I’ve listened to “Whole Lotta Love” so many times over the years, I don’t really “hear” it anymore. But thanks to Steve Marriott’s inspiration for Robert Plant’s searing vocal on that leadoff track from Led Zeppelin II, I got to hear it again with fresh ears tonight.

I’d only listened to “You Need Loving”, a track from The Small Faces‘ self-titled debut album from 1966, a couple of times, but on my most recent listen yesterday I finally heard the missing link between Muddy Waters and Plant. Penned by Chess Records A&R man, producer and bass player Willie Dixon, Waters released “You Need Love” (as it was originally known) in 1962 [Chess single #1839].

The Small Faces dug American R&B just like the British kids in The Yardbirds, The Animals and The Stones, so it’s no surprise they’d dig up this blues nugget to pad out their first record. But the Steve Marriott vocal ups the ante on the original. He’s not self assured like Muddy. In fact, you get the impression that he’s trying to convince himself, as much as his woman, that she does in fact need his lovin’. Goaded on by Ian McLagan’s swirling organ, we hear that brashness, that same sweat-soaked bravado, that we would hear again just 3 years later. Mind you, I don’t consider this grand larceny or even petty theft (songwriting credits are a story for another post). It is a grand tradition in music to “borrow” styles, arrangements and vocal mannerisms. The true originals build on that artistic tradition and come up with something that is wholly their own.