That said, for every thunderous, riff-based track like "Whole Lotta Love" or "Heartbreaker" that Led Zeppelin II contains, there's an equally nuanced track to balance it out. ("Light and shade" as the band's guitarist Jimmy Page likes to put it.)
"Ramble On" is one of those amazingly nuanced tracks. It begins with Page's bucolic acoustic strumming, syncopated with a steady rhythm of 16th notes, played by drummer John Bonham. Played on what is a subject of debate: the most common claim is that he's tapping his drumsticks on his vinyl drum seat (or throne, if you will); other people postulate everything from a plastic garbage can lid to the bottom of his shoe.
Based on how flat and sticky it sounds, my vote is for the vinyl seat.
The feel is very folky (for a few seconds), until John Paul Jones--former session musician and self-professed Stax/Motown fanatic--comes in with his bass, which automatically lends an almost R&B feel to the song. Then, the layers continue to build as Robert Plant's hushed vocal breezes in, followed by a mellow, finger-picked electric guitar, which lends a bluegrass vibe for a fleeting moment.
And the second you think the song is going retreat back into the woods for a quiet stroll through the falling leaves, everything shifts into high gear on the chorus, and you're on a Harley, doing 70 mph down a sunny country road: Page's guitar crackles, Plant launches into his banshee wail, Bonham punches his drums like they owe him money, and Jones--well, he just keeps it funky on the low end.
A moment later, you've ditched the Hog, you're ambling down a wooded path, and there are Tolkienesque visions and a Medieval-sounding recorder, swirling through your head...
It's easily one of the best songs the band ever put on tape and a very direct precursor to the band's 1971 epic, "Stairway to Heaven."
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