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The song Robert Plant said gave him goosebumps for the first time
Robert Plant was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England back in 1948 and started his musical career when he was still a teenager in 1965. He was part of groups like Band of Joy (Which also had John Bonham) and then joined The New Yardbirds, which would soon enough change its name to Led Zeppelin. Alongside Bonham, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page he entered Rock history as one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time.
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Hard Rock wouldn’t have been the same without Zeppelin’s music, and their songs certainly gave goosebumps to many listeners. But which track gave Plant goosebumps for the first time in his life? Well, it wasn’t a Zeppelin song but one from the 50s.
The song Robert Plant said gave him goosebumps for the first time
Back in 2022, Robert Plant was part of a BBC Radio 4 program where he listed 8 songs he would take to a desert island. One of them was Mario Lanza‘s “Serenade”, which the Led Zeppelin frontman said was the first one that gave him goosebumps when he first heard it.
(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “When I was invited to do this program I started looking at something that I would say ‘wouldn’t be ‘Nellie The Elephant’, wouldn’t be the ‘Runaway Train’. So it would be something that made me just stop and feel the goosebumps. This was the first song that did that to me,” Robert Plant said.
“Serenade” was the title song of the 1956 Warner Brothers movie of the same name. Besides recording the song, Lanza was also the main character of the movie. He played a poor vineyard worker who becomes operatic tenor and is involved with two women.
Mario Lanza was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States back in 1921 and became a famous actor and tenor. He was a popular Hollywood star especially in the 40 and 50s. Some of the classic movies he was part of were: “The Midnight Kiss” (1949), “The Great Caruso” (1951) and “Serenade” (1956).
In an interview with Tony Bacon in 1988, Robert mentioned Lanza when talking about the great music made in the 50s. “There’s an intention and importance, an arousal, on those early rock vocal sounds. You had the crooner up the corner singing his heart out. (Then) you’ve got the really good singers like Mario Lanza and all those kind of guys.”
He continued:
“Then suddenly, round the corner, you’ve got this effect on the vocal that made everything stop. Where you had to listen to this thing. Bill Haley didn’t have it, because his vocal was dry as a bone and he had no sex. But the more you listen to rock ‘n’ roll and early rockabilly, there’s some incredible echo effects.” Robert Plant said.
Lanza was often described as “tough, ambitious and rebellious” during his career. He suffered from addictions to overeating and alcohol. It had the bad effects in his health and relationships with co-workers on set. He died at the of 38 in 1959 victim of an apparent pulmonary embolism.
Famous friends like Maria Caniglia, Franco Frabizi and Enzo Fiemonte attended his funeral.
