Tag: Going To California

This song was included on possibly their best album…Led Zeppelin 4 or Zoso… whichever name you know it by. It was released in 1971, which I think was the best year for rock albums. A few weeks before this album, The Who released their huge album Who’s Next.

I liked that they switched gears in this song and kept it a ballad. Plant has often mentioned that part of the song was a tribute to Joni Mitchell, whom he and Page admired. Her song California also inspired this song.

Zeppelin recorded this album at Headley Grange. It is an old, remote mansion in Hampshire, England, and they recorded there frequently. The informal, relaxed atmosphere helped the band focus and be creative.

They used a mobile recording studio, the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, which allowed them to record in various parts of the mansion, capturing different acoustics. Page has talked about recording Bonham underneath a staircase for the sound quality. For this song, however…it was recorded in Headley Grange’s lawn outside in the grass.

Bonham didn’t play on this one and Page played a 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitar. John Paul Jones plays the mandolin on it. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page wrote this song…it’s a great album track.

The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard 200, Canada, and the UK in 1971.

Going To California

Spent my days with a woman unkind
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine
Made up my mind to make a new start
Going to California with an aching in my heart
Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair

Took my chances on a big jet plane
Never let ’em tell you that they’re all the same
Oh, the sea was red and the sky was grey
Wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today
The mountains and the canyons start to tremble and shake
As the children of the sun began to awake
Watch out

Seems that the wrath of the gods
Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow
I think I might be sinking
Throw me a line, if I reach it in time
I’ll meet you up there where the path runs straight and high

To find a queen without a king
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings
La la la la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin’ to find a woman who’s never, never, never been born
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams
Telling myself it’s not as hard, hard, hard as it seems, mmm, ah

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