"Four Sticks" | ||||
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Single by Led Zeppelin | ||||
from the album Led Zeppelin IV | ||||
A-side | "Rock and Roll" | |||
Released | 21 February 1972 (US) | |||
Recorded | 1971 | |||
Studio | Island, London | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:46 | |||
Label | Atlantic | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Jimmy Page | |||
Led Zeppelin singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
"Four Sticks" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their untitled fourth album. The title reflects drummer John Bonham's performance with two sets of two drumsticks, totaling four. [3]
The song was difficult to record, and required more takes than usual. [3] John Paul Jones played a VCS3 synthesizer on the track. [3] The song has an unusual time signature, featuring riffs in a mixture of 5/8 and 6/8.
Only one live performance has been identified – in Copenhagen on their 1971 European tour – and preserved on some bootleg recordings. [3]
According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin: [4]
The song was re-recorded by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in 1972, during their trip to India, along with another song, "Friends" from Led Zeppelin III . [5] This version featured tabla drums and sitars. The recording, titled "Four Hands" was released officially on the 2015 remastering of Coda .
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"Friends" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a concert tour of the United States. The song was released on Led Zeppelin III (1970), where it appears as the second track. Biographer Stephen Davis called the piece "Jimmy's [Page's] last stab at psychedelia".
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