THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

Every Inch of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” Comes From Steve Marriott

The Small Faces — “You Need Loving”

Three years before “Whole Lotta Love”, the Small Faces’ Steve Marriott gave Robert Plant every inch of his “Loving”. Sure, the words may have come from Willie Dixon (who famously and successfully sued Zeppelin), but the soul of the song came from the Faces’ “emotive revamp of Muddy Waters’ ‘You Need Loving’ which certainly set the ears twitching of young Faces’ fan Robert Plant”. (Andy Neill, liner notes to the CD reissue of the Small Faces’ eponymous debut LP on Decca). As decristo1021 says, “even the most diehard Plant fan has to admit that Robbie aped Steve’s delivery to a ‘t’…it’s uncanny….”

On the other hand, Michael Hann argues that:

“Whole Lotta Love” may have borrowed from both Willie Dixon and the Small Faces, but the song wasn’t the same as either of its pieces of source material: what Zeppelin took, they transformed. They were derivative only in the sense that they took from existing forms; what they did with those forms created rock’n’roll of a new form, one as at home with folk or blues or proto-metal.

And the Small Faces also originally credited the song to themselves (in this case, Marriott and Lane).

Anyway, here’s the story as told in Ken Sharp’s interview with Marriott and Ian McLagan:

SHARP: I was going to ask you about “You Need Lovin’” . . . . Supposedly Robert Plant was a huge fan and would come to all the shows, did you remember him from those days?

MCLAGAN: Oh yeah, he was a little kid, used to go out and get us cigarettes and drinks. Steve was doing Muddy Waters, we were doing “You Need Lovin’,” Zeppelin got it from us.

SHARP: When you hear “You Need Lovin’,” Steve did his own innovations vocally on that, all the vocals Plant copied lock, stock, and barrel. How did you feel about that, were you flattered, because I don’t think it ever bothered Steve too much that Zeppelin copied it?

MCLAGAN: I think it’s great, I think it’s fine with me, it’s not like they owe the Small Faces any money, if anything they should pay Muddy Waters, so should’ve we, you know.

MARRIOTT: Willie Dixon wrote it, called it “Woman, You Need Love” or something like that. It was fantastic, I used to love it! Muddy Waters recorded it, but I couldn’t sing like Muddy Waters, so it wasn’t that much of a nick. Whereas Robert Plant could sing like me. That’s basically where it’s at. I had to make up a lot of my own phrasing — I couldn’t sing like Muddy Waters, Long John Baldry had that down. I was a high range and Muddy was a low range, so I had to figure out how to sing it. So I did, and that was our opening number for all the years we were together, unless we had a short set. That’s where Jimmy Page heard it. He asked about it, and Robert Plant used to follow us around at the time — he was like a fan, a very nice chap. That was one of his favorites. . . . When I heard “Whole Lotta Love” I couldn’t believe it. I was astounded, quite astounded. The phrasing was exact. I thought “Go on my son, get on with it!” I couldn’t believe it, but I was glad someone took it and did something with it. It was always a good song, but the phrasing was direct. As I said, he could sing like me . . . . he took that note for note, word for word. It’s terrible, innit? It’s funny — you gotta laugh.

As to the album, Sing365 says:

In May 1966, the Small Faces released their fourth single for Decca, the catchy powerhouse pop of Hey Girl. Like Sha La La La Lee, it was a song in the mainstream pop mould, far removed from their rhythm & blues beginnings. Nevertheless, it gave the Marriott/Lane songwriting team, a chance to prove that could could write their own hit singles. Released simultaneously with Hey Girl on 10 May 1966 was the band’s eagerly awaited debut album called, simply enough, Small Faces. The album was hailed as one of the most exciting releases of the year and contained some great tracks, as well as showcasing Steve Marriott’s gruff and soulful yearning tones to great effect. Numbers like One Night Stand and Don’t Stop What You’re Doing stood up well against the out and out rave-ups of Come on Children and You Need Loving. . . . The whole sound and feel of the album was a mutant hybrid of Booker T & the MGs meets the Who, via dashes of Motown thrown in for good measure. The great British public certainly went for it and the album hoisted itself to the number three spot where it stayed for a good few weeks.

Here are the Faces live:

Here is Zep:

Here is Muddy Waters:

Here is Willie Dixon:

See my website at bracefortheobscure60srock.com.