When the Levee Breaks Lyrics
[Verse 1]
If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break
If it keeps on raining, the levee's going to break
[Chorus 1]
When the levee breaks, have no place to stay
[Verse 2]
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, oh
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan
[Chorus 2]
It's got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home
Oh well, oh well, oh well, ooh
[Bridge 1]
Oh, don't it make you feel bad
When you're trying to find your way home
You don't know which way to go
If you're going down south, they got no work to do
If you're going north to Chicago
Ah, ah, ah, hey
[Instrumental Break]
Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good
No, crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good
[Chorus 3]
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move, ooh
[Verse 4]
All last night I sat on the levee and moaned
All last night, sat on the levee and moaned
Thinking about my baby and my happy home
Oh-ho
[Bridge 2]
Ah, ah, ah, ah-ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah-ah
Oh, oh
[Outro]
Going
I'm going to Chicago
Going to Chicago
Sorry, but I can't take you, ah
Going down, going down now
Going down, I'm going down now
Going down, going down
Going down, going down
Oh...
Going down, going down now
Going down, going down now
Going down, going down now
Going down, going, dow- dow- dow- dow- down, now
Ooh, ooh
About
This track is a rework of the 1929 song “When the Levee Breaks,” a blues tune by the couple Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie. It was written about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the most destructive river flooding in United States history.
The track was recorded in the Headley Grange, a house in Hampshire, England that is rumored to be haunted. In addition, the instrumental was slowed down to give it a heavy effect, so vocalist Robert Plant is the only person performing in normal speed.
The song has been sampled in numerous pieces, including Beastie Boys' “Rhymin' and Stealin'” and Eminem’s “Kim.” The track was also used during the end credits for the 2015 film The Big Short.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
The unique drum sound — most noticeable in first few seconds before the rest of the instruments join in — has been the subject of much internet lore because of the echo and the fact that they were recorded in a stairwell.
Rick Beato got to the bottom of this and demonstrates that it was not all-natural:
The famous drum performance was recorded by engineer Andy Johns by placing drummer John Bonham and a new Ludwig drumkit at the bottom of a stairwell at Headley Grange, and recording it using two Beyerdynamic M160 microphones and a Binson Echorec machine at the top, giving both the distinctive resonant but slightly muffled sound and the “ga-gack” echo.
As documented by a fan, guitarist Jimmy Page told Guitar World Magazine:
It was very Charles Dickens. Dank and spooky. The room I chose to live in was at the very top of the building, and the sheets were always sort of wet. Headley Grange freaked Robert and John Bonham out, but I liked it, actually. I’m pretty sure it was haunted. I remember going up the main stairway on the way to my room one night and seeing a gray shape at the top. I double-checked to see if it was just a play of light, and it wasn’t. So I turned around pretty fast, because I didn’t really want to have an encounter with something like that. But I wasn’t surprised to find spirits there because the place had a miserable past. One real positive outcome of us recording there is that, I believe, we revitalized the energy at Headley. The place became lighter as a result of our stay there.
In a six-hour interview, guitarist Jimmy Page said:
‘When the Levee Breaks’ is probably the most subtle thing on [the album] as far as production goes, because each twelve bars has something new about it, though at first it might not be apparent. There’s a lot of different effects on there that, at the time, had never been used before. Phased vocals, a backwards echoed harmonica solo.