Rocktober '70s Song #10: "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin (1973)

More than any other rock band, the '70s were Led Zeppelin's decade, hands down.  From 1970's Led Zeppelin III through 1979's In Through The Out Door, Led Zeppelin released six studio albums.  All six hit #1 in the US and the UK.  Three of them were certified diamond by the RIAA, included one double diamond (their untitled fourth album).  The other three went 6x, 3x, and 6x platinum.

I could go with dozens of songs.  Dozens, I tell ya.  But I wanted to go with a song that I haven't heralded before.  "When the Levee Breaks" is my favorite Zeppelin song, but I've already told you that a few times over the past 14 years.  "Out on the Tiles" is my favorite Zeppelin deep cut, but I extolled its virtues five years and two days ago.  And I wanted a song that isn't one of the ones that you always hear on classic rock radio, which kicks a couple dozen out.

I am going with "The Ocean" -- off of 1973's Houses of the Holy -- because it's one of those Zeppelin songs that you don't hear nearly enough.  Plus, it was co-written by all four members of the band, which makes it an even more "Zeppelin" song.  It starts off with that amazing riff that I first remember hearing on The Beastie Boys' "She's Crafty," but I suppose that's bound to happen when you're negative four years old when "The Ocean" was released.  And then Robert Plant comes and wails, as he does.  The song just has a great groove.  My favorite parts are when the song kicks back in after the "la la la-la la la la la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laa."  And he "used to sing about mountains, but the mountains washed away."  Did he mean "Over the Hills and Far Away" earlier on the album?  Or "Misty Mountain Hop" from the untitled fourth album?  Or "Black Mountain Side" from Led Zeppelin I?  Like how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.