Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song (Live 1972)

Official video for ‘Immigrant Song’ by Led Zeppelin. This version of Immigrant Song serves as a wonderfully evocative bridge between the early, understated Zeppelin of the Albert Hall era and the full-blown grandeur their performances would assume throughout the rest of the seventies.

The visuals and the soundtrack of this live performance of are a digitized ‘mash’ of two separate performances: the film footage taken from the band’s performance at the Sydney Showground in Australiam in February 1972; the music from a Long Beach Arena show, in Los Angeles, in the summer of 1972.

“Immigrant Song” was written during Led Zeppelin’s tour of Iceland, Bath and Germany in the summer of 1970. The opening date of this tour took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, which inspired Plant to write the lyrics.
Six days after Led Zeppelin’s appearance in Reykjavik, the band performed the song for the first time in concert during the Bath Festival.

“Immigrant Song” is one of Led Zeppelin’s few releases on the 45 rpm single format. It was issued in the United States on 5 November 1970 by Atlantic Records, with the non-album track “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” on the B-side, and reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

One of the lyrics became part of Led Zeppelin lore. The line, “The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands” got many of their fans referring to Zeppelin’s sound as the “hammer of the gods.” The phrase was used by author Stephen Davis as the title of a book about the band.

Led Zeppelin meant for this song to be somewhat humorous, relating their adventures on the road to the Vikings who fought the hordes to conquer new lands. They weren’t known as a funny band, so a lot of their fans took it quite seriously.

Immigrant Song (Live at Sydney Showground,

Sydney, Australia, 2/27/72)

Led Zeppelin
Robert Plant – vocals
Jimmy Page – guitar
John Paul Jones – bass
John Bonham – drums

“Immigrant Song” – Single by Led Zeppelin from the album Led Zeppelin III
Released on November 5, 1970
Songwriters Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Producer Jimmy Page