"Immigrant Song" is the opening track on English rock band Led Zeppelin's third album, Led Zeppelin III, written and released in 1970.

Overview

The song is famous for its distinctive, wailing cry from vocalist Robert Plant at the beginning of the song, and is built around a repeating, battering Jimmy Page/John Paul Jones/John Bonham riff. The hiss at the beginning of the track is feedback from an echo unit.^[1]

"Immigrant Song" was written during Led Zeppelin's tour of Iceland, Bath and Germany in the summer of 1970. The opening date of this tour took place in Iceland, and just six days later the band performed the song for the first time on stage during the Bath Festival.^[2] The song is dedicated to the Icelander Leif Ericson. It is sung from the perspective of Vikings rowing west from Scandinavia in search of new lands. The lyrics make explicit reference to Viking conquests and the Old Norse religion (Fight the horde, sing and cry, Valhalla, I am coming!). In a 1970 radio interview, Plant jokingly explained:

We went to Iceland, and it made you think of Vikings and big ships... and John Bonham's stomach... and bang, there it was - Immigrant Song!^[1]

"Immigrant Song" is one of Led Zeppelin's few single releases, having been released in November of 1970 by their record label, Atlantic Records, against the band's wishes. It reached #16 on the Billboard charts.^[1] Its B side, "Hey Hey What Can I Do", was otherwise unavailable before the release of the band's first boxed set in 1990. The single was also mistakenly released in Japan with "Out on the Tiles" as the B-side rather than "Hey Hey What Can I Do." That single is now a rare collectible.

One of the lines from the song became part of Led Zeppelin lore. The line, "The hammer of the gods/will drive our ships to new lands" prompted many to start referring to Led Zeppelin's sound as the "Hammer of the Gods." The phrase was used as the title of Stephen Davis' famous biography of the band, Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. The lyrics also did much to inspire the classic Heavy Metal myth, of mighty Viking-esque figures on an adventure, themes which have been adopted in the look and music of bands from Iron Maiden to Manowar.

"Immigrant Song" was used to open Led Zeppelin concerts from 1970 to 1972. On the second half of their 1972 concert tour of the United States, it was introduced by a short piece of music known as "LA Drone", designed to heighten the sense of anticipation and expectation amongst the concert audience. By 1973, "Immigrant Song" was occasionally being used as an encore, but was then removed from their live set.^[1] Live versions of the song can be heard on the Led Zeppelin albums How The West Was Won (featuring a performance at Long Beach Arena in 1972) and the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (a version from the Paris Theatre in London in 1971). When played live, Page played a lengthy guitar solo not included on the recorded Led Zeppelin III version.^[1]

The song is also one of the few Led Zeppelin songs to have been licensed for a film. For the 2003 film School of Rock, actor Jack Black filmed himself on stage, along with thousands of screaming fans, begging Led Zeppelin to let them use "Immigrant Song".

The song also appears, in a slightly changed version due to licensing reasons, in Shrek the Third, when Snow White attacks the city gates, guarded by Huorns. She cries the characteristic war cry of Robert Plant, backed by the riff, as in the beginning of the original song.

It has also appeared in the 1999 documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre, One Day in September, and the trailers for the BBC1 drama series Life on Mars.

The song was allegedly played over open radio frequencies used by U.S. military pilots during the Gulf War of 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Starting from the 2007 season, the Minnesota Vikings play this song during their team introductions and before kickoffs.

Other versions

"Immigrant Song" is one of Led Zeppelin's most covered songs, with many bands having recorded versions of it or played it live:

• Dread Zeppelin included versions of this song on their albums Un-Led-Ed, De-Jah Voodoo, Rock'n Roll, and The Song Remains Insane.
• Ann Wilson, lead singer of Heart, recorded a cover version of this song for her 2007 solo release Hope & Glory, and charted as "the #9 most podcasted song of 2007" on the PMC Top10's annual countdown.^[3]
• Headface covers it on "The Song Retains the Name Vol. I"
• American alternative rock band Incubus performed the song live, during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, October 24, 2001 [1].
• American grunge band Nirvana played a cover version of this song in their early performances, and a version is heard and seen on the DVD disc of the retrospective With the Lights Out box set.
• Sebastian Bach covered the song on his solo album Bach 2: Basics.
• Power metal group Demons and Wizards included a cover as a bonus track on their 2005 release Touched by the Crimson King.
• Progressive metal group Adagio have an instrumental cover on their 2001 Sanctus Ignis album.
• The Trans-Siberian Orchestra played the first verse of "Immigrant Song" on their 2004 North American tour.
• Thrash metal band Dark Angel covered the song on their Leave Scars album.
• Queen played the song live on their Magic Tour.
• Japanese musician Tomoyasu Hotei recorded a version for his 2004 album Electric Samurai.
• Swiss band Gotthard recorded a live cover version, featured on a CD by Classic Rock full of Led Zeppelin covers.
• Ian Parry's Consortium Project covered the song in 2002 Tribute by Locomotive Music (Spanish and European bands)
• The song is commonly played by marching bands at high school and college football games.
• The metal-funk band Infectious Grooves (members of Suicidal Tendencies) covered the song as well on their album Sarsippius' Ark in 1993.
• Missouri metalcore band Coalesce recorded a version of this song for their album There is Nothing New Under the Sun, an album entirely composed of Led Zeppelin covers.
• TNT covered this song on their 1986 live album Kings of Norway Guitarist Ronni Le Tekro modified the guitar solo slightly to include his machine gun technique.
• The aggrotech group, Informatik played a rendition of this song on its album Direct Memory Access V2.0.
• The Sword released a cover of this song on their split EP with Witchcraft.
• Bruiser Brody aka Frank Goodish-professional wrestling legend entrance music was this song and the beginning of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. However, in Japan, he had a cover of this song as his theme song. It was without lyrics.
• Another rendering of this song comes from Minimal Compact, Israeli rock band that operated during the 80s in Belgium and released multiple records under Crammed Discs label.
• Streetlab dance remix (2001), receiving radio support on BBC Radio1's Annie Nightingale show.
• The song by Hironobu Kageyama "GIRI GIRI --Sekai Kyokugen--" from the seventh Dragon Ball Z movie "Kyokugen Battle!! San Dai Super Saiyan" features eerily similar guitar riffs and screams.
• The song was placed over an animation of kittens in viking costumes on rathergood.com.
• Matt Corby performed the song for the Rock night on Australian Idol's '07 season.
• The song briefly featured in the film Shrek the Third when Snow White's forest friends are breaking into Far Far Away
• The Max Weinberg 7 play this song regularly during Late Night With Conan O'Brien.
• American experimental band Of Montreal have played a cover version of this song during live performances. [2]
• The song has been remixed by DJ Z-Trip, with added vocals from Public Enemy's "Bring The Noise".
• Jazz Trio The Bad Plus has recorded a cover version.
• Supergroup Oysterhead have covered the song during live performances with Les Claypool on lead vocals.
• Pendulum also remixed the song for their 2008 New Year Set for Radio 1. It is rumoured that this could be part of a package to release the original song as a single.[3]