Bron-Yr-Aur

Bron-Yr-Aur (sometimes misspelled as Bron-Y-Aur) is an 18th century cottage in Gwynedd, Wales, on a hilltop overlooking the Dyfi Valley, three miles north of the market town Machynlleth. Its name, pronounced|brɔn.ər.aɪr, means "golden hill", "breast of the gold" or "hill of the gold" in Welsh. The house is owned by Rev John Dale.

Bron-Yr-Aur is best known for its association with English rock group Led Zeppelin. The residence had been used by the family of Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant during the 1950s as a holiday house.Phil Sutcliffe, "Back to Nature", "Q Magazine" Special Led Zeppelin edition, 2003, p. 34.] In 1970, Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page spent time there after a long and gruelling concert tour of the United States. Though the cottage had no running water or electricity, they used it as a retreat to write and record some of their third album, "Led Zeppelin III". Also at the cottage at the time were Plant's wife Maureen and 18-month-old daughter Carmen, Page's girlfriend Charlotte Martin, and Led Zeppelin roadies Clive Coulson and Sandy MacGregor.

According to Page, the time spent at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970

Led Zeppelin songs which can be traced to Plant and Page's time at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970 include "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "The Crunge" (both from "Houses of the Holy"), "The Rover", "Bron-Yr-Aur" and "Down By The Seaside" (from "Physical Graffiti"), "Poor Tom" (from "Coda") and three they actually used on "Led Zeppelin III": "Friends", "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" and "That's the Way". There were also two songs recorded, called "Another Way To Wales" and "I Wanna Be Her Man", which never found their way onto an official Led Zeppelin album. A primitive recording of the latter of these can however be heard on bootleg label Antrabata's studio outtakes sessions. [ [http://stryder.de/outtakes_sessions.html Led Zeppelin Live - Outtakes Rehearsels Soundchecks ] ]

When onstage for Page and Plant's "" reunion in 1994, Plant announced to the audience that Page's daughter, Scarlet Page, was conceived "about half an hour" after "That's The Way" was written at Bron-Yr-Aur.

Led Zeppelin used the name of the house in the title of their songs: "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" (the name of the house being accidentally mis-spelled on the album cover), and "Bron-Yr-Aur". Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is a country music inflected hoedown on "Led Zeppelin III", in which Robert Plant waxes lyrical about walking in the woods with Strider, his blue eyed merle dog. Conversely, "Bron-Yr-Aur" is a gentle, acoustic instrumental by Page on the six-string guitar, which appeared on the later album "Physical Graffiti" and in the film "The Song Remains the Same".

"Bron-Y-Aur" is also the name of the secret instrumental track at the end of "", the third album from Coheed and Cambria. The track has a similar sound to the Led Zeppelin song of the same title.

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