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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