Whole Lotta Love

Recorded on 14 to 19 and 28 to 30 April 1969 at Olympic in London and A&M in Hollywood, with Page producing and Eddie Kramer engineering. Plant is on vocals and tambourine, Page on guitars, theremin and backing vocals, Jones on bass, bongos and keyboards, and Bonham on drums and congas.

The song is built on a five-note Page riff. The basic tracks were put down and the middle section, with its overdubbed instruments and vocals, was mixed live by Page and Eddie Kramer, using stereo panning and every control on the desk. Kramer described the mix as the two of them flying around a small console twiddling every knob. The mixing of Whole Lotta Love and Heartbreaker was done while the band was on tour. Atlantic released a shorter version against the band's wishes, and the B-side, Living Loving Maid, also reached the Billboard chart, at number 65 in April 1970. The song was finally issued as a UK single in 1997.

Part of the lyric was adapted from Willie Dixon's You Need Love, which Muddy Waters recorded in 1962. The Small Faces had recorded a version, You Need Loving, in 1966. Dixon sued in 1985, the case was settled out of court, and he was given a credit. The US single came out on 7 November 1969, backed with Living Loving Maid, in a 3:46 edit, and reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. There was no UK single.

Live

First played on 26 April 1969, it was a fixture at every gig from June 1969 onwards and the closing number between 1970 and 1973. The last time the band played it with Bonham was on 7 July 1980. It was revived at Live Aid, in 1988 and at the O2 in 2007. In 2008 Page played it with Leona Lewis at the closing of the Beijing Olympics. setlist.fm lists 296 performances.