The Ocean

"The Ocean" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. The ocean is a metaphor for the "sea of heads" faced by lead singer Robert Plant "in the auditoriums", according to the group's biographer Dave Lewis. Overview Eddie Kramer, who was present during the recording of Houses of the Holy, commented on extraneous noises in the recording: "It's entirely possible. [The song was] done in a house [but] I don't remember there being [a phone ringing]." Jimmy Page remarked: "The Ocean" features an unusual time signature, being partially in septuple meter, with a repeated two-measure phrase consisting of one bar of and one bar of . The introduction, "We've done four already, and now we're steady" is done by John Bonham. He is referring to the previous four recording takes, and the one on the record presumably is the fifth take of the session. The song finishes with a "fifties rock 'n' roll sequence" complete with "doo-wops", that bears no relationship to the previous part of the song. Live performances In the last line, the "girl who won my heart" refers to Robert Plant's daughter Carmen, (born 21 November 1968), who was three years old at the time of recording. In concert, Plant always updated the lyric to reflect her current age, as captured on the Led Zeppelin DVD which features a performance of the song at Madison Square Garden in 1973. During this performance, Plant sang the third verse, which starts with "Sitting round singing songs 'til the night turns into day" as the second verse and sang the second verse at the end of the song. The band first played the song live on their 1972 U.S. concert tour and it remained as part of their performances through their 1973 U.S. tour. It was deleted from the set list thereafter.