Most people hear 'When the Levee Breaks' and they go, 'Well, it's just an homage to the 1927 Mississippi flood, the source of all these blues songs, so it's really more about the blues.' Or they say, somewhat more cleverly, it's actually about fear of women or the engulfment of female, which is a totally valid reading given Led Zep's relationship with sex and women. But I say no, it's the levee breaking ? it's nature. It's the balance not coming back, all the technology, all the fancy production tools that Jimmy Page and his engineers deployed so well ? nothing's going to stand in the way of the flood. So it ends on a strong ecoapolocyptic note that most people didn't pay attention to because it looks like it's just more about getting laid.
|