# 15 Ten Years Gone

Now that we are through 10 songs, I’d like to take a second to highlight some of my overall thoughts on Led Zeppelin’s career before moving forward with my #15 selection. “Ten Years Gone” was released on Led Zeppelin’s sixth album, Physical Graffiti. Although I think the title of the album may be one of the cooler titles they came up with and the album cover is a work of visual art, it is my opinion that the band’s best work was behind them when this album came out.

I know, Physical Graffiti was one of the most critically acclaimed albums in the Zeppelin catalog, but those critics were the same ones that called Led Zeppelin II “noise”...so bottom line, listen to me, not them.

Robert Plant is a big part of my stance. His vocal node surgery changed the way he sang forever and happened shortly before the last recording sessions for Physical Graffiti. Granted, normal humans cannot sing with that type of grit and range for very long. Although his voice was still amazing during this album and subsequent albums, he was never classically trained so it was only a matter of time due to the stress he was putting on his voice. The young, bluesy, wail was never the same.

But he’s not the only one to be blamed. Jimmy Page picked up a heroin addiction that changed his guitar playing...some might actually say for the better, but I think his guitar on Led Zeppelin I, II, III, the fourth album, and Houses Of The Holy are what define the band’s sound.

With that said, “Ten Year’s Gone” does much of what they did so well in their early albums again - acoustic intros, lengthy guitar solos, and a chorus section that can be identified by its instruments instead of lyrics. But what makes this song unique in the Led Zeppelin catalog is that it ushers in a softer rock sound the band was not nearly as previously familiar with.

Yes, they played softer music in the form of acoustic songs and love ballads prior to this, but never really soft rock. I consider “Ten Years Gone” one of only two true soft rock songs written by Led Zeppelin, the other being “All My Love” (spoiler alert: you won’t see that song on this list). But “Ten Years Gone” does listeners the favor of tricking you into thinking you’re listening to classic Zeppelin with its electric guitar and loud drums coming in after a long acoustic intro...but make no mistake about it, the song never really gets heavy, and there is nothing wrong with that! The song has a delicacy that is just simply beautiful as it teeters on the edge of darkness, making you wonder when the song will take a turn down the same road that so many other Led Zeppelin songs did before.

Robert Plant stated that the lyrics of the song were written about a woman who, 10 years earlier, told him to choose her over his music:

When the song is all over you’ll find yourself surprisingly satisfied by a song that is not typically lauded as a Zeppelin staple, but after much thought, I’m proud to say it cracked my personal top 15 Greatest of All Time.