45 RPM: Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” [German 7″]

Here’s your ticket to some of the best (or, perhaps, most infamous) 7″ singles ever released! No adapter is required, although in my opinion the device pictured below is right up there with Nutter Butters as one of the best inventions of the 20th century.

Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” peaked at #16 the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970, making it one of only four Zep songs to reach the top 20 in the United States. 45 sales simply weren’t very important to Led Zeppelin, a band that made their fortune by selling millions of LPs and packing football stadiums across the country. The group’s ambivalence towards the 7″ format is exactly what made the “Immigrant Song” 45 so special: the b-side was “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do,” the only non-album track released by Led Zeppelin during its twelve year existence.

I didn’t really become a big Zeppelin fan until the mid-’80s, but I had always enjoyed hearing “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” on the radio. The song was a staple on the classic rock stations in the DFW area, and I had no idea that it was a b-side until I started buying Zeppelin CDs in 1986 and couldn’t find it on any of the discs. I searched and searched for a copy of the “Immigrant Song” 45 at used record shops, but copies of the rare single were harder to find in Texas than someone who actually voted for Walter Mondale in the 1984 election.

Thankfully, my long-futile search for the elusive track finally ended when “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” was included on the 4-disc Led Zeppelin box set in 1990. I still haven’t found anyone in Texas who voted for Mondale, but I did manage to find a “Fritz & Tits” t-shirt at a thrift store a few years ago.

Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song [German 7″]

Atlantic Records, 1970

A-side: “Immigrant Song” (Robert Plant/Jimmy Page)

Immigrant Song

B-side: “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” (Jimmy Page/Robert Plant/John Paul Jones/John Bonham)

Hey Hey What Can I Do

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Bonus Tracks!

The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.

Led Zeppelin: “Walter’s Walk” (Jimmy Page/Robert Plant)

From the album Coda

Swan Song Records, 1982

Walter’s Walk