"Ramble On" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was co-written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and was recorded in 1969 at Juggy Sound Studio, New York City, during the band's second concert tour of North America. In 2010, the song was ranked number 440 on list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2019, Rolling Stone ranked the song number 5 on its list of the 40 greatest Led Zeppelin songs.
The song's lyrics, particularly in the third verse, were influenced by The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, mentioning among other things the dark land of Mordor, Gollum, and The Evil One. Page explained that he achieved the smooth, sustaining violin-like tone on the solo by using the neck pickup on his Les Paul with the treble cut and utilising a sustain-producing effects unit built by audio engineer Roger Mayer.
Until 2007, "Ramble On" was never performed live in its entirety at Led Zeppelin concerts. At the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert on 10 December 2007, at the O2 Arena in London; Page ended the song with a brief section of the bridge from "What Is and What Should Never Be".
Lyrics
The leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay
But now it's time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way
For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it's headed my way
Ah, sometimes I grow so tired
But I know I've got one thing I got to do
Ramble on, and now's the time, the time is now
To sing my song, I'm going 'round the world, I gotta find my girl
On my way, I've been this way ten years to the day
Ramble on, gotta find the queen of all my dreams
Got no time to for spreading roots
The time has come to be gone
And though "our health" we drank a thousand times
It's time to ramble on
Ramble on, and now the time, the time is now
To sing my song, I'm going 'round the world, I gotta find my girl
On my way, I've been this way ten years to the day
I gotta ramble on, I gotta find the queen of all my dreams
I tell you no lie
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air
'Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her
Her, her, yeah
Ah, there's nothing I can do now
I guess I'll keep on
Rambling, I'm gonna shake (Sing my song)
I gotta find my baby
I'm gonna ramble on, sing my song
Gonna work my way, going 'round the world
Baby, baby (Ramble on)
Do do do do do do do do, my baby
I can't stop this feeling in my heart
Every time I think about my baby I think "we gots to part"
Gotta keep on searching for my baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
I gotta keep on searching for my baby
My, my, my, my, my, my, baby
I can't find my bluebird!
I listened to what my bluebird said, but I, I can't find my bluebird!
I keep rambling, baby