Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin song)

"Bring It On Home" is the ninth and final track on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It is also known by the alternate title "Bring It On Back".

Overview
Featuring a simple 12-bar rhythm and blues track and interplay between vocals and harmonica, the intro and outro were deliberate homages to the Willie Dixon song of the same name, "Bring It On Home". During the early 1970s, members of Led Zeppelin had befriended the Dixon family on their visits to Chicago and had publicly paid homage to American blues pioneers.

Plant's harmonica part was recorded in Vancouver, in the key of A. The band went on tour with the master tapes from Led Zeppelin II and now and then stopped into a studio to record parts, with the song finally completed in August 1969 in Los Angeles. The guitar and bass parts were recorded in unison, doubling the ascending pentatonic ostinato, with the solo recorded in a third register above the the rhythm parts at the unison. The overall structure following Page's recording philosophy of "light and shade" dynamics - the intro and outro following a slow, light blues workout while the main body of the song is compact, loud and hard in style.

Live performances
Led Zeppelin frequently performed this song live at Led Zeppelin concerts, first appearing as an encore on the band's 1970 UK tour. When played live, the song exhibited sharp interplay between Jimmy Page's guitar, John Bonham's drums and John Paul Jones' bass. This can be seen on the Led Zeppelin DVD, which features a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970. Another version dating from 1972 is included on the live release How the West Was Won which listed the song as a medley on the cover. "Bring It On Home" was credited to Dixon, while the middle section, newly named "Bring It On Back", was credited to Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant.

From 1973, the song was dropped from the band's live set list. However, the middle section riff was retained and served as the introduction to "Black Dog" on the band's 1973 tour of the United States, as documented in the concert film The Song Remains the Same.

"Bring It On Home" was played at the reunion of surviving Led Zeppelin members staged at Jason Bonham's wedding reception in May 1990.