The 8 Shortest Led Zeppelin Songs
Led Zeppelin songs ran the gamut. They had heavy pieces and delicate tunes. Songs they loved and songs they hated. Epics that stretched the clock. Led Zeppelin’s shortest songs included two of their most recognizable pieces, one of which continues raking in money for the band.
Note: We included finished songs from the studio albums and deluxe reissues only, so the concert sound experiment “LA Drone” won’t make our list.
8. ‘Royal Orleans’
- Run time: 2:59
The Presence song was an outlier — every other track on the album was at least four minutes long, and two tracks stretched more than nine minutes. Guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer John Bonham settled into a tight groove immediately, and Page played a main riff that resembled the rock-jazz fusion of Steely Dan more than Led Zeppelin.
Robert Plant’s lyrics about a man and his cross-dressing date starting a hotel fire ribbed John Paul Jones. The story goes that the bassist had a similar occurrence during a tour stop. Jones didn’t care for the homophobic lyrics, and he didn’t like the song, either.
7. ‘Good Times Bad Times’
- Run time: 2:46
Led Zeppelin gave would-be fans a thorough introduction on the first song of their debut album. Page planned for each member of the band to be equally represented in the music. The band wasn’t to be Jimmy Page and His Trio; they all would have a chance to shine.
Bonham wanted his drums to be a lead instrument. Page was more than willing to let it happen, and they locked into a symbiotic groove immediately. Bonzo’s bass-pedal pyrotechnics follow soon after. Jones got a mini bass solo, and Plant’s descending vocal line was solid for someone who proclaimed he didn’t learn how to sing until much later.
6. ‘Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)’
- Run time: 2:39
“Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)” segued so effortlessly from the preceding “Heartbreaker” that many radio DJs played the songs back-to-back. That move surely irritated Page. The flow of Led Zeppelin II went from his careful solo on “Heartbreaker” to a Zep song he hated passionately. We don’t understand the hatred. The muscular riff was memorable to us, and as one of Led Zeppelin’s shortest songs, it’s over almost as soon as it starts. Still, Page had his reasons for not liking the song. As the song’s writer, we’ll let him have his opinion.
5. ‘We’re Gonna Groove’
- Run time: 2:38
The lead song from the posthumous Coda was one of Zep’s shortest. It might also be one of their heaviest. Page doctored the band’s live performance of the Ben E. King song to sound like a studio track, and it highlighted the heaviest elements.
Bonham’s aggressive beat recalled his playing on “Rock and Roll” while Jones strummed bass notes that literally sounded like thunder rolling across the plains. Aside from his reverb-soaked solo, Page’s riffing was tight and punchy. Plant said the Coda song “Wearing and Tearing” was Led Zeppelin’s response to punk. “We’re Gonna Groove,” which they recorded in 1970, was closer to the real thing.
4. ‘Communication Breakdown’
- Run time: 2:30
Speaking of punk, “Communication Breakdown” from Led Zeppelin I has a rightful place in punk music’s DNA. Page’s chugging downstrokes on the guitar, a hallmark of early punk bands, clearly influenced The Ramones. His solo was something most punk bands would never do, but Plant’s vocal delivery and the overall energy on one of Led Zeppelin’s shortest songs clearly penciled in part of punk music’s blueprint several years before it was even a term.
3. ‘Immigrant Song’
- Run time: 2:26
The chugging riff, propulsive rhythm, Plant’s otherworldly howl, and timeless lyrics of “Immigrant Song” hit hard with each new generation of music fans. It’s the best of Led Zeppelin’s “song” songs and one of the shortest tunes they ever recorded.
You could place “Immigrant Song” in the punk vein, too. The tight riff, straightforward pace, no solo, and short runtime were ahead of their time. It’s also one of the hardest-rocking songs in the band’s catalog. “Immigrant Song” immediately evokes a powerfully mystic mood, which is why the band earned a $2 million paycheck for one of its many inclusions in Hollywood movies.
2. ‘Black Mountain Side’
- Run time: 2:12
Led Zeppelin took some flack for going “acoustic” on Led Zeppelin III (people must have skipped “Immigrant Song” and “Celebration Day”), but they unplugged long before then. Two Led Zeppelin I songs featured Page’s acoustic as the centerpiece. “Black Mountain Side” was one of them.
He played an acoustic guitar but does so in a style that channeled Indian music and instruments. His rapid arpeggios toward the end of the track recalled sitar picking, and the tablas providing the rhythm hammered home the Eastern feel. It came in at just over two minutes, but “Black Mountain Side” telegraphed the non-Western tones that crept into later songs such as “Kashmir” and “In the Light.”
1. ‘Bron-Yr-Aur’
- Run time: 2:06
Physical Graffiti housed two of Led Zeppelin’s longest songs and also their briefest. The hauntingly beautiful “Bron-Yr-Aur” came to life during the Led Zeppelin III sessions but didn’t see the light of day for five years.
Name-wise, it might have caused confusion with LZ III’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,” but “Bron-Yr-Aur” would have been a perfect fit on the so-called acoustic album. Page deftly played chiming notes on the high strings while providing his own bass line on the low strings. Page’s outstanding solos became can’t-miss moments, but Led Zeppelin’s shortest song proved his guitar technique extended well beyond electrified shredding.
Led Zeppelin showed they could write captivating epic songs several times in their career. Their shortest tunes proved their prowess at conveying interesting ideas in less than three minutes.
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