Bron-Yr-Aur
Encyclopedia
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
in South Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
, Wales, best known for its association with the English rock band Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
.
The cottage was used by the family of Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
during the 1950s as a holiday home. In 1970, Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
spent time there after a long and gruelling concert tour of North America
Led Zeppelin North American Tour Spring 1970
Led Zeppelin's Spring 1970 North American Tour was the fifth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour commenced on March 21 and concluded on April 18, 1970...
. Though the cottage had no running water or electricity, they used it as a retreat to write and record some of their third album, Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin III is the third studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and July 1970 and released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's...
. At the cottage during this time were Plant's wife Maureen and 18-month-old daughter Carmen, Page's girlfriend Charlotte Martin, and Led Zeppelin roadies
Road crew
The road crew are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians...
Clive Coulson and Sandy MacGregor.
Page has explained that:
According to the guitarist, the time spent at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970
Led Zeppelin songs which can be traced to Plant and Page's time at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970 include "Over the Hills and Far Away
Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin song)
"Over the Hills and Far Away" is the third track from English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1973 album Houses of the Holy.-Overview:Jimmy Page and Robert Plant originally constructed the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling North American...
" and "The Crunge
The Crunge
"The Crunge" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. It was also released as the B-side of "D'yer Mak'er".-Overview:The song evolved out of a jam session in the studio...
" (both from Houses of the Holy
Houses of the Holy
Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on 28 March 1973. The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed "Houses of the Holy". It was the second Led Zeppelin album to not...
), "The Rover
The Rover (song)
"The Rover" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.The song was originally meant to be an acoustic piece, being written at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970 and then recorded at Stargroves during the Houses of the Holy sessions in 1972...
", "Bron-Yr-Aur" and "Down by the Seaside
Down by the Seaside
"Down by the Seaside" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.-Overview:The song was originally written as an acoustic piece by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at Bron-Yr-Aur, the cottage in Wales where they went after their 1970 concert tour of the United...
" (from Physical Graffiti
Physical Graffiti
Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 24 February 1975 as a double album. Recording sessions for the album were initially disrupted when bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones considered leaving the band...
), "Poor Tom
Poor Tom
"Poor Tom" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin, but may also be a reference to several characters throughout literary history. Led Zeppelin's song was composed in 1970 by vocalist Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page when they were staying at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales, and was...
" (from Coda
Coda (album)
-Sales chart performance:AlbumSinglesNo commercial or promotional singles were issued, although three tracks received independent radio airplay...
) and three they actually used on Led Zeppelin III: "Friends
Friends (Led Zeppelin song)
"Friends" is the second track from the 1970 album Led Zeppelin III, the third studio album of English rock band Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a grueling concert tour of the United...
", "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
"Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is a song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's third album, Led Zeppelin III, released in 1970.-Song history:Jimmy Page and Robert Plant constructed the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling concert tour of the United...
" and "That's the Way". There were also two songs recorded, called "Another Way To Wales" and "I Wanna Be Her Man", which never found their way onto an official Led Zeppelin album. A primitive recording of the latter of these can however be heard on bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
label Antrabata's studio outtakes sessions.
When on-stage for Page and Plant
Page and Plant
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English hard rock band Led Zeppelin, recorded and toured in the mid-1990s under the title Page and Plant. The pair re-united in 1994 and, after recording a highly successful first album, they embarked on a world tour. They then recorded a second album,...
's Unledded
No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded
No Quarter is a live album by Page and Plant, both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by Atlantic Records on 14 October 1994. The long awaited reunion between Page and Plant occurred on a 90 minute "UnLedded" MTV project, recorded in Morocco, Wales, and London, which rated...
reunion in 1994, Plant announced to the audience that Page's daughter, Scarlet Page
Scarlet Page
Scarlet Lilith Eleida Page is an English photographer. She is the daughter of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Charlotte Martin, a French model.-Career:...
, was conceived "about half an hour" after "That's the Way" was written at Bron-Yr-Aur.
Led Zeppelin used the name of the house in the title of their songs: "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
"Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is a song on English rock band Led Zeppelin's third album, Led Zeppelin III, released in 1970.-Song history:Jimmy Page and Robert Plant constructed the song in 1970 at Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales where they stayed after completing a gruelling concert tour of the United...
" (the name of the house being accidentally misspelled on the album cover), and "Bron-Yr-Aur". "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
inflected hoedown
Hoedown
A Hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it.-Overview:The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, particularly Appalachia. It is a dance in quick movement...
on Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin III is the third studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and July 1970 and released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's...
, in which Robert Plant waxes lyrical about walking in the woods with Strider, his blue eyed merle
Merle (coat colour in dogs)
Merle is a pattern in a dogs coat, though is commonly incorrectly referred to as a color.- Description :Merle can affect all coat colors but the colors most commonly seen that are affected are brown and black, when affected by merle they are usually called liver and blue, though some call liver red...
dog. Contrastingly, "Bron-Yr-Aur" is a gentle, acoustic instrumental by Page on the six-string guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, which appeared on the later album Physical Graffiti
Physical Graffiti
Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 24 February 1975 as a double album. Recording sessions for the album were initially disrupted when bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones considered leaving the band...
and in the film The Song Remains the Same
The Song Remains the Same (film)
The Song Remains the Same is a concert film by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The recording of the film took place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City, during the band's 1973 concert tour of the United States. The film premiered on 20 October 1976, at...
.
"Bron-Y-Aur" is also the name of the secret instrumental track at the end of Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness is the third studio album by prog quartet Coheed and Cambria. It was released on September 20, 2005...
, the third album from Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
. The track has a similar sound to the Led Zeppelin song of the same title.