When most of your band’s lyrics revolve around Tolkien’s world of Gollum and Mordor, it makes a folksy acoustic track stand out all the more. Today, Led Zeppelin is renowned as one of the world’s first heavy metal bands, known for intensity and energy so unique that early listeners believed the band made a deal with the devil. However, a mere two years into the band’s formation they created Led Zeppelin III. Among heavy hitting favorites like “Immigrant Song” and the dark and bluesy “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” Led Zeppelin III was home to the “That’s The Way,” featuring a lack of the trademark vocals and percussion, combined with the addition of mandolin and acoustic guitar.
The band had almost effortlessly gained acclaim as a force in the world of heavy rock ‘n’ roll, so guitarist and band mastermind Jimmy Page was ready to experiment with said success. Fans were familiar with the electrified sound of hits like “Whole Lotta Love,” “Communication Breakdown” and “Heartbreaker,” but Page and vocalist Robert Plant wanted to try some folk arrangements on the upcoming LP.
It started with Page and Plant taking a long stroll around the cottage Bron-Yr-Aur in Wales, according to Zeppelin’s guitarist Page. The cottage later became a legendary Led Zeppelin vacation spot. On this occasion, the band had just finished a tour of the U.S. in the spring of 1970. Toward the end of the walk, Page sat down and started to play the first verse on an acoustic guitar he had been carrying. Plant wrote the lyrics and sang along on the spot: “I don’t know how I’m gonna tell you/I can’t play with you no more,” and “I don’t know how I’m gonna do what mama told me/My friend, the boy next door.”
“The Boy Next Door” was the original title, according to the Led Zeppelin biography “Hammer of the Gods.” Page feels this was the song where Plant truly broke through as a lyricist. The song has been interpreted many ways, most commonly as a song about two young boys growing up with different social backgrounds. However, the primary focus of the song revolves around the tumultuous relationship between English-based rock bands and their America counterparts—their boy next door.
By this point, Led Zeppelin had toured America five times, experiencing a lot in two years. During the early tours, Led Zeppelin’s members were not met with the same revere they were later shown. In many instances, they were threatened, spat on, and heckled. The band members’ long hair and flamboyant dress made them easy targets, particularly in the south. The band also recalled the violence American police displayed at the shows, and in one instance at a protest of the Vietnam War: “That’s the way/Oh, that’s the way it oughta be/Mama says that’s the way it oughta stay.”
The band’s feelings about America seem conflicted. They were treated poorly on several occasions and saw numerous things they didn’t agree with. However, despite the negative aspects, Led Zeppelin continued to tour the U.S. more than any place else in the world.
The year before “That’s the Way” was written Led Zeppelin performed in America more than 100 times, performing only 39 times throughout the rest of the world. Knowing they disagreed with certain experiences, but had agreed with the success the country provided, “That’s the Way” became an expression of Led Zeppelin’s inner conflict.
“That’s the Way” and the rest of the tracks on Led Zeppelin III didn’t see the same kind of overnight success as the band’s earlier albums. Many listeners were looking for the hard-rock fix of “Whole Lotta Love” and were not sure what to make of the stark differences between the acoustic driven folks songs and the powerful electric songs of the past. Negative reviews upset Page to the extent where he refused to grant interviews or make statements for over a year. Luckily, the press didn’t discourage him from continuing to find the middle ground for British folk and early metal. He ended up using another acoustic riff he wrote while at Bron-Yr-Aur, which appeared for the first time on Led Zeppelin IV. It was this little cottage in Wales where Page first played the riff for a soon-to-be legendary Led Zeppelin tune – welcome to the world, “Stairway to Heaven.”
