Tune Tuesday – Please Read The Letter

Today is the 76th birthday of a legend who quit his training as a chartered accountant immerse himself in the England Midlands blues scene. One can only imagine the classics we would have missed out on had the great Robert Plant continued to work with numbers!

Plant, of course, rose to fame as the vocalist and songwriter of the classic rock band Led Zeppelin. I had my share of Zeppelin songs I could have posted today. The Immigrant Song, Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog, Kashmir, When the Levee Breaks, All My Love, Good Times Bad Times, Rock and Roll, and Stairway to Heaven – just to name a few! However, I decided to go with a song that may be totally unknown to many readers.

After Zeppelin broke up, Plant recorded as mainly as a solo artist. In 2007, he teamed up with one of the greatest voices in country music, Alison Krauss, to record a critically acclaimed album entitled Raising Sand. The album itself stands out as an exceptional work of art. It would go on to win Album of the Year in 2008 at the Americana Music and Honors Awards and at the Grammy Awards.

Allmusic called it “one of the most effortless-sounding pairings in modern popular music,” JamBase called it “subtle, focused and full of life,” and the Village Voice in New York called it “powerfully evocative” and “utterly foreign, oddly familiar, and deeply gratifying.” Critics praised Krauss and Plant’s vocals; one critic saying that the “key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo.”

One of my favorite cuts is Please Read The Letter. Fans of Robert Plant may know this song because it was written by Plant and Jimmy Page and recorded back in 1998 for their Walking Into Clarksdale album (They recorded it as Page and Plant). Plant said of the song in an interview that it is a song about yearning for someone, adding that the lyrics are about “unfinished business.”

I read where one critic said that the Plant/Krauss version was a HUGE step up from the original. I truly agree. There is something about the way their voices blend together on this song and on the album that is worth checking out. Give it a listen and tell me what you think…

Please Read The Letter

Caught out running with just a little too much to hide
Maybe baby, everything’s gonna turn out fine
Please read the letter, I nailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more

Too late, too late a fool could read the signs
Maybe baby, you’d better check between the lines
Please read the letter, I wrote it in my sleep
With help and consultation from the angels of the deep

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Once I took beside a well of many words
My house is full of rings, and charms, and pretty birds
Please understand me, my walls came falling down
There’s nothing here that’s left for you
But check with lost and found

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote, oh

One more song just before we go
Remember baby, you gotta reap just what you sow
Please read my letter and promise me you’ll keep
The secrets and the memories we cherish in the deep
Please read the letter, I nailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Oh no, oh, oh no

Please read the letter
Please read the letter
Please read the letter

Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Happy Birthday, Robert Plant!