All My Love: Robert Plant’s cry for his dead son

This story is part of the book:
Mama Mia Let Me Go!
A journey through the most intriguing lyrics and stories in rock music

Buy it on Amazon

In 1977, during Led Zeppelin’s American tour, while the band was in New Orleans waiting to perform at the Superdrome in front of eighty thousand people, Robert Plant received a call from his wife Maureen. She was seriously worried because of a sudden illness that had befallen their young son, Karac. Two hours later, Plant was informed of his son’s death.

Should I fall out of love, my fire in the light?
To chase a feather in the wind
Within the glow that weaves a cloak of delight
There moves a thread that has no end

The tour was inevitably interrupted, and Led Zeppelin fell into in a very difficult period: Jimmy Page was completely addicted to the heroine, John Bonham had serious problems with alcoholism and Robert Plant had recently lost his son.

It was up to John Paul Jones to take on the role of the leader. Plant began to consider leaving rock and music, perhaps guilty for being so far away from his family at such a terrible moment, but several months later, he decided to not ignore the pain, and to keep the memory of his son fresh. His return to play with Led Zeppelin, to commemorate him, and at the same time to overcome the pain, represent an awareness that love and life will be the best cure – both for himself and for the band.

For many hours and days that pass ever soon
The tides have caused the flame to dim
At last the arm is straight, the hand to the loom
Is this to end or just begin?

In October 1978, Led Zeppelin moved to Stockholm, due to their tax exile from the UK, to record their new songs at Abba’s Polar Studios. In Through the Out Door was recorded in three weeks, with John Paul Jones testing the possibilities and the boundaries of the new Yamaha synth. It was released on August 15th, 1979, and was totally different from Zeppelin’s previous work. In the same year, Maureen and Robert had another baby.

The sixth track, All My Love, is a moving, beautiful dedication from Plant to his missing son. It was recorded in a single session, because it was impossible for him to emotionally repeat the words in another recording. A legendary song; a love song, but not a romantic one; an act of love that Robert Plant wanted to dedicate to his son. In the lyrics of this song, there is the fascinating figure of the Welsh Goddess Arianrhod, who led the souls of dead to her castle located in the Aurora Borealis, in the middle of the sea, off the Welsh coast.

Led Zeppelin - All of My Love

Watch this video on YouTube.

The cup is raised, the toast is made yet again
One voice is clear above the din
Proud Arianne, one word, my will to sustain
For me, the cloth once more to spin, oh

A year later, the story of Led Zeppelin would end with John “Bonzo” Bonham’s death, followed by a few brief reunions with his son, Jason Bonham, on the drums. In 2008, following incredible demand for the “Celebration Day” concert at London’s O2 arena (over 20 million bookings in about 24 hours), the band was found to have registered the biggest demand for tickets for a single live performance, according to Guinness World Records.

Plant stated in several interviews:

“We tried [to reunite] a few times. It always seemed to be done in a hurry and it never worked. That’s why the O2 show was done with such intent. We rehearsed loads so that Jason —John’s son — felt like he was part of the band and not just some novelty. We all needed it to be that way. But I can’t foresee doing it again, because we all have to agree and agree for the right reasons. LED ZEPPELIN was a creative force that you can’t just snap your fingers and create. It was a blend of these four master musicians, and each of us were important to the sum total of what the band was.”

On December 2nd, 2012, President Obama gave Led Zeppelin an award for their contribution “to the cultural life of the American nation and the world”.

This is part of All My Love’s lyrics:

All of my love, all of my love
All of my love to you

Should I fall out of love, my fire in the light
To chase a feather in the wind

Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time
His is the force that lies within

Within the glow that weaves a cloak of delight
There moves a thread that has no end

At last the arm is straight, the hand to the loom
Is this to end or just begin?

This story is part of the book:
Mama Mia Let Me Go!
A journey through the most intriguing lyrics and stories in rock music

Buy it on Amazon