Led Zeppelin – Hey Hey What Can I Do

Sometimes I am asked what is your favorite song by… Well for Led Zeppelin this is the one with Tangerine coming in second. Up until I heard this, I only knew Led Zeppelin from their first two bombastic albums. I thought…well there is more to this band than just loud guitars. This was the UK B side to the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. This was not on any Zeppelin album until The Led Zeppelin Box Set in 1992.

The song was credited to the entire band… John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. The song is very different than anything else they did. There is no building up to a heavy Page solo but it does sound like Zeppelin. The song would have fit nicely on Led Zeppelin III but they decided to not include it.

The original band never did perform this song live although Plant and Page played it on their tour. Page also played this one with the Black Crowes in 1999.

The Immigrant song charted (#16) but this one did not. They recorded this song around the same time as Led Zeppelin III. This album marked a change in the band’s musical direction as they started to incorporate more of a folk touch and light and heavy style. The album led to the peak of their career in Led Zeppelin IV.

Robert Plant said that at the time they wrote it…they thought it was too lightweight to put on an album.  I find it to be possibly the most commercial radio-friendly song they ever did. Maybe it was the correct decision at the time because 50 years later I’m writing about a Zeppelin song that never appeared on an album in the band’s lifetime…and it’s a hidden treasure.

Hey Hey What Can I Do

Wanna tell you about the girl, I love
My she looks so fine
She’s the only one that I been dreamin’ of
Maybe someday she will be all mine

I wanna tell her that I love her so
I thrill with her every touch
I need to tell her
She’s the only one I really love

I got a woman, wanna ball all day
I got a woman, she won’t be true, no
I got a woman, stay drunk all the time
I said, I got a little woman and she won’t be true

On Sunday morning when we go down to church
See the menfolk standin’ in line
Don’t say they come to pray to the Lord
When my little girl, looks so fine

And in the evening when the sun is sinkin’ low
Everybody’s with the one they love
I walk the town, keep a-searchin’ all around
Lookin’ for my street corner girl

I got a woman, wanna ball all day
I got a woman, she won’t be true, no no
I got a woman, stay drunk all the time
I said, I got a little woman and she won’t be true

In the bars, with the men who play guitars
Singin’, drinkin’ and rememberin’ the times
And my little lover does the midnight shift
She ball around all the time

I guess there’s just one thing a-left for me to do
So I pack my bags and move on my way
‘Cause I got a worried mind, sharin’ what I thought was mine
Gonna leave her where the guitars play

I got a woman, she won’t be true, no no
I got a woman, wanna ball all day, yeah yeah, no no
I got a woman, stay drunk all the time
I got a little woman and she won’t be true

Hey hey, what can I do?
Oh oh, what can I say?
Hey hey, what can I do?
Oh oh, what can I say?

Hey hey, what can I do?
Oh oh, what can I say?
Hey hey, what can I do?

Hey hey, what can I do?
I got a woman, she won’t be true
Lord, hear what I say
I got a woman, wanna ball all day

Oh oh, what can I say?
Hey hey, what can I do?

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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.

52 thoughts on “Led Zeppelin – Hey Hey What Can I Do”

  2. When I got that box set I put this one on continuous play as it is a brilliant piece of Zep material. Plants vocals during the verses is what sells this track for me. Amazing they buried this song for a few decades but did put it out there…
    Great start to the week with this one Max!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Yes it is Deke! I like their rocking ones but this one is so crystal clear….plus I love the lyrics. “Gonna leave her where the guitars play”

      Liked by 1 person

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      2. Yea…I played mine back in my room through headphones. When mom heard Helter Skelter she was on and on about “acid rock”…. of course that made me like them more.

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Very interesting post! I know the song but didn’t know that was it’s title. Also was highly surprised it wasn’t on an original album… through the years, it got a lot of radio play in toronto, I would guesstimate it was probably in the top 10 (but lower bits, like #9 or 10) most played song by them on the classic rock station and even at times on the ‘oldies’ station. Not my own favorite song by them but I do like it and certainly it showed how wide-ranging they could be.

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    1. It’s instantly likable when you hear it. One of the great B sides in rock history. Personally, I like it better than the Immigrant song…which I will be swatted down by Zeppelin fans saying that but it’s the truth.

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      5. Not me. I’d prefer that B side. And, I don’t even remember when or where I heard this but, I LOVE this song. My #1 fave is Ramble On but, this would be #2. Didn’t show up on an album until a 1992 box set? Did not know that.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. They didn’t like singles but this deserved to be an A side to me…they should have included it on Led Zeppelin III…it would have fit nicely with Tangerine.

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      1. the only thing that is at all similar , release wise, to me is Pearl Jam’s ‘Yellow Ledbetter’ which (Lisa will correct this if it’s wrong I bet), was only a b-side but got played to death on 90s radio and didn’t appear on an album til years later with some compilation. Odd when that happens

        Liked by 1 person

      2. B-side to Jeremy. The song was an “outtake” from “Ten.” The released version is a second take. It was never on the album.

        I swear that Vedder was drunk while singing and ad-libbed most of it. He is also notorious for changing the lyrics on the fly.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. This song got a lot of play on the classic rock radio station I listened to back in the 80s and I looked everywhere for a copy of it (as much as you could in the pre-internet days) until FINALLY that box set came out.

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    1. Personally I didn’t hear it until the 80s but when I was a kid in the seventies my sister listened to AM radio and it would not have been played on that.

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  8. It was never on an album?? Dang, what an omission. I’m very familiar with this song which makes me wonder how I am. I know that at one point I had digital discographies of favorite bands, including Zep, so it must have been in there. Of course when hard drives crash everything is lost on them and still kicking myself for not putting them on discs.

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    1. Nope but they recorded it while they made Led Zeppelin III…It was on a box set they released. I do wish they would have included it on the 3rd album. This and Tangerine I love…Jimmy got a great sound on acoustics in the studio.

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      3. Hootie and the Blowfish to a very good version of this and Tangerine is done well also by another band.
        I don’t remember when this tribute album came out but it’s really good.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. It is a good song for all that is said above -clear, crisp, still ‘old bluesy’ in feel. I would err on the ‘Immigrant Song’ if I was given the choice of only being able to play one of the two- but there sure is more subtlety for the ear on ‘Hey Hey.’

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  11. It’s a great tune! In addition to crunchy rockers, I feel Zeppelin also had softer and more acoustic songs through most of their recording career. For example, on Led Zeppelin II you have “Thank You”, on Led Zeppelin III there are “Tangerine” and “Bron-Y–Aur Stomp”, and on Zep IV you have “The Battle of Evermore.” On “Houses of the Holy” and Physical Graffiti, there are “The Rain Song” and “Bron-Yr-Aur”, respectively. Last but not least, with “All My Love”, you have some great synth soft rock on “In Through the Out Door”.

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    1. I love this one! They do not borrow old blues riffs for this…this is them period. This is part of Zeppelin I like the most. Jimmy Page was such a good producer….listen to the acoustic sound in this…it’s awesome!
      Oh Christian…I’m halfway through the doc…I had to divert to something else…I’m hoping I’ll finish tonight…I love it so far!

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  13. Pingback: Led Zeppelin – Hey Hey What Can I Do – MobsterTiger

      2. I can’t say I know a ton about him…I’ve only heard him off and on…I’ll check him out more.

        Like

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