A
funky,
James Brown-inspired, staggering rock piece from
Led Zeppelin's 1973 album
Houses of the Holy. While
Robert Plant's
howler monkey vocals almost always have center stage,
John Paul Jones gets to take a step towards the limelight on this tune, as the
bass guitar is the center of most
funk songs. He plays a somewhat repetitive
vamp with just enough variation to keep it sweet;
John Bonham follows along with his oft-sampled crash-and-boom style, suspending the 4/4
beat for the occasional measure of 2/4, which gives the song it's staggering, almost
drunken weaving
tempo. The lines in parentheses at the end sound like they were sampled from a
film--perhaps a
Hitchcock movie, given the urgency and drama in the actor's voice. The
pun on James Brown's
cliche "taking it to the
bridge" is both homage and a jab, done with a classy wink.
Lyrics:
I wanna tell you about my good thing
I ain't disclosin' no names, but
he sure is a good friend, and
I ain't gonna tell you where he comes from, but
if I tell you, you won't come again.
Hey... I ain't gonna tell you nothin, but I do well, but I know:
Now let me tell you about my girl.
I open up a newspaper, and what do I see? Ah!
I see my girl... lookin' at me!
Ooo, and when she walks, she walks.
And let me tell you when she talks, she talks.
And when she looks me in my eye,
she's my baby, lord I wanna make her mine.
Oh, tell me baby what you want me to do--
oh, you want me to love you? Love some other man?
They ain't gonna call me Mr. Pitiful, no.
I, I don't need respect from nobody, no.
I ain't gonna tell you nothin',
I ain't gonna tell you no more, no...
She's my baby and let me tell you that I love her so, and
She's the one I really want to love, and let me tell you more
She's my baby, let me tell you, she lives next door.
She's the one I want and the one woman that I know.
I ain't gonna,
I ain't gonna,
I ain't gonna tell you...
I ain't gonna tell you one thing that you really ought to know, but
she's my lover and I love her so, and
she's the one who really makes me run and twirl, and
she's the kind of lover that makes me feel the whole world,
and she's the one who really makes me jump and shout, and
she's the kind of girl...I know what it's all about.
Take it home!
Take it, take it, take it.
Ah, excuse me, will you excuse me?
I'm just trying to find the bridge.
Has anybody seen the
bridge? Please?
(
Have you seen the bridge?)
I ain't seen the bridge!
(Where's that confounded bridge?)