January 10, 2025 —– Chart #280
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Welcome to the new year and more SongChart features. Today we are going with “Thank You“, a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their second studio album Led Zeppelin II (1969). It was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and produced by Page.
The song features a Hammond organ, played by John Paul Jones, which fades into a false ending before concluding with a crescendo roughly ten seconds later. For the recording of this track, Page played on a Vox Phantom XII 12-string guitar.
Recording sessions for Led Zeppelin II took place at several locations in both the United Kingdom and North America from January to August 1969. The album’s production was credited to the band’s lead guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page, and it was also Led Zeppelin’s first album on which Eddie Kramer served as engineer.
Led Zeppelin II was conceived during a busy period of Led Zeppelin’s career from January through August 1969, when they completed four European and three American concert tours. Each song was separately recorded, mixed and produced at various studios in the UK and North America. The album was written on tour, during periods of a couple of hours in between concerts, a studio was booked and the recording process begun, necessarily resulting in spontaneity and urgency, which is reflected in the sound. Several songs resulted from improvisation while touring, including during the instrumental sections of “Dazed and Confused”, and were recorded mostly live in the studio.
Live version:
This is one of my favorite and most influential albums of my early years. It would come as no surprise if some of you had the same experience. With songs like “Whole Lotta Love, “The Lemon Song”, “Heartbreaker”, “Moby Dick” and more, this album simply ROCKS!!! If you have not heard it in a while, go to YouTube, Spotify, or your old turntable and listen from start to finish. It will take you back my friend.
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw