Babe I’m Gonna Leave You Lyrics
Babe, baby, baby, I'm gonna leave you
I said baby, you know I'm gonna leave you
I'll leave you when the summertime
Leave you when the summer comes a-rollin'
Leave you when the summer comes along
[Verse 2]
Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, baby
Baby, I wanna leave you
I ain't joking' woman, I've got to ramble
Oh, yeah, baby, baby, I believin'
We really got to ramble (I can hear it callin' me)
I can hear it callin' me the way it used to do
I can hear it callin' me back home
[Bridge]
Oh, babe, I'm gonna leave you
Oh, baby, you know
I've really got to leave you
Oh, I can hear it callin' me
I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?
Ooohh
[Verse 3]
I know, I know, I know I never, never, never, never, never
Gonna leave you, babe
But I got to go away from this place
I've got to quit you, yeah
Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
Oh, don't you hear it callin' me?
Woman, woman, I know, I know
It feels good to have you back again
And I know that one day, baby
It's gonna really grow, yes it is
We gonna go walkin' through the park
Every day
Come what may, every day, oh
My, my, my, my, my, my babe
I'm gonna leave you, go away
Oh, I miss you, baby
It was really, really good
You made me happy every single day
But now, I've got to go away
Ooh, oh, oh
[Outro]
Baby, baby, baby
That's when it's callin' me
I said that's when it's callin' me
Back home
About
“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” illustrates the breakdown of a relationship over a mellow backing track. It was originally written by folk singer Anne Bredon and recorded by Joan Baez, of whom both guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant were fans. At first, the band didn’t know the song’s origin, crediting it as a traditional song until 1990.
The song was famously used in an episode of One Tree Hill, as well as an episode of The Sopranos.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Guitarist Jimmy Page told Louder Sound that the band played this song during their first rehearsal:
There was material I already had in mind, like ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ and some other things. And by the time I got everyone in my house and we were doing steady rehearsals, we were working on ‘Communication Breakdown’ and ‘You Shook Me.’ Laying down that material, it was phenomenal. We knew just how good it was.
Rolling Stone ranked it as the #25 Led Zeppelin song, saying:
Page picked up this tune from a Joan Baez record. Their cover is the kind of heavy jam on a familiar song that bands like Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge were doing – but few were drawing on American folk music, and no one was jamming as precisely and viscerally.
- 2.Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
- 3.You Shook Me
