The band developed this song during soundchecks on their 1973 United States tour. Jimmy Page worked up the riff in his Plumpton Place manor house and brought it to the band during the Physical Graffiti sessions. The song went through a number of changes as they worked it up, becoming one of the funkier Zeppelin songs by the time they were done. The credited writers on the track are Page and Robert Plant.
Like "The Lemon Song," this song is dripping with desire, and does not mention the title in the lyrics. "Wanton" can mean willful and deliberate, but also sexually indiscriminate and lacking inhibition, which is probably what Robert Plant had in mind when he wrote the lyric. The "silent woman" he sings about could be a metaphor or a real person; mystery is a hallmark of his songwriting.
Jimmy Page used his "backward echo" on the guitar solo, where the echo is heard before the note.
This is one of Robert Plant's favorites. In 1983 he told Record magazine that putting this song together was one of the highlights of his days recording with Led Zeppelin. "The whole session – it was so electric, so quick and so fruitful," he said.
Led Zeppelin played this live on some of their 1975 American and European dates, but it was soon dropped.
In the February 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine, Jimmy Page was told that Led Zeppelin's biggest hits - "Stairway To Heaven," "Kashmir," "Over The Hills And Far Away" - don't have choruses. Page replied: "As far as I'm concerned, the riff in Led Zeppelin's 'The Wanton Song,' for example, is the chorus. It could go on for a half an hour and I would be completely riveted and satisfied. It's so powerful and concise that it never gets boring." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
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