"The Ocean" (Led Zeppelin)

I feel sorry for anyone who still thinks Led Zeppelin was a heavy metal band.  Classic Rock radio plays "Whole Lotta Love" 100 times a day, and people equate that with the band's entire output.  Even though that's like hearing only "Down By The Seaside" from Physical Graffiti and labeling them a country-rock outfit based on that one song.  
Sure, the boys could do blooze and decibels better than almost anyone out there in the 1970s.  But, heavy metal?  Hardly.
If anything, they had a strong affection for early, fun rock and roll--Little Richard, The Monotones, Jerry Lee Lewis, et al.  (I'll have to look this up, but I think maybe they even did a song about the subject.)  I think that influence is pretty apparent on Houses of the Holy's "The Ocean"--a tribute to their fans in which lyricist/lead vocalist/golden god Robert Plant likens the roaring sea of people at their concerts to an ocean.  
The whole song is done with a wink and smile.  There's John Bonham's barely audible chant at the beginning ("We done 4 [takes] already, but now we're steady, and then they went 1, 2, 3, 4...") before he and John Paul Jones trick you into thinking the song's in 4/4 before shifting to 7/8, just to fuck up your footwork.  There's Jimmy Page's little oooooh's on guitar that sound like a reenactment of a nubile groupie getting frisky with a mud shark.  And then there's Plant's a cappella lala-ing through the bridge, like he's about to teach us the letter of the day with Grover and Cookie Monster, just before everything abruptly shifts to a 50s-style doo-wop groove.
It's weird, wacky stuff.  And no one else could pull it off as gloriously and seamlessly as this band.