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

Bye bye happiness/
Hello loneliness.

“Bye Bye Love” by The Everly Brothers is one of the most covered and most iconic rock & roll songs. Historically this song is very special. This is the beginning of rock harmonies. This is the precursor to S&G, The Beach Boys, Bee Gees, etc. It is also one of the few songs to hit with both rock and country audiences.

Everyone from The Backstreet Boys, to The Beatles to Simon & Garfunkel have covered “Bye Bye Love” by The Everly Brothers. S&Gs version is right up there with the original. What is so amazing about this song is that it was recorded in 1957. There was so little music of this quality around that time.

As we have seen, there are so few songs that can hold up this many years later. Really, we have only heard Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on the rock side. This was before them! For you guitar aficionados out there, Chet Atkins plays the guitar on this song.

Lyrics Bye Bye Love

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I’ma gonna cry

Bye bye love
Bye bye sweet caress
Hello emptiness
I feel like I could die
Bye bye my love goodbye

There goes my baby with someone new
She sure looks happy, I sure am blue
She was my baby ’til he stepped in
Goodbye to romance that might have been

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I’ma gonna cry

Bye bye love
Bye bye sweet caress
Hello emptiness
I feel like I could die
Bye bye my love goodbye

I’m through with romance, I’m through with love
I’m through with counting the stars above
And here’s the reason that I’m so free
My loving baby is through with me

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I’ma gonna cry

Bye bye love
Bye bye sweet caress
Hello emptiness
I feel like I could die
Bye bye my love goodbye
Bye bye my love goodbye

Bye bye my love goodbye
Bye bye my love goodbye

Songwriters: Boudleaux Bryant / Felice Bryant

But never ever been a blue calm sea/
I have always been a storm.

Fleetwood Mac is one of the greatest bands of all time. If you don’t recognize their name you can sing along with at least ten of their songs. “Storms” is one of Fleetwood’s deeper cuts. The band consisted primarily of three songwriters who battled it out for space on each record: Stevie Nicks, Christie McVie, & Lindsey Buckingham.

Each are amazing talents, and did their best work together, even though their relationship was often strained and tumultuous. And fascinating. “Storms” is a Stevie Nicks song. All Fleetwood Mac songs were produced or coproduced by Lindsey who was the Brian Wilson of Fleetwood Mac.

Nicks writes about a lover she hasn’t been with him in a while: “Every night I feel a little less”. But is he just testing her or is he just not interested in her anymore? She hopes for the former, but we suspect the later. She expresses a great fondness for this person, but she admits she has neglected the relationship as well. She wants to be calm, but Stevie Nicks is not a calm person, she is a storm. As the storm in her mind brews, she moves from loving him to knowing that it is over. Her feelings towards him begin to harden.

The melody and the vocal are exceptional—they are a classic example of Nicks’ work. She never over-emotes. She expresses herself in her lyrics. Her lyrics are sometimes melodramatic but not her voice. Her lyrics here are a typical example of common themes throughout her work: storms, dreams, love, and breakups.  The guitar work here is subtle, but it also adds a lot to the song. Notice the unique picking pattern of the acoustic guitar. That’s Buckingham. You can also hear Christine McVie’s organ adding to the dreamy feel of the song.  This is one of Stevie Nicks’ best songs.

Storms Lyrics

Every night that goes between
I feel a little less
As you slowly go away from me
This is only another test

Every day you do not come
Your softness fades away
Did I ever really care that much
Is there anything left to say

Every hour of fear I spend
My body tries to cry
Living through each empty night
A deadly call inside

I haven’t felt this way I feel
Since many a years ago
But in those years and the lifetimes past
I did not deal with the road
And I did not deal with you I know
Though the love has always been
So I search to find an answer there
So I can truly win

Every hour of fear I spend
My body tries to cry
Living through each empty night
A deadly call inside

So I try to say good-bye my friend
Id like to leave you with something more
But never ever been a blue calm sea
I have always been a storm

Always been a storm
Oh always been a storm
I have always been a storm

We were frail
She said “every night he will break your heart”
I should’ve known from the first
Id be the broken-hearted
But I loved you from the start
Not all the prayers in the world could save us

Songwriters: Stevie Nicks