Led Zeppelin: What is and What Should Never Be

Led Zeppelin performing ‘What is and What Should Never Be’ live at Royal Albert Hall, 1970:


Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performing ‘What is and What Should Never Be’ with the London Metropolitan Orchestra in 1994:


"What Is and What Should Never Be" is on Led Zeppelin’s 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. This was one of the first songs on which Page used his soon-to-become trademark Gibson Les Paul for recording. The production makes a crafty use of “stereo” as the guitars pan back and forth between channels. The vocals were phased during Robert Plant's choruses. This was also one of the first songs recorded by the band for which Robert Plant received writing credit. According to rock journalist Stephen Davis, the author of the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga, the lyrics for this song reflect a romance Plant had with his wife's younger sister. "What Is and What Should Never Be" was performed live at Led Zeppelin concerts between 1969 and 1972. A live version taken from a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 can be seen on the Led Zeppelin DVD. Jimmy Page performed this song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. A version of "What Is and What Should Never Be" performed by Page and The Black Crowes can be found on the album Live at the Greek. A cover version of "What Is and What Should Never Be" was recorded by Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, and released on his 1997 album In the Name of My Father - The Zepset.
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Lyrics to What is and What should Never Be:
And if I say to you tomorrow,
Take my hand, child, come with me.
It's to a castle I will take you,
Where what's to be, they say will be.

*Catch the wind, see us spin,
Sail away, leave today,
Way up high in the sky.
But the wind won't blow,
You really shouldn't go,
It only goes to show
That you will be mine
By takin' our time. Ooh!

And if you say to me tomorrow,
Oh what fun it all would be,
Then what's to stop us, pretty baby,
But What Is And What Should Never Be.

So if you wake up with the sunrise,
And all your dreams are still as new,
And happiness is what you need so bad,
Girl, the answer lies with you, yeah.

Hey, oh
Oh the wind won’t blow and we really shouldn't go
and it only goes to show-ow-ow.
Catch the wind, we're gonna see it spin
we're gonna...sail, little girl
do do do, bop bop a do-oh
my my my my my my yeah
Everybody I know seems to know me well
--but does anybody know I'm gonna move like hell
--baby baby baby baby, oh lord

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