Tall Cool One

Album

Now and Zen

Label

Atlantic Records

Genre

Rock

Composer(s)

Phil Johnstone;Robert Plant

Entered Chart

Apr 16, 1988

Peak Date

Jul 2, 1988

Released

April 1988

Recorded

1987

Catalog #

Es Paranza 7-99348

B-Side

White, Clean And Neat

Robert Plant was the lead singer for Led Zeppelin, and he borrowed a lot of their songs to cobble together "Tall Cool One." It contains samples from Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," "Dazed And Confused," "Custard Pie," "Black Dog," and "The Ocean." Plant's Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page played lead guitar on this track. He also played on the Now And Zen track "Heaven Knows." In Paul Rees' book Robert Plant: A Life, producer Tim Palmer recounts the day that Page came into the studio to record his guitar part for the song. According to Palmer, every assistant and techie around found a reason to be in the room in order to see Plant and Page play together again. Palmer recalls that Page was drinking beer and smoking while playing, "like a cartoon caricature of himself." Palmer never comes out and says it, but the subtext seems to be that Page wasn't performing at his highest level. Palmer didn't want to correct one of rock's greatest guitarists on how to play, so instead he just took what was given and pieced together what he could for the solo. Nobody told Page that Plant and company were sampling Zeppelin songs on "Tall Cool One" until after it was already done, at which point guitarist Doug Boyle and Plant played it for him without warning. Both men recalled that Page seemed confused more than anything else. Plant got a laugh out of it. "It was a bad thing to do, really," Plant says in Rees' book. "Yet at the time it seemed a bit of a hoot. Silly." Prior to Now And Zen being released, the Beastie Boys sampled a number of Led Zeppelin tunes for their album Licensed To Ill. This being the age of unregulated sampling, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page discussed retaliating by sampling Beastie Boys' work in a collaboration. However, as keyboardist Phil Johnstone explained, the Beastie Boys were poorly recorded and there was nothing they could use. So instead they sampled Led Zeppelin material and Jimmy agreed to do the solo on the track. >> Plant wrote this song with Phil Johnstone, who co-produced the album and contributed guitar. Johnstone often joined Plant on tour as a guitarist. This was featured in commercials for Coke, which helped promote both the song and the soda. The line, "Lighten up baby, I'm in love with you" was a good fit. According to author Dave Thompson in The Voice That Sailed The Zeppelin, Plant took the title from a song by the Fabulous Wailers, a '50s-'60s band from Tacoma, Washington. Their version of "Tall Cool One" was instrumental and nothing like Plant's song. As Plant said it, his song wasn't a remake so much as "tipping my hat to the original song."

Like a cat running in the heat of the night
Got a fire in my eyes, got a date with delight
Some kinda moaning in the heart of the storm
I'm gonna love you so hard, if you want your loving done
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you
With my one hand loose I am to satisfy
You like my loving machine, I like your bloodshot eyes
Real gone girl jumping back with the beat
I'll be your tall cool one with those crazy feet
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you
I'm so tall and you're so cute, let's play wild like wildcats do
You're gonna rock your tall cool one
I'm gonna say that - you're gonna say - aaah
You stroll, you jump, you're hot and you tease
'Cause I'm your tall cool one, and I'm built to please
M-m-move over mister step on back in the crowd
'Cause she's a whole lotta sister 'bout to drive me wild
Lotta place I've seen, lotta names lotta words
No one compares to my real gone girl
Lighten up baby I'm in love with you