Led Zeppelin cartoon mystery

self | 6/9/15 | NewJerseyJoe

[NewJerseyJoe]

I know of no finer assemblage of minds and knowledge than the folks on Free Republic.

I came across this cartoon this morning:

I figured out that it's a reference to Led Zeppelin -- but being familiar with only three of the group's songs, I'm at a loss to figure out which song's lyrics are being parodied.

I'm 100% percent confident that some FReeper will know -- and probably in less than 10 minutes after I post this. Thanks!

[FredZarguna]

There are a bunch of variations on that story. In one Page floated the idea of a band named "The New Yardbirds," and Moon said, "That'll go over like a lead zeppelin." In another version, it was actually John Entwistle who made the remark in a New York conversation with Keith Moon and Zep manager Richard Cole. When Cole returned to London, he proposed the new name in response to cease-and-desist orders Page was getting for using the Yardbirds® name.

[FredZarguna]

Yeah, I thought about The Rain Song as well. Problem is, there is no "centripetal" thingy in there. I'm wondering if the author is conflating two Zep numbers and we're off on a wild goose chase.

[TigersEye]

My gut tells me that the cartoonist is, in fact, clever and was making a very specific reference.

It seems that way to me too. But after wracking my brain for the better part of an hour and searching the lyrics of a dozen songs I started to have doubts about the cartoonist too.

5. The cartoonist is lousy at analogies.

(0bama copout #1: I'm not taking the blame for this failure!)

LOL

[4yearlurker]

Why is the fat balding guy in the back Jimmy Page?

[FredZarguna]

It's amazing to me how many people think that songs Elvis covered were actually written by him. I can only think of three of his "big" hits that he wrote, and two of them were "mostly" written by Otis Blackwell [Don't Be Cruel and All Shook Up.] Love Me Tender is the only major one I know of that he claimed most of the credit for writing.

[Rufii]

I DO remember a paper I wrote in High School JR year English class about LED ZEPPLIN and it came back graded as an “F” with “SPELLING” next to the “F” and every “LED was circled in red ink.

A "led zeppelin" could be one that is following a radio beam, another aircraft, a ship, etc.

[AceMineral]

Down by the Seaside?

[TigersEye]

That's funny, I just listened to that less than a minute ago.

Down By the Seaside - Led Zeppelin {with lyrics}

It's nice but the lyrics don't really fit.

[BlackAdderess]

Donuts vs underage girls?

[BlackAdderess]

By Jove I think you got it :)

[mabarker1]

There was no google in those days.;)

[4yearlurker]

You sound like a Led Zeppelin pro.

[MrB]

LED Dirigible

---

Actually, that’s my kind of joke...

[BlackAdderess]

I like puzzles and music, pretty sure the bit about Jimmy Page came via Mike D

[BlackAdderess]

There was a pretty great documentary called “It Might Get Loud” featuring Jimmy Page (with theremin), the Edge, and Jack White :)

[blam]

The Kennedy Center Honors Led Zeppelin - 2012

Heart Plays 'Stairway To Heaven' in tribute to Led Zeppelin
(Jason Bonham plays drums)

Jimmy Page plays 'Skiffle' in 1957
(14 years old)

[AlexisHeavyMetal1981]

Hey, Joe, can you please post the name of the newspaper in which this cartoon appeared? ( and, no, I don’t care where you are going with that tool of self-defense in your hand) . Perhaps better to just track down the cartoonist and personally ask him what is the meaning. Also, is there a handwritten signature tag somewhere around the outer edges of the cartoon that did not get captured?

[NewJerseyJoe]

It's at the end of an article on Cracked.com

5 Famous Songs That Prove Musicians Don't Understand Science

As far as I can see, the cartoonist did not sign the cartoon -- which is in itself very unusual.

One of the first things I did was a reverse image search on Google. The Cracked article and this thread are the only places where Google has the picture indexed.

[NewJerseyJoe]

I found a page that has several (five or six, IIRC) Led Zeppelin albums listed — each page has all the lyrics from every song on that album, all on one page. I visited each page and searched for a lot of different keywords on each page — sea, ocean, wind, breeze, orbit, etc. Nothing corresponded to the cartoon.

[rwa265]

It appears to be a criticism of using Yamaha electronics instead of real musical instruments. No drum set, no guitar, brought to you by Yamaha. And the comment in the balloon, okay the other way was better, is a reference to using real instruments as being better. That’s my take on it.