#25 Fool in the Rain

We start this magnificent journey through the catalog of, arguably, the most influential hard rock band of all time with a softer tune. The late John Bonham’s samba-driven drum groove is featured in “Fool In The Rain” off of Led Zeppelin’s 1979 album “In Through The Out Door”.

Besides the album title’s blatant suggestion of the band’s struggle to keep up with the music scene’s ever changing evolution towards disco and what was soon to become 80’s hair metal, “Fool In The Rain” shines as an outlier in the Led Zeppelin discography for its “Latin” feel. Inspired by the 1978 FIFA World Cup tournament in Argentina, this song serves as a perfect example of the rock band’s songwriting versatility.

If you listen closely, you’ll understand why this song was NEVER played live by the band. The song has a polyrhythmic beat - in ENGLISH, it means that John Paul Jones on bass/keyboards and John Bonham on drums are playing 6 beats per measure and Robert Plant is singing in a melody of 4 beats per measure. The result is a song that would be incredibly challenging for a band to reproduce without adding members to their stage show, something the band also never did.

.My personal taste in Led Zeppelin’s music is more heavily weighted to their bluesy, hard rock sound driven by a younger Robert Plant’s wailing vocals and a Jimmy Page that ISN’T addicted to heroin (as he was during the recordings of most of their music post-1975). Be that as it may, “Fool In The Rain” deserves a spot on my Top 25, if nothing more, than as a sign of respect for a band that was on its way out, but found its way back into the radio waves. This was Led Zeppelin’s final US single before disbanding in 1980.