#Led Zeppelin #Jimmy Page #Robert Plant #hard rock #blues rock #folk rock #heavy metal #folk metal #heavy blues rock #1970s #music video
Led Zeppelin’s Poor Tom was composed in 1970 by vocalist Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page when they were staying at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales, and was recorded at Olympic Studios on 6 May 1970. The song was left off the album Led Zeppelin III but was eventually included on the band's album Coda, released in 1982 two years after the death of drummer John Bonham, having been produced by Page at his newly-acquired Sol Studios. Although the lyrics can be difficult to decipher, the song appears to be about a hard working labourer on the Mississippi River named Tom who does away with his unfaithful wife Ellie May. Tom may also be psychic, as the lines 'Poor Tom, seventh son/Always knew what was goin' on' can be interpreted as a reference to the folk belief that seventh sons of seventh sons were clairvoyant. The title may have come from Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies. In the story, a poor chimneysweep called Tom falls into a bedroom owned by Miss Ellie, who is dying. Tom is accused of being a thief and subsequently drowns in a river after being pursued. This song seems to be a variation on the theme of Robert Wilkins' That's No Way To Get Along, recorded in 1929, which was covered by The Rolling Stones for their 1968 Beggar's Banquet album, under the title Prodigal Son. The music for Zep's Poor Tom also bears resemblance to a track recorded in the 1960's called She Likes It, by Owen Hand, who was allegedly a friend of Bert Jansch's. From: https://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Poor_Tom
Here's a tale of Tom
Who worked the railroads long
His wife would cook his meal
As he would change the wheel
Poor Tom, seventh son,
Always knew what's goin' on
Ain't a thing that you can hide from Tom
There ain't nothing that you can hide from Tom
Worked for thirty years
Sharing hopes and fears
Dreamin' of the day
He could turn and say
Poor Tom, work's done,
Been lazin' out in the noonday sun
Ain't a thing that you can hide from Tom
Ain't a thing that you can hide from Tom
His wife was Annie Mae
With any man a game she'd play
When Tom was out of town
She couldn't keep her dress down
Poor Tom, seventh son,
Always knew what's goin' on
Ain't a thing that you can hide from Tom
Ain't a thing that you can hide from Tom
And so it was one day
People got to Annie Mae
Tom stood, a gun in his hand
And stopped her runnin' around
Poor Tom, seventh son,
Gotta die for what you've done
All those years of work are thrown away
To ease your mind is that all you can say?
But what about that grandson on your knee?
Them railroad songs, Tom would sing to me
