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Song: Tangerine
Album: Led Zeppelin III [released Oct 5, 1970 (US) | Oct 23, 1970 (UK)]
Single: N/A
Credited to: Jimmy Page
Related Songs:
Knowing That I'm Losing You - The Yardbirds (???)
Lyrics:
(One, two)
(One, two, three, four, one, two)
Measuring a summer's day
I only find it slips away to gray
The hours, they bring me pain
Chorus:
Tangerine, tangerine, living reflection from a dream
I was her love, oh, she was my queen
And now a thousand years between
Thinking how it used to be
Does she still remember times like these
To think of us again, and I do
(Guitar Solo)
(Chorus)
Personal notes: This is truly a hauntingly beautiful song. SIBLY was the first song on Zeppelin's third album to catch my attention, but Tangerine was the second. Listening to it, I felt like I already knew the song, which might have been possible, but it added to the surreal effect. I love the electric guitar solo, it's almost Yardbirds-esque now that I think about it, which isn't surprising considering the rumours that this song may have been written during Page's Yardbirds days. The acoustic melody is very beautiful. I've tried learning to play it a few times, and what I can do sounds incredible. It'd be nice to learn the rest of the song. I actually know someone who can and has played this song before. And I love the opening, how the band kind of messes up and starts over. Something about it is just so perfect.
Influences: This song is said to have been written by Jimmy Page while he was in The Yarbirds (possibly for his girlfriend at the time Jackie DeShannon). The Yardbirds song Knowing That I'm Losing You is probably that song, and I believe it was originally planned for the un-completed album Cumular Limit, but the song has never been officially released. The amount of contribution to the composition of the song by Keith Relf or any of the other members of The Yardbirds, as well as how similar Knowing That I'm Losing You is to Tangerine, is unknown to me.
Unsolved Mysteries: (Please contact me if you have any information about the following)