Sometimes you hear a song and do a double take and say “wait, I know that riff”. Led Zepplin wrote “Going to California” in 1971 about Joni Mitchell; Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder said “Given to Fly” of 1998, which sounds pretty similar, was about “rising above anybody’s comments about what you do and still giving your love away”. Guitarist Mike McCready has readily admitted: “It’s probably some sort of rip off of it I’m sure… Zeppelin was definitely an influence on that.” This sort of thing could end angrily, in court; but in this case, Pearl Jam actually performed “Given to Fly” in concert in 2005 with Robert Plant there, who then joined them to play “Going to California” together. References: See Wikipedia
to do a double take: the moment you’re surprized by something, and you have to look or listen twice – to “take two” – to run it by yourself again, to make sure you saw or heard it right the first time.
Led Zepplin: Going to California
Spent my days with a woman unkind,
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going to California with an aching in my heart.
Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Took my chances on a big jet plane,
Never let them tell you that we’re all the same.
The sea was red and the sky was grey;
I wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today.
The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
as the children of the sun began to awake.
Seems that the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking.
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I’ll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.
To find a queen without a king,
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin’ to find a woman who’s never, never, never been born.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself it’s not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.
Pearl Jam: Given to Fly
He could’ve tuned in, tuned in
But he tuned out
A bad time, nothing could save him
Alone in a corridor, waiting, locked out
He got up outta there, ran for hundreds of miles
He made it to the ocean, had a smoke in a tree
The wind rose up, set him down on his knee
A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw
Delivered him wings, “Hey, look at me now”
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor
Oh, power, oh – He’s flying high
He floated back down ’cause he wanted to share
His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere
But first he was stripped and then he was stabbed
By faceless men, well, fuckers, he still stands
And he still gives his love, he just gives it away
The love he receives is the love that is saved
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly
double take 🙂 englisch lernen mit liedern
