Led Zeppelin – Nobody’s Fault but Mine 

This is a great Zeppelin song off of my least favorite Led Zeppelin album…Presence. The making of this album began after the first real setback happened to the band. It was the first one of many that were about to come.

This song was inspired by American Blues singer Blind Willie Johnson, who played in the 1920s. Plant and Page took credit for the song on the album.

After Physica Graffiti the band was on top of the world until Maureen Plant, wife of Robert Plant, was driving a rented Austin Mini, Robert beside her in the passenger seat, their three-year-old son Karac and six-year-old daughter Carmen in the back seat, along with their friend Scarlet, the four-year-old daughter of Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page were driving on a Greek island of Rhodes. The car Maureen Plant was driving skidded and spun off the road, nose-diving over a precipice and into a tree. When Robert had landed on top of Maureen, the impact shattered his right ankle and elbow and snapped several bones in his right leg.

Maureen had suffered a fractured skull and broke her pelvis and leg. Karac had also broken a leg, while Carmen had broken her wrist. Scarlet was the only one to escape with just a few cuts and bruises.

The American tour was called off while Robert and his family healed. With the band’s touring plans put on indefinite hold, it was decided to get to work on the next Zeppelin album. Plant, his wheelchair, and crutches were traveling to Los Angeles, where Page was waiting for him in a beach house in Malibu Colony. Plant started to feel that Page and manager Peter Grant were insensitive to him and his family, only thinking about Led Zeppelin’s future.

Most of the writing for this album was finished before John Paul Jones and John Bonham got there. Jones doesn’t look back on this album with much enthusiasm…he said he learned about baseball at that point because he would watch it with all of the downtimes. He picked a great one to watch…the 1975 World Series with the Red Sox and the Reds.

After this album, they would start a US tour in 1977…only to be stopped because of Robert Plant’s 5-year-old son (Karac Plant) dying. This almost destroyed the band…not to mention Plant and his wife. After Karac died of a stomach virus, Robert had more say in the band. What was once a Jimmy Page controlled band became more slanted toward Plant. This was apparent on their last album In Through The Out Door before John Bonham died in 1980 and the band was over.

The album was released in 1976 and was #1 on the Billboard Charts, #1 in the UK, and #16 in Canada. It did well in the charts but didn’t sell as well as their other albums.

John Paul Jones:  “It became apparent that Robert and I seemed to keep a different time sequence to Jimmy. We just couldn’t find him. I drove into SIR Studios every night and waited and waited… I learned all about baseball during that period, as the World Series was on and there was not much else to do but watch it. I just sort of went along with it all, the main memory of that album is pushing Robert around in the wheelchair from beer stand to beer stand. We had a laugh, I suppose, but I didn’t enjoy the sessions, really. I just tagged along with that one.”

Nobody’s Fault But Mine

Oh, nobody’s fault but mine
Nobody’s fault but mine
Trying to save my soul tonight

Oh, it’s nobody’s fault but mine

Devil. He taught me to roll
Devil. He taught me to roll
How to roll the lot you like

Nobody’s fault but mine
Oh, oh, oh, oh

Brother. He showed me the gong
Brother. He showed me the ding dong ding dong
How to kick that gong to light

Oh, it’s nobody’s fault but mine

Got a monkey on my back
M-m-m-m-monkey on my back, back, back, back
Gonna change my ways tonight

Nobody’s fault but mine

How to kick that gong to light
N-n-n-n-n-no, nobody’s fault

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

30 thoughts on “Led Zeppelin – Nobody’s Fault but Mine ”

  1. I generally love Led Zeppelin’s music, as you probably know by now, and this includes this tune. I also agree that “Presence” otherwise isn’t as compelling as most of Zep’s other albums. Given the difficult conditions for the band at the time, it probably borders on a near-miracle they were able to record any album in the first place.

    With all of that being said, I will never understand why Messrs. Plant and Page didn’t give writing credits as appropriate. Many other artists interpreted the Blind Willie Johnson tune and had no problem crediting him. As we all know, that song wasn’t the only occasion when Zep didn’t give credit. It was a deplorable practice. And, yes, it’s nobody’s fault but yours!

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. A great way to end the comment lol! Yea I don’t know why they were so stingy…well it isn’t stingy it’s not telling the truth. It ended up giving them a black eye to their career…

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      1. And what really kills me about their practice is that giving credit were credit was due wouldn’t have taken away anything from their great music. After all, it’s not that they just took songs from others and did straight covers. They definitely added to these tunes by giving them their own stamp!

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      2. Ego would have to be it…although at first money from publishing could have been it also. It happened so many times that you have to wonder…if he just didn’t think they copied enough to credit them…but they were much smarter than that.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. they did have a lot of troubles in their time, which is sad. To me, a sort of ordinary track, but as others say, they should have given proper credit. Clapton and the Stones weren’t afraid to credit and point to their influences…

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    1. Yea Page couldn’t get his eyes off that prize and nothing was going to stop it. It makes sense that Plant never wanted to reunite and bring back Led Zeppelin.

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    1. It was way too much…the band should have taken a long break…but because of the British Tax laws they couldn’t live at home. Robert had to visit his wife a set time at a time.

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    1. It was probably their most unpopular album…of course it was recorded under duress and that had something to do with it. It was back to the hard rock of their earlier albums but not as much spark…to me anyway.

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  10. Pingback: Led Zeppelin – Nobody’s Fault but Mine  – MobsterTiger

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