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Led Zeppelin - Kashmir (live, 1975)

Kashmir is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (with contributions from John Bonham) over a period of three years, with lyrics dating to 1973. The song became a concert staple, being performed by the band at almost every concert since its release. Page and Plant released a longer live version, recorded with an Egyptian/Moroccan orchestra, on No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded (1994) and continued to perform the tune with an orchestra on their 1995 tour.

The song's signature chord progression, which first appeared on Page's home-studio work tapes, was an extension of a guitar-cycle that Page had been working on for years. This was the same cycle that produced "Black Mountain Side", "White Summer" and the unreleased track, "Swan-song". Because bass player and keyboardist John Paul Jones had been late for the recording sessions, Page used the time to work on the riff with drummer John Bonham. The two demoed it late in 1973. Plant later added the middle section and in early 1974 Jones added the string parts.

Page adopted an alternative guitar tuning: the strings are tuned to 'Open Dsus4' or DADGAD. Bonham's drums featured a phasing effect courtesy of an Eventide Instant Phaser PS-101 supplied by engineer Ron Nevison.

Plant stated that Bonham's drumming is the key to the song: "It was what he didn't do that made it work". Sections of the song utilize a polymeter effect, with the drums and lyrics in quadruple meter while the melodic instruments play a triple meter rhythmic pattern.

The song includes many distinctive musical patterns of classical Moroccan, Indian and Middle Eastern music. Page explained, "I had a sitar for some time and I was interested in modal tunings and Arabic stuff. It started off with a riff and then employed Eastern lines underneath."

Orchestral brass and strings with electric guitar and mellotron strings appear in the song. This is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs to use outside musicians. Session players were brought in for the string and horn sections. According to Jones, "the secret of successful keyboard string parts is to play only the parts that a real string section would play. That is, one line for the First Violins, one line for Second Violins, one for Violas, one for Cellos, one for Basses. Some divided parts [two or more notes to a line] are allowed, but keep them to a minimum. Think melodically".

The lyrics were written by Plant in 1973 immediately after Led Zeppelin's 1973 US Tour, in an area he called "the waste lands" of Southern Morocco, while driving from Goulimine to Tantan in the Sahara Desert. This was despite the fact that the song is named for Kashmir, a region in the northwestern part of the Himalayas.

As Plant explained to rock journalist Cameron Crowe:

“The whole inspiration came from the fact that the road went on and on and on. It was a single-track road which neatly cut through the desert. Two miles to the East and West were ridges of sandrock. It basically looked like you were driving down a channel, this dilapidated road, and there was seemingly no end to it. 'Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dreams...' It's one of my favourites...that, 'All My Love' and 'In the Light' and two or three others really were the finest moments. But 'Kashmir' in particular. It was so positive, lyrically”.

Plant also commented on the challenges he faced in writing lyrics for such a complex piece of music:

“It was an amazing piece of music to write to, and an incredible challenge for me ... Because of the time signature, the whole deal of the song is… not grandiose, but powerful: it required some kind of epithet, or abstract lyrical setting about the whole idea of life being an adventure and being a series of illuminated moments. But everything is not what you see. It was quite a task, ’cause I couldn’t sing it. It was like the song was bigger than me. It’s true: I was petrified, it’s true. It was painful; I was virtually in tears”.

In an interview he gave to William S. Burroughs in 1975, Page mentioned that at the time the song was composed, none of the band members had ever been to Kashmir.

Covers

"Kashmir" has been covered by numerous artists, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Roger Daltrey, Ann Wilson, Jethro Tull and Ofra Haza, among many others.

The German Violinist David Garret covered this song in his album Rock Symphonies

Alter Bridge covered this song at Download Festival in 2005.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra under Peter Scholes covered this song on the instrumental release Kashmir: Symphonic Led Zeppelin.

German guitarist Ottmar Liebert recorded an acoustic instrumental version, released on his 2001 album Little Wing.

Israeli singer Ofra Haza performed a haunting layered a cappella version, which was included on her second posthumous greatest hits album as a bonus track. A version more faithful to the original in both structure and instrumentation was released on the single for Ofra's song "Mata Hari" (both versions were originally from the unreleased album Queen In Exile, but can be heard on Youtube).

Violinist Lucia Micarelli, playing with Jethro Tull, covered this song during Tull's October–November 2005 United States tour.

The US all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Lez Zeppelin covered this song on their self-titled album. It has less orchestra than the original, more acoustic guitar and runs 8:43, faster than the original.

Gregorian covered it on their album Masters of Chant Chapter VII and performed it during their Dark Side of the Chant tour.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds covered this song as an instrumental in Las Vegas, NV in 2009 and is available on their album Live in Las Vegas.

Country singer Josh Thompson's band performed the song live in 2012 as a short instrumental introduction to his own song Way Out Here.

All female Australian/British string quartet bond recorded a shortened (5:08) instrumental version for their 2002 album, Shine.

The lyrics:

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars fill my dreams

I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been

To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen

They talk of days for which they sit and wait, all will be revealed

Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, sounds caress my ears

But not a word I heard could I relay, the story was quite clear

Ohh

(Chorus)

Oh, oh

Oh, oh

Oooh, baby I've been flying...Mama, there ain't no denyin'

Oooh yeah, I've been flying, Mama ain't no denyin', no denyin'

All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground

And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land

Tryin' to find....Tryin' to find where I've been.

Oh, pilot of the storm that leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream

Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream

My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again

Like the dust that lufts high in June, when moving through Kashmir.

Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years

With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear

Ohh

(Chorus)

When I'm on, when I'm on my way, yeah

When I see, when I see the way they stay, yeah

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I'm down...

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I'm down, so down

Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there

Let me take you there

Let me take you there