Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker

Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker

Copyright - 1969 Atlantic Records

"Heartbreaker" is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 album, Led Zeppelin II. It was credited to all four members of the band, having been recorded at A&R Studios, New York, during the band's second concert tour of the United States, and was engineered by Eddie Kramer.

"Heartbreaker" opens Side II of the album, and is famous for its memorable guitar riff by Jimmy Page, along with its unaccompanied solo, which he did not compose but rather improvised on the spot. It was voted as the 16th greatest guitar solo of all time by Guitar World magazine.

Structure
The song begins with an aggressive riff in A-minor, constructed around the blues scale, following a powerful power chord assault during the verse. Robert Plant sings about a woman named Annie, who is up to her old tricks again; the lyrics recalling a tale of a man painfully wizened after their encounters.

Following a straight 8ths "rave up" by the band, Page's solo fires off a rapid-fire chain of sextuplet hammer-ons and pull-offs, accented by the guitarist bending the G String behind the guitar's nut. Page teases the audience with a few bluesy licks before launching into a "wall of notes" motif in A, finally bringing it to an end with a blues cliché "goodbye chord." The rest of the band joins Page for another improvisation as an interlude into the final verse.

Page also disclosed to Guitar World that this song in general, and the a capella solo in particular, was the first recorded instance of his famous Gibson Les Paul/Marshall Stack combination.

In an odd technical note, this recording seems to be the only Led Zeppelin track in which drummer John Bonham's bass drum was placed notably low in the mix.

When "Heartbreaker" is played on radio stations, it almost always segues into the next song on the album, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)," thanks to the similarities of subjects involved between the two songs, and the fact that "Living Loving Maid" segues directly from "Heartbreaker". However, they would never be played together at concerts because Jimmy Page was not too fond of "Living Loving Maid".

Live history
The song was a crowd favorite at Led Zeppelin concerts, and the band opened many of their live shows in 1971 and 1972 with "Immigrant Song" followed by a segue right into "Heartbreaker". On later concert tours it was often played as an encore. "Heartbreaker", along with "Communication Breakdown", were the only songs to be played live during every year that the band toured

Lyrics:
Hey fellas, have you heard the news? You know that Annie's back in town?
It won't take long just watch and see how the fellas lay their money down.
Her style is new but the face is the same as it was so long ago,
But from her eyes, a different smile like that of one who knows.

Well, it's been ten years and maybe more since I first set eyes on you.
The best years of my life gone by, here I am alone and blue.
Some people cry and some people die by the wicked ways of love;
But I'll just keep on rollin' along with the grace of the Lord above.

People talkin' all around 'bout the way you left me flat,
I don't care what the people say, I know where their jive is at.
One thing I do have on my mind, if you can clarify please do,
It's the way you call me by another guy's name when I try to make love to you.
I try to make love but it ain't no use.

Work so hard I couldn't unwind, get some money saved;
Abuse my love a thousand times, however hard I tried.
Heartbreaker, your time has come, can't take your evil way;
You're a real Heartbreaker.

Category:

Music

Tags:

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

[ChadSmith1452]

*chuckle*

I keep expecting "Living Loving Maid" to start up and the end.

[ThrashRoC]

@zeppeleta

the best drummer , the best band , bonham is "The Hammer of the Gods" ;-D

[rattattat100]

This song is one of Jimmy Page's best solo.

[downwiththemaster]

@brutaltruth1976 not funny

[lafodlafa]

Satan gave his soul to Led Zeppelin to learn this stuff :D

[squireman72]

When I was 14 I literally wore out the grooves on this LP. Top 10 greatest ever recordings.

[TheKassicRock]

@GuitarCoverForMyself

Same with some of today's rock bands.

[MrStephenman83]

led zeppelin

[GuitarCoverForMyself]

@TheKassicRock in some country's it made it to 1 and in some country's it didnt.

[TheKassicRock]

@GuitarCoverForMyself Im not talking about Billboard albums Im talking about singles, Smells like teen spirit only made it to like 3.

[GuitarCoverForMyself]

@TheKassicRock no Nevermind was on the top 1 of the billboards. I dont know if their single teen spirit was on 1 but i think it was :)

[TheKassicRock]

@GuitarCoverForMyself Only Nirvana did good, most grunge bands did good on the top 200 albums, but not on the top 40. Nirvana only had one top 5 hit I think.