Four Sticks

Infobox Single
Name = Four Sticks


Artist = Led Zeppelin
from Album = Led Zeppelin IV
Released = November 8 1971
February 21 1972 (7" single release date)
A-side = "Rock and Roll"
track_no = 6
Format = 7" 45 RPM
Recorded = December 1970 – March 1971
Genre = Hard rock
Length = 4:44
Label = Atlantic Records
Writer = Page/Plant
Producer = Jimmy Page
Misc =Extra album cover
Upper caption = Single cover
Background = LightCyan


Lower caption = 7-inch single cover
Last single = "Black Dog" / "Misty Mountain Hop"
(1971)
This single = "Rock and Roll" / "Four Sticks"
(1972)
Next single = "Over the Hills and Far Away " / "Dancing Days"
(1973)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = )
Type = studio
prev_track = "Misty Mountain Hop"
prev_no = 5
this_track = "Four Sticks"
track_no = 6
next_track = "Going to California"
next_no = 7"Four Sticks" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their fourth album, released in 1971. The title came from the fact that drummer John Bonham played with two sets of two drumsticks, totalling four.Dave Lewis (1994), "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.] His decision to play the song with four sticks was a result of him being very frustrated with not being able to get the track down right during recording sessions at Island Studios. After he grabbed the second pair of sticks and beat the drums as hard as he could, he recorded the perfect take and that was the one they kept. This song was particularly difficult to record, and required more takes than usual.Dave Lewis (1994), "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.] John Paul Jones played a moog synthesizer on the track.Dave Lewis (1994), "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.]

Guitarist Jimmy Page once said of the song: "It was supposed to be abstract." The abstract effect is further achieved by the unusual time signature of the song, featuring riffs in a mixture of 5/4 and 6/8 time signatures. After another failed take during the recording, Jimmy began to play an improvised guitar riff out of frustration. John Bonham began to play along with a drum track from a Little Richard song. That riff was later on developed into the second track of the album, "Rock and Roll".

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 track, "Friends" from "Led Zeppelin III". [Liner notes to "Led Zeppelin Box Set, Vol. 2" by David Fricke] This version featured tabla drums and sitars. The recordings have never been released officially and are only available on Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings. The project is said to have run into problems because Page complained that the orchestra didn't keep time in the Western style and some of them drank rather a lot. [http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/music_specials/s1402502.htm Australian Broadcasting Corporation] - Triple J Music Specials - Led Zeppelin (first broadcast 2000-07-12)]

The band is only known to have played this song live once, at Copenhagen on their 1971 European tour, as has been preserved on some bootleg recordings.Dave Lewis (1994), "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.]

The Rollins Band recorded a cover version of this song in 1994 during the sessions for their album "Weight"; it was released the next year on the Led Zeppelin tribute album "Encomium.

Also in 1994, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had rejoined in musical collaboration as Page and Plant. On August 25 and 26, live performances were taped in London, Wales, and Morocco with Egyptian and Moroccan orchestration of several Led Zeppelin tunes - "Four Sticks" was one of them, and the arrangement features drummer Michael Lee playing with four sticks as well as multiple percussionists such as Hossam Ramzy. This new version of "Four Sticks" was also included on the album "", and live performances were so successful commercially and artistically that the ensemble coordinated a 1995/1996 world tour.

Robert Plant played a version of the song during his solo tour in 2005, as is included on the DVD release "", although drummer Clive Deamer only plays with two sticks.

References

ources

*"Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song", by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
*"The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin", by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9