Led Zep's "Dancing Days" Classic or Classicest Classic That Ever Classiced On A Planet Capable Of Classicness?

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So Robert's got this flower and got this power and he's got a woman who knows and THEREFORE no song on this Earth that I call home has a more proudly triumphant and cocky tone then this song that Led Zeppelin was so eager to call "Dancing Days" (see, they were HERE again, man can you imagine what kind of day ROBERT PLANT had to have in order to inspire "Dancing Days?" Can you?) and it's so proud that I bet Steven Tyler genuflects to it everyday and tells anyone who's listen that "hey, my band? Aerosmith? Heard of them? Our whole EXISTENCE is really based on this one song and the EMOTION, the FEELING, the VIBE that it represents. I'd be another puny shit on the the Mick Jagger rail if I wasn't able to latch onto the STRIDE that exists in Dancing Days."

STRIDE, you know. No song has it more than "Dancing Days" by the Led Zeppelin. I'm tempted to say there simply isn't a better song that exists here, now or ever.

Disagree, Agree, classic, dud? WHAT SAY YOU?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

What use does a lion have for a tadpole, bejarred or otherwise? Answer me THAT.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:24 (twenty-two years ago)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

He's standing alone, even!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:27 (twenty-two years ago)

and on that note I'm gonna debreak out of this place from which I am writing this. I just wanted to find out why nobody's been like "hey man, Dancing Days! Dancing Days is the pinnacle of the shit that is popular music of the 20th Century!"

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

though I'm mixing it up with "The Ocean" in my head right now. Shooby dooby doo wop!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Because:
-It's not the best popular music song of the 20th century
-It's not the best rock song of the 20th century
-It's not the best rock song of the 1970s
-It's not the best song of 1973
-It's not the best song by Led Zeppelin
-It's not the best song on Houses of the Holy
-It's not the best song to mention lions and/or tadpoles*

It is, however, pretty damn good.**

*actually I don't know any other songs that mention tadpoles. I can only assume that some Kermit the Frog performance does somewhere, though, so I'm still safe in my assumption.

**blah blah subjective OPINIONX0R

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

i bet paul stanley could foxy-dance to it, too!

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

(oh and what are the best blah blah blah smart guy?)

-James Brown, "Super Bad pts. 1 and 2"
-The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Purple Haze"
-The Raspberries, "Go All the Way"
-Stevie Wonder, "Living For the City"
-"Communication Breakdown"
-"No Quarter"
-GZA's "Animal Planet"

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

This has to be the most blatant display of wheel-spinning ridiculousness I've partaken in all week here

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

but what other songs mention lions and tadpoles simultaneously?

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Aha! See, by those standards, "Dancing Days" is like the king and ruler of all it surveys.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

oy, i'm zeppelined out. i went on a bron-y-saur bender the other day with the 3 cd/2 dvd thing and i've got moby dick on the brain. i still feel woozy. john paul jones' unfortunate hair-dos, broken violin bow strings, food fights in the british countryside, yikes, i done overdid it. that whole lotta love techno groove from the 79 live footage is calling me back though. dancing days are indeed here again. i'm in love all over again.klassic rawk is the new...ah hell, i dunno.it's just that they mixed that new old stuff for such maximum whomp! it's almost not fair.

― scott seward, Sunday, 22 June 2003 04:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The Stone Temple Pilots cover came on the radio today and I said to myself, I said, "Hey, Famous Athlete, this really is a great song, you know that?" S'true.

― Famous Athlete, Sunday, 22 June 2003 05:08 (twenty-two years ago)

dance hall days, now

― bob snoom, Sunday, 22 June 2003 09:55 (twenty-two years ago)

In all probability my least favorite Zep song ever.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 22 June 2003 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, I mention it all the time Anthony. It's definitely at least a contender for my favourite LZ songs and among my favourite songs period. It's all about the guitar layers.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 22 June 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's kind of annoying actually.

― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 22 June 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Zeppelin, but "Dancing Days" has never been a favorite of mine. I usually end up skipping it and "Dyer Maker" whenever I listen to Houses of the Holy.

My favorites are the big epic songs like "Kashmir", "Achilles Last Stand", "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Ten Years Gone".

― earlnash, Sunday, 22 June 2003 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

As a committed 80s new-waver I never listened to any classic rock on principle until one day I dropped acid and listened to Houses of the Holy and that shifted the trajectory of my music listening dramatically. My favorite Zep album and "Dancing Days" is one of my favorite tracks.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 22 June 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

As a committed 80s new-waver I never listened to any classic rock on principle until one day I dropped acid...

The one regret I have about abstaining from drugs is that I'd really want to find out what it's like to listen to Human League while on LSD.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 22 June 2003 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

WOW! Nate likes "No Quarter," which is probably my LEAST favorite Led Zep song, so I don't give a grand wazoo what he thinks of "Dancing Days." It's still the tops. Though "The Ocean" is clicking at it's heels. High five to Sundar!

I'm kinda AC/DCed out cuz I got up early and ended up listening to the entire works of Bon Scott (save '74 Jailbreak, which I have yet to get).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

skipping "D'yer Maker"? Yow. DIFFERENT WORLDS, I tell ya. WE LIVE ON DIFFERENT WORLDS.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's kind of annoying actually.

but do you think that Adam Ant would dance to it?

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"Dancing Days," compared to the lion's share of their other work, is a turgid, tenuously-melodic, lumpen mess.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

dude, you're so mistaking it for "No Quarter."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

While basking it's glower later last night I perused my bedside copy of Hammer Of The Gods to find some little bit of trivia. The only piece they offered is that the band first listening to the recorded version in a big field and they all danced around single-file to it. I deem that awesome!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I said I'd never correct a typo again, but dammnit...I meant basking in its GLORY and the band first LISTENED to it. That's the last time I correct something!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

What? You're fuckin' high again, Anthony. "No Quarter" is a cool, sinister bit of atmospheric doom'n'gloomery, whereas "Dancing Days" (itself hardly danceable by any stretch of the imagination unless you're some deluded Twyla Tharp wannabe) should've been relegated to the bottom of an odds'n'sodds, studio throwaway bootleg cut-price box set sold in dismal Portugese department stores.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

There are evidently a lot of deluded Twyla Tharp wanna-be's out there, including myself and (judging from that anecdote) Led Zep themselves!

But hey, I said it's alright, I said it's alright.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

dyer maker is icky. "let's do one with a reggie beat"

― ron (ron), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah. "how dare they?"

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

led zep had the funk, yo! (physical graffiti was the greatest white-boy/brit-funk album ever made, fwiw)

― Tad (llamasfur), Sunday, 22 June 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

the stone temple pilots cover is CLASSIC. the zeppelin version sounds like a bad demo

― MerkinMuffley (MerkinMuffley), Sunday, 22 June 2003 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

six months pass...

While we're here...let me say how much "the bridge" sucks ass

― wallace carother's repentence, Wednesday, 31 December 2003 01:50 (twenty-two years ago)

So pleased to see some love for 'Go All the Way' by the Raspberries!

― pete s, Wednesday, 31 December 2003 02:00 (twenty-two years ago)

well--it's better than "No Quarter" ("won't be washing clothes tonight") but has nothing on the rest of the album

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 31 December 2003 05:26 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Merkin OTM. STP did a cover that blew the original away

― joe schmoe (joeschmoe), Sunday, 6 November 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

Quite possibly my least fave Zep track ever.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 November 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

classic, but possibly the weakest track on Houses.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 6 November 2005 19:02 (twenty years ago)

Anyone who prefers "No Quarter" fucks muffler.

― 'Twan (miccio), Sunday, 6 November 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

STP did a cover that blew the original away

Clean the knockwurst out of your ears.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 6 November 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

This song stinks. Dud

― van igloo (van smack), Sunday, 6 November 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

STP did a cover that blew the original away

This quite possibly the most ridiculous statement ever posted on ILM.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 6 November 2005 22:25 (twenty years ago)

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8443/marioman6rq.jpg

― Cunga (Cunga), Sunday, 6 November 2005 23:09 (twenty years ago)

No Quarter = classic
Dancing Days = classic
John Paul Jones' hair = classic
Richard Cole machine-gunning zombie label execs = classic

― Dr. Gene Scott (shinybeast), Sunday, 6 November 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

this song is incredible

was listening to coda for the first time yesterday... "bonzo's montreux " really surprised me, so simple, but very out

― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 7 November 2005 00:19 (twenty years ago)

Is it just me, or does anyone else get "Dancing Days" and Bobby Brown's "Humpin' Around" hopelessly mixed up in their heads?

― Roe Joe, Monday, 7 November 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

Advice from a baaaaaaaad mufflerfucker: Anthony needsta get him some headphones and rock "No Quarter" at 9 PM on a January Sunday night when it's snowing and there's like nobody else outside. If that first guitar strum doesn't rattle your spine then you need a Stephen Hawking chair.

― disco violence (disco violence), Monday, 7 November 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

STP did a cover that blew the original away

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the last three words were typed by mistake.

classic, but possibly the weakest track on Houses.

OTM, except for the "classic" part.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 7 November 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

Is it just me, or does anyone else get "Dancing Days" and Bobby Brown's "Humpin' Around" hopelessly mixed up in their heads?
-- Roe Joe (amarill...), November 6th, 2005.

Scary, but OTM!

― Harry (frame24), Monday, 7 November 2005 04:42 (twenty years ago)

Classic as hell. 6th classicest on Houses of the Holy.

― Cheek0 (Cheek0), Monday, 7 November 2005 04:53 (twenty years ago)

I'm with Alex - "Dancing Days" is definitely in my own personal bottom 10th percentile of the Led Zeppelin canon. (Which means it's still OK, Zep being The Greatest Band Ever, but still.) It's that damned nagging (non-)riff that's the problem. A claustrophobic, practically non-existent range (a mere two-step interval), poorly articulated grace notes (which, unbelievably, STP actually improved upon!) and a fourth bar that's identical to the first and the second (so you can't tell backwards from forwards) - all of these combine to create something nearly as irritating as that fucking g-dawful Usher hit of a coupla years back (the title of which I'm unaware, and certainly don't intend to look it up.) I like the tadpole in the jar, and the bittersweet slide guitar fills are pretty, so the song's not a total waste. But oh, how I hate that (non-) riff.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 7 November 2005 07:24 (twenty years ago)

I never thought there'd be so much disagreement over a TS: Stone Temple Pilots vs Led Zeppelin proposition.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 7 November 2005 07:44 (twenty years ago)

I stick by my decision, I think the original version of Dancing Days is GRATING

― joe schmoe (joeschmoe), Monday, 7 November 2005 09:20 (twenty years ago)

I had no idea there was this much disdain for this song. When I've listened to Zeppelin with people, most people usually love it as a standout track. It's been a favourite since I first heard HOTH. I'll work some more on trying to articulate why. I don't really see how the grace notes are poorly articulated. You guys would take "The Crunge" over this?

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 7 November 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

i totally love this song. haven't heard the stp version in forever, but that's how i heard it in the first place, and i remember liking it. i pretty much agree w/everything myonga said, except that claustrophobia, jarring grace notes and an inability to tell forwards from backwards are the things that make "dancing days" cool.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Monday, 7 November 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

I couldn't have hoped for a better retort, Zack, thanks! :)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

Eh, it's not a bad song, but they have so many better ones.

― James Morris (HorrayJames), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Fuck STP, the Bad Livers pluck the hell out of this one. (On some Song Retains the Name comp, along with this fantastic version of Misty Mountain Hop that includes fucking up most of the lyrics, and Mojo Nixon's "ROBERT PLANT IS A MOTHERFUCKER" version of When the Levee Breaks).

― js (honestengine), Monday, 7 November 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

I'd always thought Humpin' Around was based on a sample of "Dancing
Days. If not, it's certainly the same riff.

I love Led Zeppelin, and by and large do not like STP, but I listen to the STP version of Dancing Days once a year or so and I don't think I ever listen to the original. So with that what you will. The album of Zep covers the STP version appeared on by the way (Encomium) is chock full of high comedy. Notably:

Good Times Bad Times by Cracker. Yes, Cracker.

Four Sticks by the Rollins Band with all new Hank-penned lyrics in the B section ("when the owls cry in the night?" I'm not singing that! I'll just rant about living inside my mind and not being able to sleep, yeah, that's much better.)

Custard Pie by Helmet with David Yow from the Jesus Lizard who, in my opinion, gives the greatest vocal performance of the 1990s on this song. I remember listening to it for the first time and thinking "why did they cloroform Joey Ramone before giving him the mic?")

― Ash (ashbyman), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:54 (twenty years ago)

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