The Crunge

The Crunge
Appears on	Houses of the Holy
Published by	Superhype Music
Registration	ASCAP 330195589
Release date	17 September 1973
Recorded	May 1972 at Stargroves with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Mixed at Electric Lady, New York.
Genre	Funk rock
Language	English
Length	3 minutes 10 seconds
Composer	John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer	Jimmy Page
Engineer	Eddie Kramer

'The Crunge' is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. It was also released as the B-side of 'D'yer Mak'er'.

Overview

The song evolved out of a jam session in the studio. John Bonham started the beat, John Paul Jones came in on bass, Jimmy Page played a funk guitar riff (and a chord sequence that he'd been experimenting with since 1970), and Robert Plant started singing. For the recording of this track, Page played on a Stratocaster guitar and it is possible to hear him depressing a whammy bar at the end of each phrase.

This song is a tribute to James Brown's style of funk in the same way that 'D'yer Mak'er' (which it backed on a single release) experiments with reggae. Since most of James Brown's earlier studio recordings were done live with almost no rehearsal time, he often gave directions to the band in-song e.g. 'take it to the bridge' - the bridge of the song. Plant pays tribute to this at the end by asking 'where's that confounded bridge?' (spoken, just as the song finishes abruptly).

An EMS VCS3, was used to make the strange hornlike parts. These parts were overdubbed separately to create a polyphonic 'brass section.' The song was created mostly live in the studio as an improvisation, to not only reinforce the funk dance feel, but also add structure to the long, repetitive jam. Jones considers this to be one of his favourite Led Zeppelin songs.

A voice is audible at the beginning asking Bonham if he's 'ready to go.' The voices that can be heard talking on the recording just as Bonham's drums begin on the intro are those of Jimmy Page and audio engineer George Chkianz.

Time signatures

Some of the humor of the song derives from the juxtaposition of James Brown funk against utterly undanceable shifting time signatures. One way to count out the song is as follows:

Intro measure:
1 x 9/8

Part 1:
7 x 9/8 (or 4/8 + 5/8)
1 x 8/8 (or 4/8 + 4/8)
Part 2:
3 x 4/4
1 x 5/8
1 x 2/4
3 x 2/4
1 x 5/8
1 x 4/8
3 x 4/4
1 x 2/4
1 x 2/8

then return to 'Part 1', play through pattern two more times, end with roughly
23 x 9/8 (last one ends in the middle of the measure, with drums ending on the 5th beat and the synth continuing for a beat or two).

Live performances

Prior to 1975, 'The Crunge' was only heard live at Led Zeppelin concerts during the band's 'Whole Lotta Love' medley and their 1972 tour version of 'Dazed and Confused'. One example of this arrangement is presented on the live album How the West Was Won, where it also appears with 'Walter's Walk' on a 25 minute medley. However, on the 1975 tour of the United States the song was performed almost entirely several times, in the funk jam that would link 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Black Dog' at the end of the concert.

References in other media

In the film Almost Famous a reference is made to the song. On the shirt of the Led Zeppelin fanatic, Vic, is written the four 'runes' from Led Zeppelin IV and 'Have You Seen the Bridge?' This song was the title of a season 5 episode of That 70s Show. All season 5 episodes were named after Led Zeppelin tunes.

Credits

Personnel

Musicians: Jimmy Page – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar, producer, remastering, digital remastering Robert Plant – vocals John Paul Jones – bass guitar, harpsichord, Mellotron, EMS VCS3 John Bonham - drums, percussion Production: Peter Grant – executive producer Eddie Kramer – engineer, mixing Joe Sidore - original CD mastering engineer (mid-1980s) George Marino - remastered CD engineer (1990)