Onions on Zep's Four Sticks

I just want to document this glorious moment when the threads "onions on four sticks" and "songs that make you cry" are next to each other.

 

I certainly had no idea what it meant at the time it came out, but I was only ten. It wasn't until the Great Google arrived that I researched the meaning of the song's title.

 

Great tune. Points the way to Physical Graffiti, stylistically. As for Bonzo using four sticks, I knew that but forgot till this thread.

 

Like it?! It's my favorite track off the album, and I enjoy this album!

From the day it came out I was fascinated with FS. Didn't understand how it worked or anything... The sound all around just fascinated me... I think next was probably "The Battle of Evermore". This particular aspect of LZ ("Friends" also, from III) I found attractive and novel for a heavy rock outfit.

 

I was almost 20 !!!

 

I see it as a great "album track" that complements" the others but doesn't take center stage. I always put it on my Zep comp CDs

 

I love the track "four sticks." I rate it "vadalia" the most sweet of onions.

 

Four sticks - Great track - my favorite track on the LP - like the changes of tempo back and forth - going in different directions. When it gets in my head can't get rid of it...........

 

Bonham uses four drumsticks on this song. Duh.

 

Yeah. And I also think it's one of Plant's finest vocal performances, and from his prime. Lyrics are good too!

 

After Misty Mountain Hop leaves a sour taste in my mouth, Four Sticks brings the record back to the high standard of quality of the first side. I might even prefer it to RnR...

 

That's funny...

 

Considering Buckley does a novelty cover of Kashmir at 45 RPM I'd say he's a fan...

I love Four Sticks BTW

 

I vastly agree with you here, seriously though save for the synthesizer line, which to me is unrequired in those arrangements. It kind of brings the song back into reality or the modern world, and in so doing breaks the spell for a little while... But that's a minor fault!

 

Agree!

I have always heard "When the owls cry in the night", which to me is even better...

 

Have you heard the one about the guy who orders a **** sandwich with onions? The next guy ordering says, "Same here, but hold the onions. They give me bad breath."

 

LOL You ARE a funny guy!

 

Those are actually the correct lyrics.

Does someone know the lyrics to the fourth (and last) verse? That verse is always left out in all official publications and I have never even seen an attempt to decipher it on the web.

 

I don't know about Jeff, but Tim Buckley's "Hello And Goodbye lp from 1967 has a number of songs that presage Zep's folky side, and we know that Plant was a fan...

 

Yep, one of my favourite tracks on the album.

I have to admit, though: I don't hold IV in quite the same reverence, compared to the other albums, as many people seem to - it's the album I listen to least. I got to it in 1980 - maybe if I'd heard it when it came out I might feel different...

Stairway is what it is, but I first came across the TSRTS version and I've always preferred that performance (and I prefer the other live versions I've heard since as well) - I was actually quite disappointed by the studio version when I first heard it... I suspect they could have done a much better version after a few months of touring it. I think the same might apply to Black Dog and Rock and Roll (and I'm afraid I loathe the DI'd guitar, getting the distortion from overdriving the desk instead of using a guitar amp - I get what he was doing, and it's very effective, but it just turns me off)

The rest of the album is where it's at for me when I listen to it - but I do have to be in the right mood for Evermore and California - so Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks, and When the Levee Breaks are the biggies for me.

 

love onions... love "Four Sticks"!

 

If I were to axe a song from the LP it would be Goin to California. Expecially the scallions on that one.

 

LOL

 

I found this (not sure about the correctness of it, though).
Ooh yeah, the brave I endure (I think it's "brave I endure" without "the")
Ooh yeah, strong shields and lore (maybe "strong shields of law"?)
An' they can't hold the wrath of those who walk
In the boots of those who march
Baby through the roads of time so long ago.

 

Love that track. but tiring of Stairway to the point that since the 80's, I just skip it.

Now, On LZ II, I feel your way about Thank You.