The spoken part of the song is interesting, because it's a switch in narrative from Plant's usual complaining that a woman won't stay faithful. In that part, Plant sings in the voice of a really sleazy guy within eleven kids who is having an affair with a young (probably underage) girl.
What's interesting is if the schoolgirl's name is "Rosie" because of a 1965 Kinks song called "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home." The Kinks song was about a girl who left her working class home to live in the upper class, but the first verse could be reinterpreted to be about a girl who left home-- perhaps ran away:
Rosie, won't you please come home
Mama don't know where you've been
Rosie, won't you please come home
Your room's clean and no one's in it
Oh my Rosie how I miss you
You are the world to me
Take a look and see if you like it
if you doubt it, please come back
etc.
What if Rosie left home, and she hooked up with a sleazy guy?
"How Many More Times" was done in 1968, so it's a contemporary to the Kinks song. Further, since Page worked with the Kinks back when he did studio work for "All Day and All of the Night", so there could be a lighthearted connection. This part of "How Many More Times" could be an explanation of where Rosie went after she left home. That explains Plant's character pressuring Rosie to leave her home and "steal away" to him instead.
The original Kinks song is sweet, while the Led Zeppelin song is rather menacing, particularly with the bow-work that Page does with his guitar. You get the feeling of a guy who is a lot older than Rosie, manipulating her for sex. To top it off, the character mockingly sings to her to "please come home" (around 7:43), echoing the original Kinks song.
If this was the intention of HMMT, hats off to Plant for a fun twist on the original song.
This is exactly the kind of comment I come to this site for. That is absolutely fascinating and adds an entirely new dimension of appreciation to an already spectacular song. You've set me off on another LZ listening-research extravaganza.
This is exactly the kind of comment I come to this site for. That is absolutely fascinating and adds an entirely new dimension of appreciation to an already spectacular song. You've set me off on another LZ listening-research extravaganza.
The spoken part of the song is interesting, because it's a switch in narrative from Plant's usual complaining that a woman won't stay faithful. In that part, Plant sings in the voice of a really sleazy guy within eleven kids who is having an affair with a young (probably underage) girl.
What's interesting is if the schoolgirl's name is "Rosie" because of a 1965 Kinks song called "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home." The Kinks song was about a girl who left her working class home to live in the upper class, but the first verse could be reinterpreted to be about a girl who left home-- perhaps ran away:
Rosie, won't you please come home Mama don't know where you've been Rosie, won't you please come home Your room's clean and no one's in it
Oh my Rosie how I miss you You are the world to me Take a look and see if you like it if you doubt it, please come back etc.
What if Rosie left home, and she hooked up with a sleazy guy?
"How Many More Times" was done in 1968, so it's a contemporary to the Kinks song. Further, since Page worked with the Kinks back when he did studio work for "All Day and All of the Night", so there could be a lighthearted connection. This part of "How Many More Times" could be an explanation of where Rosie went after she left home. That explains Plant's character pressuring Rosie to leave her home and "steal away" to him instead.
The original Kinks song is sweet, while the Led Zeppelin song is rather menacing, particularly with the bow-work that Page does with his guitar. You get the feeling of a guy who is a lot older than Rosie, manipulating her for sex. To top it off, the character mockingly sings to her to "please come home" (around 7:43), echoing the original Kinks song.
If this was the intention of HMMT, hats off to Plant for a fun twist on the original song.
@sdp
@sdp
This is exactly the kind of comment I come to this site for. That is absolutely fascinating and adds an entirely new dimension of appreciation to an already spectacular song. You've set me off on another LZ listening-research extravaganza.
This is exactly the kind of comment I come to this site for. That is absolutely fascinating and adds an entirely new dimension of appreciation to an already spectacular song. You've set me off on another LZ listening-research extravaganza.
@sdp👍❤, you should get paid for this. Thanks. Have a Blessed weekend. This would be song - to hear all day if I were on Gilligans Island.
@sdp👍❤, you should get paid for this. Thanks. Have a Blessed weekend. This would be song - to hear all day if I were on Gilligans Island.