Led Zeppelin - Good Times Bad Times

Led Zeppelin - Good Times, Bad Times

Copyright - 1969 Atlantic Records

"Good Times Bad Times" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured as the opening track on their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin.

For the lead guitar solo, guitarist Jimmy Page passed his Telecaster guitar through a Leslie speaker to create a swirling effect. This type of speaker contains a rotating paddle and was designed for Hammond organ, however guitars could be used with it. George Harrison and Eric Clapton also did this on the Cream song "Badge", and George Harrison used this in several of The Beatles' recordings. In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, Page expalined that:

" I do remember using the board to overdrive a Leslie cabinet for the main riff in "How Many More Times".It doesn't sound like a Leslie because I wasn't employing the rotating speakers. Surprisingly, that sound has real weight. The guitar is going through the board, then through an amp which was driving the Leslie cabinet. It was a very successful experiment. "

Page, also the band's producer, placed microphones all over the recording studio to capture a live sound when this song was recorded.

This song is also notable for drummer John Bonham's repeated use of a series of two triplets on a single bass drum, an effect many subsequent rock drummers have imitated. Bonham had reportedly developed this technique after listening to Vanilla Fudge. He was unaware that drummer Carmine Appice was actually playing on a double bass set. As Page has stated:

" The most stunning thing about the track, of course, is Bonzo's amazing kick drum. It's superhuman when you realize he was not playing with double kick. That's one kick drum!! That's when people started understanding what he was all about. "
Bass player John Paul Jones has also remarked on his own contribution to the track:
" Usually anything [by Led Zeppelin] with lots of notes was mine and anything with chunky chords was Page's. Things like "Good Times Bad Times", those are my sort of riffs, they're quite busy'. "

"Good Times Bad Times" was rarely played live at Led Zeppelin concerts in its entirety. In a few instances in 1969 it was used as an introduction to "Communication Breakdown". It also appeared in almost complete form within the "Communication Breakdown" medley performed at the LA Forum on the 4th September, 1970 (as can be heard on the Led Zeppelin bootleg recording Live On Blueberry Hill), and several "Whole Lotta Love' medleys in 1971. It was also the opening song for Led Zeppelin's reunion show at the O2 Arena, London on December 10, 2007.

Lyrics:
In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man,
Now I've reached that age, I've tried to do all those things the best I can.
No matter how I try, I find my way into the same old jam.

*Good Times, Bad Times, you know I had my share;
When my woman left home for a brown eyed man,
Well, I still don't seem to care.

Sixteen, I fell in love with a girl as sweet as could be,
Only took a couple of days 'til she was rid of me.
She swore that she would be all mine and love me till the end,
But when I whispered in her ear, I lost another friend, oooh.

* Chorus

I know what it means to be alone, I sure do wish I was at home.
I don't care what the neighbors say, I'm gonna love you each and every day.
You can feel the beat within my heart.
Realize, sweet babe, we ain't ever gonna part.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Led
• Zeppelin
• 1968
• 1969
• John
• Bonzo
• Bonham
• Robert
• Plant
• Paul
• Jones
• Jimmy
• Page
• Atlantic
• Records

[zep123dmc]

1:30-1:31 definition of rock and roll

[ACDCjeremy93]

robert's face is!

[longboarderparis180]

@persbol the one person who disliked this can burn in hell for eternity

[persbol]

how the fuck is there one dislike?

[persbol]

@pumpingflesh especially since its a single kick

[ElvisBluntman777]

This is some epic Rockn Roll.

[ACERAMGAD]

Shweet TunA==9dfjuw8u 438tubn5654462686567885ir39r88­r38345!HACKER!lol..everyone is a hacker that does good..retarded!

[ACERAMGAD]

Heavy duty!

[ACERAMGAD]

I think we are actually evolving back into space ??

[1aggiesrule]

dat bass! :D

[pumpingflesh]

awesome drum play from bonzo

[pumpingflesh]

the drum work in this song is absulutly insane