When The Levee Breaks - Man Against The River

[bludav1]

i like Dylan's version, too

[draconistheory]

This one is just so happy, I can't but chuckle along with it.

[collegoflustandfear]

@draconistheory haha. thats ironic considering its a blues song about a flood. it wasnt s'posed to be happy.

[1blastman]

Great bands cover great songs by great artists. LZ brought this song back into the national consciousness. Other artists [John Campbell, Bonerama, etc] have put their personal stamp on this song.

Check out John Campbell's version, it's chilling.

[foxbarloyal]

This may not be the best place to ask this, but I gotta ask it somewhere...

Why does Led Zeppelin list the authors of this song as Page/Plant, as well as many other songs that they covered? Traveling Riverside Blue is one song that they really didn't add much too, yet they saw fit to claim it as their own? I have no problem with bands doing covers, but to give NO credit to Robert Johnson or other blues greats who created the music is a crime.

[801Current]

@foxbarloyal I don't know why they didn't give any credit to the original artists, but they did re write everysingle one, they even re wrote a lot of the lyrics..they should credit the originals though...they might have meant no harm, being a musician you feel like everyone knows a lot about music like you and maybe they thought that people would just know the song, not knowing that everyone didn't listen to it like they did?

[aechengle]

First of all, this song is actually by Memphis Minnie. Having said that, it is true that Led Zeppelin is the greatest band ever. But a lot of Zep was blues covers, including Nobody's fault but mine by Blind Willy.

[Homesikhalo]

led zeppelins is better

[bonjovifan89]

@Homesikhalo yea but you gotta keep in mind, if it werent for this, there would be no led zeppelin version.

[mvfasolfasoo]

jejeje never heard this one till now

its great but i still prefer zepps one

[VoodooVelma]

Love this song. Zep's cover is awesome, but in and of itself, this is great.

[whataboutsky]

bob dylan covered this song

[lorrimarr55]

The Led has made largest cover than all the times, like also for Babe i' m gonna leave you: they have dressed for the festivity these songs without to have them. Thank You

[kafians]

so fucked up and srunk so many days that i stopped being with u...cause when the levee s gonna break nothing is gonna stay...

crawl aint gonna help you aint gonna do you no good...

[mexicanjewishmidget]

:D hahah wow

[kafians]

this also good...very soul tense song....

[cannibaljuice]

This one is not as powerful as zeppelins

[NJD3110]

of course it's not. it's a blues/folk song. Led Zeppelin made a longer cover and they're a rock band. So their version is bound to be more powerful.

I quite like this version, though I agree that the Led Zeppelin version is better (only because that's the version i heard first)

[cannibaljuice]

Oh no its a great song its just different im sorry mixed communication sorry about that

[NJD3110]

ah ok. my mistake :P

[threeslow]

A Perfect Circle did it as well...pretty different...Very different I mean...

[alamony812]

zeppelin, those dam theives o well there still  the greatest band ever. hmmf

[NoRogerNoFloyd]

Dylan also ripped off this song a bit on the Modern Times album.

[TheInfamousKyle]

I actually thought Zep did this

[stringslayer]

same here, ive just read on wikipedia that theyve taken alot of songs and passed them off as their own and taken credit for them, they got filed a lawsuit against 'bring it on home.'

[TheInfamousKyle]

Wow, I knew they did it with Dazed and Confused by the Yardbirds.

[stringslayer]

i know, i still like the zeppelin versions of the songs a bit better, but i also like these aswell :P but its sorta made me think twice about them, they got sued for 'whole lotta love' 0_o !!

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

Dazed and Confused was not a Yardbirds song, and even if it was, Jimmy would have every right to take it, he had credibility for the band since he was in it. Zeppelin did not 'steal' songs either. If you listen to any of the old songs that they 'stole', you can see that the songs sound nothing alike. Zeppelin took ideas from these songs, and made them into masterpieces. Led Zeppelins 'When the Levee Breaks' sounds NOTHING similar to this. They made the music, they just got ideas from others.

[almanacofsleep]

Dazed and Confused was a Yardbirds song which Page didn't write so he had no right to take it. You need to brush up on your copywrite laws, the musical compasition was different but the lyrics were exactly the SAME! Denial such as yours is such a sad thing.

And that thing about making these songs into masterpeices sounds very racist.What can't black guys make masterpeices? Needs a white mans touch? Now it all makes sence!

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

Dazed and Confused is a Jake Holmes song and since the Yardbirds did it and since the Yardbirds left JIMMY PAGE the rights to all their songs, he had the right to do whatever he wanted with their material.

Lol..and there are tons of black masterpieces, for example, Maggot Brain by funkadelic, and a ton of blues songs. Spoonful by Willie Dixon, in my opinion, is one of the top 20 songs right off the street. I could name countless blues songs that are amazing.

[almanacofsleep]

Then why was Page in breach of copywrite?

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

He was not in breach of copywrite for Dazed and Confused. The yardbirds version of Dazed was COMPOSED BY JIMMY. The ORIGINAL is a Jake Holmes song which Jimmy heard when Jake opened for the yardbirds one day. Jimmy liked the song and decided to re-write it. Jake sent Jimmy a letter asking for his credibility but since Jimmy basically wrote the entire song himself (Zeppelins version) he refused.

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

The lyrics were not exactly the same. And no, it's not racist. I listen to a TON of blues music, it happens to be my favorite genre. You calling me a racist simply shows your ignorance. As far as blues go, there are many blues songs I like more than Zeppelin songs and other songs as well. Spoonful by Willie Dixon (done by Willie Dixon) is perhaps one of the greatest songs ever. What Kind Of Woman Is This done by Buddy Guy is one of my favorite songs. Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson, too.

[CodeOuch]

I love howlin' wolf doing spoonful!

[quercus1959]

@ SqueezeMyLemonBabe, even Squeeze my lemon is NOT LedZep but its from Robert Johnson: Now you can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my...

(Spoken) 'til the juice rune down my leg, baby, you know what I'm talkin' about

You can squeeze my lemon 'til the juice run down my leg

(Spoken) That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, now

But I'm goin' back to Friars Point, if I be rockin'to my head

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

Yeah, buddy, I knew that. I think every single Zeppelin fan knows that, you don't have to be a Robert Johnson fan to know where it came from..he's basically the godfather of the blues. Him and Charlie Patton at least.

[almanacofsleep]

Only if you are a Blues fan, theres a lot of people who don't know Robert Johnson and wouldn't find out about him though Led Zepplin because they never crdited him, thats what really gets me is that its not a multimillioares there ripping off, most of those guys lived below the poverty line while Led Zep were lording it up partily because of those old blues guys, Led Zep basicly gave a big fuck you to them.

[wassup287]

Please don't be condescending to people who don't know what you know. It only sparks hate for you.

[almanacofsleep]

I'm only speaking the truth.

[almanacofsleep]

And yes it is racist to asume that Led Zep made them "better" or into "masterpieces" and very cultraly imperlistic.

[SqueezeMyLemonBabe]

The songs are masterpieces in their own right. As far as the blues goes, I find it the most soulful and extraordinary music anywhere. The blues, though simple, can be extremely beautiful music pieces. And, Led Zeppelin mentioned Robert Johnson a lot, not on their credits, no, but should they have put Robert Johnson in the credits because they used the few words 'squeeze my lemon"?

[almanacofsleep]

Mabey not Johnson but they should mention ,for example, Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie.

[pinya62]

please read some history...zep was formed from the remaining members of the yardbirds...page held the rights to dazed and confused...besides most music is taken from somewhere else...the old blues men reused lines and whole songs that they had heard from someone else.

[almanacofsleep]

I'm tired of people thinking every blues song is some reused tradtional song, most of these songs, including this one, was an oridinal work.

[Veritas62]

This is what happens when a whole generation grows up getting their music from the internet and not buying records or cds. I have the original vinyl album of Led Zeppelin IV, on which they covered "When the Levee Breaks", and it clearly states Memphis Minnie's name on the song credits along with the band. That's when I discovered Memphis Minnie's version. Both versions are great, but clearly have different moods. And the fact is, lots of early rock bands lifted from the blues, not just Led Zep.

[almanacofsleep]

The only reson why Minnie was credited was cause of a court order demanding she be credited after Zep was sued.

[jim82068]

ok zep swiped this song but they sure rocked it out!

[lenaspieltblues]

Great work! Congratulation!

By the way: live 100 meters away from riverside (Danube). Hope never have to share this. Poor people!

[zapjaste]

Really great video! I love this song. The footage worked really great with this song. 5 stars.

[santasxgirlfriend]

THANX!

[LizzyDouglas]

Southmark37: Don't think that there are many people in Holland who developed a phobia because they live under the level of the sea.

Very much has been done after the great floods in Holland of 1916 & 1953, which were both results of postphoned maintenance and ignorance. Memphis Minnie's "Levees" are still appropriate for the New Orleans disaster. US didn't learn from previous floods like the 1929-one, where "Levees" is written for.

[zipahead]

yeah brilliant. The music... the footage... stunning..this one is going on my favorites

[brendafohio]

Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment! Peace.

[LizzyDouglas]

Hoggdawn: In Holland we build rather good dykes etc. for more than 1000 years now. Several million people live approx. 10ft or more below sea level. A matter of organisation. Minnie is amongst the greatest in the blues, if not the greatest. My nickname is her real name, what about that ?

[Southmark37]

But flood defences anywhere are subject to storm damage and ultimately unsustainable with rising sea levels and increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather events. Technical responses aren't solutions.

[jspen2]

This is great!  Wonderful job!

[brendafohio]

Thanks, I really like the song, be it Zep or Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie. Peace.

[TheFamOh]

I've always wanted to live in a house on pillars or stilts. A house in Tahiti with clear floors mebbe!? :D

[valentinaburton]

Great!!!

[hoggdawn]

Living below sea level or on a flood plain has its attendant risks. When will the people ever learn? It should be code to build on concrete piers or stilts in those areas!

[osp80]

is this footage of the '27 flood

[brendafohio]

Though the 27 flood is what they are singing about, this footage is not of the 27 flood.

[ejp3art]

wow...it could be the 20's, it could be today...when the levee goes, it all looks the same. Funny how things surface- the entire time I'm listening, my mind kept going back to Led Zeppelin's version...

[brendafohio]

When I saw the title on the public domain website Led Zeppelin was the first thing I thought of. I had no idea it was such an old song. I think Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie did a great version.

[osp80]

yeah anything over 75 years is public domain IIRC

[tps607]

The connection between "contemporary" artists,and especially British rock and rollers,with American roots music like the Blues is stunning.Crossroads, House of the Rising Sun...and much more