THE PERFECT SONG. | When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin (Reaction)

[@Weyland_Yutani_Corp]

The drum beat that launched a thousand samples.

[@yankees29]

Numerous hip hop songs have looped that beat.

[@Shoot3r4k]

I think a thousand times is too little

[@michaelb2388]

This is Led Zeppelin's interpretation of Mississippi delta blues. I first listened to this track nearly 50 years ago but what's interesting for me in these reactions is seeing what young black Americans make of it, because in a sense it's your own music coming back to you

[@wadsworthaaron]

Arguably the best Zeppelin track ever... it brings out John Bonham's thunder and steadiness; Plant's underrated harmonica and blues chops; JPJ's subtle genius; and Page's ability to dance on the line between technical proficiency & shredding, while creating production brilliance in the studio. It pays homage to the original cut, but they make it their own in a way few others have ever touched.

[@AntisocialSka1]

One of the best 50 songs of the LZ

[@bishlap]

and on the same album as Black Dog/Stairway... amazing output.

[@Peter-zu5jg]

Bonzo's thunderous echo was captured inside Headley Grange by the master , the magician....Page.

[@user-gk1nt6sm2z]

50 years from now this will still be one of your favorite songs. Trust me.

[@AliasMark69]

"I LOVE LED ZEPPELIN".... Yeah, we can relate the feeling. Since 1969 hit us in the head with "Good Times. Bad Times" it's all been a great time aboard "The Mother Ship"

[@36karpatoruski]

My favorite Zep song, and in my top 10 songs of any kind or genre of all time. Irresistible monster. Blues Rock perfection, electrified and Zepified. There can be no resistance to the onslaught!

[@yankees29]

Just a thunderous rendition of an old American blues standard.

[@williamcabell142]

The GOATS! 😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@JU5TINPDX]

2:52 this bridge section is one of my top 5 moments in any Zeppelin song… pure magic. This entire song is just so dense and powerful… unstoppable… like a flood.

[@yankees29]

It’s absolutely magical

[@gzucc]

Your attempt at silence is golden. So great to watch how Led Zeppelin broke down my face when I first listened to the track.

[@AliasMark69]

"A Moment Of Silence".... If you can hear at all after that assault on your ears..... Yeah.. "A Perfect Song" is most appropriate for this one. Another "Perfect" reaction.

[@emilybazeddi1914]

Your facial expressions were gold in this reaction. This song is pure art.

[@Peter-zu5jg]

A monstrous song. A personal favorite.

[@AliasMark69]

Well Worth The Wait.... This ride aboard The Mother Ship is a real BANGER with all the expected musical excellence from The Mighty Led Zeppelin. Plant's vocals, Page's guitar mastery, "BONZO" going BONZO and JPJ providing the foundation for all the magic created.

[@luckyirvin]

the power and glory of the blues bless you for playing the song all the way through

[@tbu1mi]

You know why you love this? Led Zep loved the blues, That is an American music thing. They helped bring it back. Thank-GOD

[@tbu1mi]

YES. English hippies brought back the blues and made sure they got paid.

[@Tigersnack-m7o]

This is an OLD Mississippi Delta BLUES song from a female blues singer, songwriter, guitarist Memphis Minnie in 1929 about the great flood. Can you FEEL the old connection to the Blues.....? THis is white kids taking those Blues and giving it back to them.....

[@philipsavickas4860]

4 members merging into the prefect song all bring everything to it plant on the harmonica page on the guitar jpj on bass and bonham on drums with plants vocals

[@barrycohen311]

Zep took a blues song from the 1930s and reinterpreted it into modern blues/rock. It's about the great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

[@yankees29]

A hard, raw sounding song about hard times and harder people…..it really is a perfect song

[@joshuadeshaies7266]

The GOATS do it again bro!!! Luv your reactions bro!! Yeah Robert is someone special!!!

[@clifton8929]

The drums and harmonica are an apocalyptic slice of Zepplin's seismic rhythms, sonic dynamic blues... as forceful and heavy as Zeppelin ever put on record. One of their top 5 songs in my opinion. Great work JMBOY.

[@Asti.sayAhstee]

That was a very fun reaction you gave us 😁 My daddy was very good on harmonica. I wish he would have played the blues. Plant killed that mouth organ!

[@rubbersole79]

John Bonham recorded this drum track in the foyer of some giant castle with huge ceilings in order to acheive this cacophony of percussive wonder.

[@jonathanmurphy3141]

Not a castle -but a British Estate (like 10 bedrooms, ballroom, park around, 18th Century, not defensive)

[@sarahbrown5073]

Headly Grange. It was originally a poor house, not a mansion. It was the scene of riots in the early 1800s. In court testimony it's claimed the manager kept some of the tenants chained to the walls. It's rumored to be haunted...and it's where Stairway to Heaven and Black Dog were written.

[@sarahbrown5073]

@@jonathanmurphy3141 It's now a British Estate. It was built to be a work house for the poor and orphaned....that was what the structure was used for, originally.

[@farrellrouse4820]

This is definitely the perfect song. Arrows straight through my heart.

[@stevecowder4774]

Although it’s never easy, if I were to pick an absolute favorite from Zeppelin, it would definitely be this incredible jammer. It’s about as ‘ Zeppelinesque ‘ as they possibly could be. Is it any wonder that these guys were the greatest ‘ Blues’ cover band of all the time ? And what more can be said about that echoing harmonica along with the thunderous Bonzo ?

[@juliemanarin4127]

Yes a perfect song...as they all are! Robert on that harmonica!

[@tektoniks_architects]

Led Zeppelin 3 seems 10,000 miles away now, doesn't it?

[@MsZepfreak]

Love this song, drums are insane Plants voice is spot on. Jimmy on slide, phenomenal!! Best rock band in history!! Thanks for your reaction, i really enjoyed it. 😊

[@uksuef7218]

The song is a cover version of an original blues track by Memphis Minnie and Kansas joe Mcoy and relates to a flood event that displaced thousands of people in 1927 . Many delta blues musicians migrated to Chicago hence chicago blues. Led Zep version is brilliant not least because they recorded the drums in a stair well to get the reverb. You might also try the Playing for Change version which brings it right up to date and features world musicians and John Paul Jones which is also epic. Keep going with the rest of the albums you have many treats in store ..... tea for one , im gonna crawl , in my time of dying - too many to mention .

[@sarahbrown5073]

Not just a stairwell...the stairwell of a haunted old poor house.

[@uksuef7218]

@@sarahbrown5073 definitely atmospheric ...

[@yankees29]

This is true blues music. It’s about some tough, old school people living through some tough times. Amazing stuff.

[@AnthonyLaMastra]

I know exactly how you feel, this is literally my favorite song of all time!

[@starfire6122]

This song is a slow moving train coming down the tracks❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥✌️💞

[@geoffsullivan7902]

Welcome to the party…have you heard Kashmir? That one was also sampled ….it’ll melt your face.❤️🎶❤️🔥🔥

[@cmphighpower]

One of there greatest songs

[@ginog1398]

lets gooooo long live zeppelin man

[@dimitrasotirakoglou2553]

Me favorite Zeppelin song Thank you 😊❤

[@jodyariewitz7349]

You nailed it , my friend...well said!😂👏👌👍🏻❤❤❤

[@58andyr]

Wonderful reaction. Well done!

[@Peter-zu5jg]

Page's guitar solo always reminded me of a white hot power line in a frenzy at night.

[@antarcticorb9197]

Next album is a trip....buckle up!

[@Debcatawba]

I can’t wait till you get to Boogie With Stu by Led Zeppelin.

[@jackpiner2500]

Love LZ and can see you do to... You know great music my friend.....

[@kirkhall2099]

You just might like their other songs as much or more. Guaranteed. Several years ago California was experiencing record rains. Sall levees were breaking and larger ones where being threatened. I call a radio station to request a song. They didn't take requests. Until I asked them to play. When the Levee Breaks.

[@victorwaddell6530]

Hurricane Katrina , 'Nuff said .

[@kirkhall2099]

@@victorwaddell6530 Nothing to do with what I posted... When blues musical duo Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie wrote "When the Levee Breaks," the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was still fresh in people's memories.[2] The flooding affected 26,000 square miles of the Mississippi Delta - hundreds were killed and hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate. "When the Levee Breaks" is a country blues song written and first recorded by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. The lyrics reflect experiences during the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. "When the Levee Breaks" was re-worked by English rock group Led Zeppelin as the last song on their untitled fourth album. Singer Robert Plant used many of the original lyrics and the songwriting is credited to Memphis Minnie and the individual members of Led Zeppelin.[1] Many other artists have performed and recorded versions of the song.

[@victorwaddell6530]

@@kirkhall2099 I know about that . The Mulholland Damn failure was a great disaster in California history .

[@raffisekzenian2746]

The alternate take of this song is even wilder.

[@baskervillebee6097]

In 1927 there was the Great Mississippi flood that killed thousands and destroyed so much that many people went as far as Chicago for jobs. In 1929 this song was written about it. 40 something years later LZ recorded this version. Timeless Delta Blues.

[@realitybytez]

my atf ledzep song.

[@Xavier-Denis]

LOL your silence at the end, says it all. I will not tell you what I was doing when I heard this song for the 1st time. Nope

[@kimberlyjohnson8932]

Great Reaction

[@richardbeech2543]

Great song. Great commentary.

[@jonathanmurphy3141]

One of my very favorite Zep' tunes. Based on a Blues record, yet more epic and sonic -the sound of a storm. I lived in Chicago for 9 years -would often play this in transit back from Ohio.

[@freespirit21newyork]

This song and Kashmir are my favorite songs, i need to listen to the others

[@jamesrennie-xk1gn]

Very astute reaction, respect

[@AliasMark69]

Suggestion…. I watch several reactors for the past 4 years. Many include their family members or talk about them often. Many do a monthly Favorite Songs Top 10 or favorite artist. Most surprising, or impressive. I think your subscribers would really appreciate you creating that kind of content.

[@allisonlopez5089]

Great reaction to an awesome tune. I hope you check out Dyer maker ,from House's of the Holy. All the best to you.

[@666tubedragon666]

I absolutely love your reactions. You are right LZ 4 is a masterpiece and the final song from the album was the exclamation point! Before you move on to 5 take a moment to see how "When the Levee Breaks" remains a relevant work of art today. A couple years ago Playing for Change collaborated with artist from around the world....and John Paul Jones exclusively plays the bass track....It will blow your mind! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnmTXoqOiquMaM0

[@johncarr7198]

It’s a terrible storm, the moanful sound of the wind(harp & guitar) The unrelenting pounding if the surf(drums) with cymbal crashing waves And the wind down of the storm like a top losing speed Watch them play this live in 1971 at 19 years old. Album only out for few months Magical night 🎊😎🎸 Song is over 50 years old. Match it with today?

[@nflr92]

They were pretty good

[@davidbell864]

Dayam JM! You truly appreciate music! And look, kids... there is really such a thing as the test of time. There was plenty of cra.. er.. not very good music in the 70's and 80's, same as there is in the present day. But if people are still listening to stuff from way back when... believe it people, it was good stuff and it is so worth your attention!

[@trevorhoward2254]

There was a time many years ago when the most sampled drum sound was this.

[@stevenmurano7863]

Can’t argue with that brother! Amazing stuff…amazing band, incredible body of work. This one is near the top for me. The drum intro alone…man Bonham HIT those drums like no one else. Led zep is a pretty deep rabbit hole…well worth going down. So many standouts but…Ten Years Gone, Since I’ve been loving you, Achille’s last stand, the rain song…..just a few more standouts. Another list that could go on for days

[@geargrinder5182]

Rock hard, dirty, filthy, greasy Mississippi Delta Blues.

[@strangeworldsunlimited712]

The very white, British rock bands from the 1960s had this uncanny ability to understand black American Rhythm and Blues, particularly from the Jazz era, and reproduce it into something extra special like this, often better than their white American contemporaries. Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, early (pre Buckingham/Nicks) Fleetwood Mac, among others, really did a lot in updating the old southern Blues into the Rock era.

[@JJ8KK]

There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that Stairway To Heaven is Led Zeppelin's greatest song, but it's only the 3rd best song on the album. When The Levee Breaks is far better & Misty Mountain Hop is second.

[@VivaRafaafaRaviV]

That would be a badass ufc walk out song😂

[@Peter-zu5jg]

Masterpiece ?...JMBoy , you are wise. One day....the Indians in the hills will sing songs about you. 🤘😅

[@joshuadeshaies7266]

Bro, I gotta ask, what is it that you’re looking at when you look to your right? 😊 lol. I’m just curious. Love your reactions to the GOATS!!

[@Tigersnack-m7o]

MAy I recommend PINK FLOYD's song, "TIME"

[@JMBOYTV]

Sure thing, check it out! kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmnPm4tmhdyap7M

[@aaronb4493]

👌🏻

[@guitarjonn7103]

It's my second fav Zeppelin track, next to "Kashmir". Drums still sound huge to this day. One thing I didn't know about for many years, was that this song is credited to someone named Memphis Minnie with Kansas Joe McCoy, recorded way, way back in 1929. It's a totally different arrangement and Plant changed some lyrics, too. Still, I'm not sure if Minnie got any writing credit from Zeppelin, maybe someone else can clarify. Wouldn't surprise me if she didn't though. Zeppelin financially settled and were forced change writing credits for, I believe, 6 plagiarism cases for stealing songs, in full or in part, from other artists (older blues guys mostly). Even though I still I love 'em overall as a band, that certainly tarnished their reputation for me. Very unnecessary and selfish.

[@enchiladasmith014]

Practically every song on every album seemed like a top ten hit and was heard on the radio. Nearly every song on every album received air play. Unreal. Like really incredible.

[@joannparker1977]

As a black man, you really need to read up on the background/meaning of this song. And once you do, you will never look at this song the same way again. It’s a really sad song. Very tragic. Thank you Led Zeppelin for your cover. The original is from 1929. Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy. It’s disgusting what African Americans were forced to do. Thank you for the reaction. I’m a new subscriber.

[@jodihart7813]

So bluesy

[@stevePsutton]

One of the most sampled ,copied beats of all time and has found its way into so many songs decades later

[@pushitlpvo]

… this is extinct greatness. Most unfortunate

[@RmarkGillmer]

Perfect reaction. Wish I could have told you to close your eyes and ignore the video, it's distracting and it detracts from the enjoyment of the song by filling your brain with irrelevant images. And, BTW, that was Page on the harmonica. keep up the good work.

[@36karpatoruski]

Not s chance. It was Plant on harmonica.

[@RmarkGillmer]

@@36karpatoruski Old Man here, lost my mind for a moment. You're absolutely right.

[@robertm7071]

I bought their first album when it came out and then the second but became bored with them. Their appropriation of others people’s work without giving them credit (including poor Black blues artists) - and hence royalties was disgraceful unlike other British groups who paid royalties to these great Black musicians. Listen to Page playing Black Mountainside (or whatever he calls it) - well, that is Black Waterside by the great folk guitarist Bert Jansch yet Page puts his name after it. . Their music just sounds dull, formulaic and Plant’s screeching vocals irritating, and Bonham’s heavy, severely technically limited drumming monotonous. More recently, I read about their treatment of women while on tour and this was the final nail in their coffin for me. Page was lucky not to be prosecuted for a relationship he had. They are, however, a cult band, and everyone follows each other these days in their adoration. I prefer other British bands who were far more creative without the nauseating baggage Zeppelin have. The subtlety and sheer brilliance of the Sixties was over and Zeppelin heralded the new era. Strangely, Zeppelin were not as popular over here as in America. Maybe our memory of the Beatles and others put Zeppelin in the shade.

[@AliasMark69]

There is that side to L.Z.... but that's the case with nearly every group in that business. Hard not to agree with what you said, but the music is a legacy like few others can claim.

[@robertm7071]

@@AliasMark69 Thank you for your polite reply. Knowing the Internet I was expecting nothing but abuse. Maybe working next to a bloke for three years at the BBC in London in the 70s who fancied himself as a Plant imitator and screeched his head off all day has something to do with my view. 😂 I wish you well. Hendrix, Cream and the original Fleetwood Mac were my favourites in the 60s.

[@tektoniks_architects]

While you are on your moral high horse, I didn't hear you mention John Lennon being a deadbeat dad, or beating his first wife while he was cheating on her. I didn't hear you bring up the "Quiet Beatle," George Harrison, effing Ringo's wife either. Maybe you'd best stick to judging the music on its own level rather than apply your moral standards selectively.

[@AliasMark69]

@@robertm7071 Jimi's Experience and Cream, Best 3 Man Bands of all time.

[@williamcabell142]

Shut up....

[@johncarr7198]

It’s a terrible storm, the moanful sound of the wind(harp & guitar) The unrelenting pounding of the surf(drums) with cymbal crashing waves And the winding down of the storm like a top losing speed Watch them play this live in 1971 at 19 years old. Album only out for few months Magical night 🎊😎🎸 Song is over 50 years old. Match it with today?