Four Sticks | |
Cover: | Rock & Roll45.jpg |
Caption: | German single picture sleeve |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Led Zeppelin |
Album: | Led Zeppelin IV |
A-Side: | Rock and Roll |
Released: | (US) |
Recorded: | 1971 |
Studio: | Island, London |
Genre: | |
Length: | 4:46 |
Label: | Atlantic |
Producer: | Jimmy Page |
Prev Title: | Black Dog |
Prev Year: | 1971 |
Next Title: | Over the Hills and Far Away |
Next Year: | 1973 |
"Four Sticks" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their untitled fourth album. The title reflects drummer John Bonham's performance with two sets of two drumsticks, totaling four.[3]
The song was difficult to record, and required more takes than usual.[3] John Paul Jones played a VCS3 synthesizer on the track.[3] The song has an unusual time signature, featuring riffs in a mixture of and .
According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:
The song was re-recorded by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in 1972, during their trip to India, along with another song, "Friends" from Led Zeppelin III.[4] This version featured tabla drums and sitars. The recording, titled "Four Hands" was released officially on the 2015 remastering of Coda.