In a video, the bassist and keyboardist of Led Zeppelin reinterprets this blues classic with 17 musicians and singers. An initiative of the charity Playing For Change in favor of the climate cause.
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Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones re-recorded (remotely) with 17 musicians, singers and vocalists When The Levee Breaksa blues classic reworked by Led Zeppelin in 1971 (on Led Zeppelin IV) and became one of their flagship titles. All funds raised by this new Playing For Change-initiated release will be donated to Peace Through Music charities, which include WWF, Conservation International, American Rivers and Reverb.
Originally written and recorded by Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie couple two years after the great Mississippi flood that devastated the area in 1927 and threw thousands of families out on the streets and onto the roads, this song means “When The Dike Breaks“.
The tempestuous version of Led Zeppelin, with its plaintive harmonica and the powerful drum pattern by John Bonham, can today be used to raise awareness of the environmental cause, believe the supporters of Playing For Change who see it as a plea for “Mother Earth “.
John Paul Jones was not long in convincing. First of all “it’s a great cause“, he explains to the American magazine RollingStone. He also feels that the song still resonates in the present. “It seems that little has changed since 1927, and even since [l’ouragan] Katrina in 2005“, he points. “It’s still a powerful track“, both in terms of lyrics and music. With the 17 musicians from all over the world who surround him on this new version“we all recorded remotely, so it was a real treat when I finally got to see and hear all of these talented musicians in the final video.”