes they credited the original artist and sometimes they didn’t. This is the one thing that keeps them from being in the all-time greatest band discussion. Some of their hits seem to be derived from other people’s music.

“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” is about a man who loves a woman but who has an urge to leave because “it” is calling him away. He is vague about what it is. The road? Adventure? Home? Maybe he is just restless.

Nonetheless, he is leaving. The song alternates between tender and hard rock in a way unique to Led Zeppelin. They seem to pull this off the best. Both the acoustic and electric guitar parts are great. Plant’s vocals are great as always. He sounds broken up yet oddly certain about the fact that he must leave this woman who he loves. It’s a very interesting song.

Babe I’m Gonna Leave You Lyrics

Babe, baby, baby, I’m gonna leave you
I said baby, you know I’m gonna leave you

I’ll 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 don’t want to leave you
I ain’t jokin’ woman, I got to ramble
Oh yeah
Baby, baby, babe, I believin’
We really got to ramble
I can hear it callin’ me the way it used to do
I can hear it callin’ me back home

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?
Oh

I know, I know
I know I never never never never never gonna leave your babe
But I got to go away from this place

I’ve got to quit you, yeah
Ooh, baby baby baby baby baby baby ooh
Don’t you hear it callin’ me?
Woman, woman, I know, I know
It feels good to have you back again
And I know that one day baby, it’s really gonna grow, yes it is
We gonna go walkin’ through the park every day

Come what may, every day
Oh, mama baby
I’m gonna leave you go away

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

Songwriters: Jimmy Page / Robert Plant / Anne Bredon