‘Match Box Blues’: The song Robert Plant said was “the most amazing display of singing”
The entire concept of hard rock vocal performance could be descended from the world of Robert Plant. While artists like Little Richard may have pioneered the idea of screaming in song to let out his aggression, Plant’s way of toeing the line between sensual vocal performances and a shrieking banshee became the archetype for what most metal vocalists would be doing years later, affecting everyone from Rob Halford to Chris Cornell. While Plant has many classics with Zeppelin, he admitted that one of the best performances he’s ever heard came before rock and roll came about.
Of course, Plant didn’t come across his signature vocal style overnight. Before he had even started in Led Zeppelin, his work with the Band of Joy was a perfect amalgamation of hippie idealism and the electric blues coming out of England around the same time. Even though Plant could have stayed a hippie forever, his partnership with John Bonham took a different turn when working with Jimmy Page.
Looking to put together the band that would put every other blues act to shame, Page had hit upon the genesis of hard rock with Led Zeppelin, turning in the first iconic riffs of the next generation of rockers like ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Immigrant Song’. Although Plant was happy to stretch his vocals beyond his usual capabilities, his first love always returned to the blues.
Since playing in his pre-Zeppelin acts, Plant was used to indulging in songs by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. Rather than learn them second hand from his British contemporaries, Plant could see the beauty of interpreting the sounds of the Mississippi Delta, relating to down-and-out songs about how a vengeful woman did him wrong.
Out of all the covers that permeated the British music scene, Plant still said that he never gets tired of listening to ‘Match Box Blues’ by Blind Lemon Jefferson. Although acts like The Beatles took a stab at the tune based on the cover version by rockabilly legend Carl Perkins, Plant says the original has yet to be rivalled.
When talking about his favourite songs, Plant singled out ‘Match Box Blues’ as something he will always cherish, saying, “That still is every morning for me. Straight on it to get the day go. There’s a guy called Blind Lemon Jefferson from Texas. He’s got a song called ‘Match Box Blues,’ which Carl Perkins borrowed, and then The Beatles took it later on. It’s one of the most amazing displays of singing and playing the guitar”.
Zeppelin wasn’t exactly shy of wearing those blues influences on their sleeves, either. Listening to the story behind this song, a tale about an unfaithful woman hooking up with the narrator behind her boyfriend’s back, is practically built for Zeppelin, creating their version of that kind of carnal desire on tracks like ‘The Lemon Song’ and ‘Custard Pie’.
Even though Zeppelin had been known as appropriators of blues tropes more than a few times, Plant always claimed that there was a direct lineage between the original bluesmen and the English music scene, explaining, “There’s a direct line. Everybody who I’ve ever talked to from the British music scene, there was a direct line from wherever they were London or Liverpool to the blues in America”. Artists of Zeppelin’s ilk may have borrowed liberally from the past, but despite being half a world away, every artist’s heart beats the same when it comes to blues.
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