Achilles Last Stand

"Achilles Last Stand"
Presence
Song by Led Zeppelin
From the album Presence
Album released	March 31, 1976
Genre	Rock Heavy Metal
Song Length	10:25
Record label	Swan Song
Producer	Jimmy Page
Track Number	Track 1

"Achilles Last Stand" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin. It is found on their 1976 album Presence.

Led Zeppelin was working on this at the time Robert Plant was recovering from a car accident. Coincidentally, he got so excited while recording this that he fell and re-injured his ankle, similarly to the song's namesake, Achilles. The song is one of the longest Zeppelin songs, at 10 minutes and 25 seconds. The song is famous for John Bonham's immensely powerful drumming, John Paul Jones's galloping bass line (played on a custom made eight string bass), Jimmy Page's overdubbed orchestral guitar arrangement (incredibly the dozen or so guitar tracks on this song were recorded in one session), and a dramatic, epic guitar solo which is considered by many to be among Page's best. It has similar qualities to a song in the speed metal genre.

Robert Plant wrote the song based on his travels through Morocco, Greece, Spain, amongst other countries. The music was inspired by Flamenco and Moroccan traditions. The lyrics were inspired not only by the travels but also by some of the poetry Plant was reading at the time, which includes William Blake. "Albion remains/sleeping now to rise again" is a reference to Blake's engraving The Dance Of Albion. The following is an excerpt from the poem that goes with the song:

Albion rose from where he labour'd at the Mill with Slaves.
Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death.

Interestingly enough, a piece of the song's rhythm arrangement appears in a performance of "Dazed and Confused" on the concert film The Song Remains the Same, five minutes and thirty seconds into the recording, at the "San Francisco" section. This suggests that the band had been working on "Achilles" for some time, since this version of "Dazed and Confused" was recorded three years before the release of Presence. This arrangement would continue to be heard in even later versions of Dazed and Confused.

Jimmy Page has been quoted as saying that Achilles Last Stand is his favorite Led Zeppelin song. Not surprisingly, it became an integral component of almost every Led Zeppelin concert from their 1977 tour of the United States onwards. Though Page initially expected that he would need to use his Gibson EDS-1275 double-necked guitar to play the song live, he realised that it was possible to use the Gibson Les Paul.