Baby I'm Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin
Written by: Anne Bredon, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Released On: January 12, 1969
Track 2 of Led Zeppelin (1969)
Lyrics:
Babe, baby, baby, I'm gonna leave you
I said baby, you know I'm gonna leave you
I'll leave you when the summertime
Leave you when the summer comes a rollin'
Leave you when the summer comes along
Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, baby, baby
I don't want to leave you
I ain't jokin' woman, I got to ramble
Oh yeah
Baby, baby, babe, I believin'
We really got to ramble
I can hear it callin' me the way it used to do
I can hear it callin' me back home
Babe, I'm gonna leave you
Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you
Oh I can hear it callin 'me
I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?
Oh
I know, I know
I know I never never never never never gonna leave your babe
But I got to go away from this place
I've got to quit you, yeah
Ooh, baby baby baby baby baby baby ooh
Don't you hear it callin' me?
Woman, woman, I know, I know
It feels good to have you back again
And I know that one day baby, it's really gonna grow, yes it is
We gonna go walkin' through the park every day
Come what may, every day
Oh, mama baby
I'm gonna leave you go away
It was really, really good
You made me happy every single day
But now
I've got to go away
Baby, baby, baby
That's when it's callin' me
I said that's when it's callin' me back home
Facts:
This track was originally written by singer Anne Bredon around the late 50's. Joan Baez heard the song from a student named Janet Smith (who previously heard it from Bredon). Baez recorded her version in 1962 for her live album, In Concert. When Baez released it, she didn't give away writers credit and listed it as "traditional" but later corrected it after finding out who wrote it. Page got a copy of the album with the "traditional" writer's credit and assumed it was a traditional song. When writing credit to release on the album, he listed it as "traditional, arranged by Jimmy Page". Zeppelin went two decades without getting sued for it until Smith heard her son playing it and recognized it as Bredon's song. Smith told Bredon it about it and Zeppelin later got sued and changed the writer's credit to "Anne Bredon, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant.
Robert says "baby" or "babe" around 31 times. (There is even a drinking game where you take a shot every time he says that!)
Page and Steve Winwood recorded a version in 1968 which was never released
Jimmy Page, Guitar Player Magazine, 1977 (when asked what guitar he used for this song) "That was a Gibson J-200, which wasn't mine; I borrowed it. It was a beautiful guitar, really great. I've never found a guitar of that quality anywhere since. I could play so easily on it, get a really thick sound; it had heavy-gauge strings on it, but it just didn't seem to feel like it."
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