Gallows Pole

[Beausoleil]

I have always been intrigued by this song ever since Led Zeppelin III came out. This is really a fantastic album, often overshadowed by II and IV.


"Gallows Pole" is based on an old folk ballad, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner.

The ballad exists in a number of folkloric variants, from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. For example, it was recorded in 1939 as "The Gallis Pole" by folk singer Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, and in 1970 as "Gallows Pole", an arrangement of the Fred Gerlach version, by English rock band Led Zeppelin, on the album Led Zeppelin III.

Lead Belly version

Folksinger Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, who also popularized such songs as "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special", first recorded "The Gallis Pole" in the 1930s accompanied by his own twelve-string guitar. His haunting, shrill tenor delivers the lyrical counterpoint, and his story is punctuated with spoken-word passages, as he "interrupts his song to discourse on its theme".

Lead Belly's intro is included, really worth listening to for his perspective on the adaptation of the ballad.

Led Zeppelin version

"Gallows Pole" begins as a simple acoustic guitar rhythm; mandolin is added in, then electric bass guitar shortly afterwards, and then banjo and drums simultaneously join in. The instrumentation builds up to a crescendo, increasing in tempo as the song progresses. The acoustic guitar chord progression (in standard tuning) is simple with a riff based on variations of the open A chord and the chords D and G occurring in the verse. Page played banjo, six and 12 string acoustic guitar and electric guitar (a Gibson Les Paul), while John Paul Jones played mandolin and bass.

Page has stated that, similar to the song "Battle of Evermore" that was included on their fourth album, the song emerged spontaneously when he started experimenting with Jones' banjo, an instrument he had never before played. "I just picked it up and started moving my fingers around until the chords sounded right, which is the same way I work on compositions when the guitar's in different tunings." It is also one of Page's favourite songs on Led Zeppelin III.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maid_Freed_from_the_Gallows

[BigmanPigman]

1. I had to listen to my old transistor radio

2 night ago when the electricity went out for 5 hours and most of my batteries had died. When this song came on the good old transistor I was in a much better mood waiting for power to return. It was actually sort of fun in a "throw back" kind of way.

[Beausoleil]

2. I assume it was the Led Zeppilin version

Don't hear Lead Belly too much on the radio these days!

[BigmanPigman]

3. Yes, it was Led Zep.

It was just what I needed and at the right time, too.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Had To Look Ig Up

Surprisingly, Page is using standard tuning in the Zep version.
And Leadbelly is standard intervals but tuned down to C. I thought I heard something different, and now I'm thinking it's the different jangle from rhe slack strings.