The Led Zeppelin songs Robert Plant liked and hated to sing

Robert Plant changed the course of Hard Rock music alongside John Bonham, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones through the incredible work they did in Led Zeppelin. In just over a decade of existence, the band became one of the best selling groups of all time, releasing nine studio albums filled with classic songs.

Besides singing Led Zeppelin’s material during their tours, Robert Plant also performed those songs over the decades with the Page and Plant project and in his solo career. He already talked about their vast catalog and revealed which song he loved to sing and which one he hated to perform.

The Led Zeppelin songs Robert Plant liked and hated to sing

“The Wanton Song” (Liked)

“As far as Zeppelin material goes, I always liked doing The ‘Wanton Song’. That was something that came right from the groin. I enjoyed playing it each night,” Robert Plant told Hit Parader magazine in 1988. Plant already mentioned that track as one of the highlights of his work in Led Zeppelin. “Things like ‘The Wanton Song’. I remember recording it, the whole session. It was so electric, so quick and so fruitful. ‘Trampled Underfoot’ was another one.”

“The more impromptu numbers are the ones that really come to mind, rather than the time-consuming things that were worked out and constructed,” Robert Plant told Record magazine in 1983. He mentioned the song when asked which tracks he considered his highlights with Led Zeppelin.

The second track of the fourth side of Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffitti” (1975), it was overshadowed by other more famous songs on that record. According to Setlist.fm, the track was performed by the legendary band only 8 times back in 1975. However, in the 1990s, when Page & Plant got together, it became one of the tracks they played the most live, 171 times. As a solo artist, Plant played the track 16 times back in 1975, when the album celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Like most Zeppelin songs, it was also written by Robert and Jimmy. It is one of the hidden gems on “Physical Graffiti”, which is usually remembered more for tracks like “In My Time of Dying”, “Houses of the Holy”, “Ten Years Gone” and “Kashmir”.

“Stairway to Heaven” (Didn’t like)

“Surprisingly, one I would not look forward to doing would be Stairway To Heaven. I remember the night Page and I brought it to life, and we knew we had written something really special. But singing it every night as I did for years made it become almost insignificant. We used to rehearse it as a reggae song, and I wanted to try it onstage that way. But Page never wanted to,” Robert Plant told Hit Parader.

It is not a surprise that Robert Plant is tired of Zeppelin’s biggest hits and he is not the only one. Many fans of the band also do not like to hear the track that much anymore. Especially because it was overplayed everywhere over the decades. In fact, the singer has already said that he would like to be remembered more for songs like “Kashmir” than “Stairway to Heaven”. “I wish we were remembered for Kashmir more than Stairway To Heaven,” he told Mick Wall.

“It’s not about being my favorite or not. It’s nothing to do with that really, it’s just that it belongs to a particular time. If had been involved in the instrumentation I would feel that it’s a magnificent piece of music. (One) which has its own character and personality. It even speeds up in a way to some pieces of more highbrow music. But my contribution was to write lyrics and sing a song about faith and something very British, almost abstract.”

Robert Plant continued:

“But it was coming out of the mind of a 23 year-old guy, you know. It landed in the years and the era of 23 year-old guys. I think as time goes on, you find that you may find another period of your life has got a little bit more substance. Or it was more relative later on down the line. As much as I like it, I’m not wedded to that whole deal now,” he told Dan Rather in 2018.

It was one of the songs which Robert Plant performed the most with Led Zeppelin, since it was their most famous track. They performed the song until the end of the original line-up in 1980. Also on three other reunions: Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary in 1988 and their final show, the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute concert in 2007. During the Page & Plant era only the intro of the track used to be played. After the final Zeppelin show, Plant performed the song again only in 2023 in a charity show in England.

Since their final reunion, Plant has been asked in almost every interview if there is a chance they might reunite again. He has always said there is no possibility. The frontman he feels he is on a different musical journey in his life now. It is a very different one from when he was in his twenties. As for Page and Jones, after the Ahmet tribute show they even considered bringing in another singer. However, after testing a few names, they decided to abandon the idea. Plant remains the only member who continues to consistently tour and release new albums.