“Houses of the Holy” by Led Zeppelin

"Houses of the Holy" finally surfaced on Physical Graffiti in 1975, a song late to its own party: Led Zeppelin had already borrowed its name for their fifth album but left it off, figuring it didn't sit right with the rest, and saved it for the next one. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote it, Page produced, Eddie Kramer engineered and mixed with George Chkiantz also at the desk, and Peter Grant served as executive producer for the Swan Song release.

It's a strutting, funky number with jazzy chords, more compact than the band's usual sprawl. Page ran his guitar through a Delta T digital delay to stack up the intro and fade-out, and if you listen close you can hear John Bonham's drum pedal squeaking all the way through. Rick Rubin later singled out what sounds like a cowbell, a Zeppelin one-off. The band never played it live.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.