What’s the ultimate Led Zeppelin song? In my humble opinion, it’s not Whole Lotta Love, Dazed And Confused or even Stairway To Heaven.

It’s a less well-known tune called Traveling Riverside Blues. In keeping with the Delta Blues obsession that spawned the blues rock of the late 60’s/early 70’s, the song is based on Robert Johnson’s original of the same name.

The version of the song that Zep recorded back in 1969 resurfaced in 1990 on the Remasters box set, and then again in a compilation of early Led Zeppelin live songs called BBC Sessions.

For me, Traveling Riverside Blues is the perfect rock song – it’s got a searing slide guitar intro by Jimmy, and Robert is in classic form borrowing some choice lyrics from Johnson’s catalogue of songs. He’s even singing about squeezing lemons years before The Lemon Song was ever recorded.

It’s a great example of a band paying homage to the genre that influenced them most, and encapsulates Led Zeppelin at their absolute best. Check out the track and tell me it isn’t one of the best Zep tracks ever…