Led Zeppelin Songs - Heartbreaker Lyrics

Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker

Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Led Zeppelin II
Released: 1969

Heartbreaker Lyrics

Heartbreaker Song Chart

This opens Side 2 of Led Zeppelin II and goes right into "Livin' Lovin' Maid (she's just a woman)" on the album. Radio stations usually play them together, but "Maid" was never performed live by Led Zeppelin.

A crowd favorite, Led Zeppelin sometimes opened live shows with it.

At concerts, Jimmy Page would stretch out the guitar solo and incorporate bits of other songs, like "Greensleeves," "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," and Bach's "Bouree in C minor."

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones performed this at the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988 with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father.

Led Zeppelin opened many of their live shows in 1971 and 1972 with "Immigrant Song," followed by a segue right into this. (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)

Jimmy Page's legendary guitar solo on this song inspired a young Eddie Van Halen to create his "tapping" technique after he saw Led Zeppelin perform live at the Long Beach Arena in 1972, which can be heard on the CD How The West Was Won.

Page's unaccompanied solo is pitched slightly higher than the rest of the song. The guitarist explained to Guitar World in 1998: "The interesting thing about the solo is that it was recorded after we had already finished 'Heartbreaker' – it was an afterthought. That whole section was recorded in a different studio and it was sort of slotted in the middle."

Eddie Kramer, sound engineer on Led Zeppelin II, told Guitare & Claviers in 1994 how he ended up working on the album:

"I met Page for the first time in Pye studios when I was working on sessions of The Kinks. Page had earned a certain reputation as a studio guitarist. I also worked with John Paul Jones on a few sessions, and we became friends. Jones was a brilliant musician. He wrote arrangements for chord orchestras and he could play many instruments extremely well. Before I left England to work with Jimi Hendrix at Record Plant studio in New York, in April 1968, Jonesy had invited me at his place to have me listen to a few demos of his new group, Led Zeppelin. I remember it sounded very heavy, and I was surprised that Jimmy Page played guitar because I didn't know they were friends. Jonesy was very proud of John Bonham, an ex-mason from the north of England who could hit it hard on the drums, as well as of Robert Plant, their wild singer. While I wasn't convinced by the name they had chosen, I wished them good luck. Then in '69, I was working at Electric Lady studios when I received a call from Steve Weiss, Jimi's right-hand man, saying that Led Zeppelin was in town. Page called later to tell he wanted I help him release what they had recorded and to make a few more tracks. Led Zeppelin had been a major success for Atlantic and they were urging Jimmy to finish the second album. Their schedule however wasn't very arranging. So we ended up listening, doubling, recording and mixing in many different studios around New York, including Groove Sound, a nice R&B 8-track studio. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)