My Top 1000 Songs #330: D'yer Mak'er

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

As someone who rarely listens to Led Zeppelin these days--courtesy of lifelong FM radio overplay, plus just having mixed feelings about Plant's vocals--the songs I still enjoy tend to be those that are arguably held in less esteem by the diehards. Certainly "D'yer Mak'er," from 1973's Houses Of The Holy, seems to get a bad rap from some quarters. And I get it--it's relatively lightweight, mostly just that 4-chord riff repeated over and over, half-assed reggae rhythm, not a lot in the way of lyrics, plus that silly Jamaica-derived in-jokey title--and even the band seemed to feel that way, never including it in the live setlist. 

Still, nonetheless, it's one of their tunes that has managed to stay fun for me. The opening drum intro is a John Bonham all-timer; I love the way Page's skronky guitar sounds; and Plant remains relatively restrained. I dunno; it just feels less tethered to the whole Zeppelin classic rock baggage, a carefree good time with no pretenses of anything else.

And, sure, maybe this is just an excuse to share that video of a teenage Lady Gaga (then simply Stefani Germanotta) singing it in a small club 2006: