This was on the album Coda it was released two years after John Bonham’s death and features outtakes from sessions throughout their career. I heard this one more than the others on the album.
Recorded in 1978 at a studio in Sweden owned by Abba, this song was intended for the Led Zeppelin album In Through the Out Door, but it didn’t make the cut. Ozone Baby peaked at #14 in the Mainstream Rock Songs Charts in 1982. Coda was released in 1982 and peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1983.
Coda is by no means a great album but it does have some enjoyable tracks like Wearing and Tearing and Darlene. It’s not like they set out to record an album… it was released to honor contractual commitments to Atlantic Records.
From Songfacts
The entire band’s instrumentals come in right at the opening with Robert Plant’s vocals starting in soon after. This was Zeppelin’s typical style, a straightforward “get it done” 12-bar-blues attitude without very much pretension. It shows something of their character that they were consistent in doing this on one of the last songs done by the classic lineup.
Another telling sign of Zeppelin’s character: How many drummers do most bands go through? Next to the bass, the drummer is usually the most-rotated spot. Not Zeppelin! Lose the drummer, and that’s it, the band calls it quits – but to be fair, growing tensions within the band could have broken them up anyway.
A bit of rock history trivia: Led Zeppelin today is remembered as practically having walked on water. One easily forgets that back when these albums were coming out, while they had a huge fan base, rock critics panned them almost unanimously. Rolling Stone raspberried every single Zep album.
Ozone Baby
I hear ya knock on my door
I ain’t been saving this scene for ya honey
Don’t wantcha ringin’ my bell
It’s too late for you to be my honey
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love
Don’t want you wasting my time
Tired of ya doing the things that you do
It’s no use standing in line
Follow the line, you better follow queue
I say, oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love, my my own
I could sail a river run dead, but I know it’s dead
I could I wish for a million, yeah but I know it’s dead
I could cry within the darkness, I sail away
I save a lifetime forever?
But you know, you know, you know what I say
And I say oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love, my my own
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love, my own true love
My own true love, my own true love
My own true love
I said Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love
Oh, it’s my love
Oh, it’s my own true love, my own
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Led Zeppelin is a very talented band. I love them!
Sounds a little like a led zep covers having a crack at writing a led zep song lol. Maybe excepting the drums and solo…
Not one of their top shelf albums for sure.
I think it was the only song on the album I remember hearing back then. Not a bad song fro a cast-off though not one of Zep’s best by any means
No this entire album is not their best…but some tracks were likable but weak for them.
It’s funny how critics have u-turned, right? They’re deified now.
I know….they were treated pretty bad by critics when they were together…Page was pissed off because Rolling Stone would ride them…he wouldn’t do many interviews because of it.
Rolling Stone is the vanilla music reader’s choice, what can you expect. I say that and I read it for years. I got sick of the direction it was heading, with more advertising and less content. This song has bass and lead sharing the limelight. Not sure if I ever heard it before.
It was at one time a decent magazine…I had a subscription…like you said it turned into more advertising than material…just awful.
Well…this is new.
It’s off of the cast off album…after Bonham had died.