”All My Love” by Led Zeppelin

Credit: Warner Brothers

When you hear the name “Led Zeppelin,” you probably think of John Bonham’s thundering drums, Jimmy Page’s dirty, crunchy guitar riffs and Robert Plant’s howling vocals. They’re best-known for singing about sex, drugs and hobbits. But this group has a softer side, which they showcase beautifully on “All My Love.”

The simple chorus resonates over the hum of a keyboard:

All of my love, all of my love,
All of my love to you.

The song might seem like a cheesy ode to romantic love, but it has a far deeper meaning for singer Robert Plant. He wrote it as a tribute to his son, who died at age five of complications from a stomach infection.

In the summer of 1977, Led Zeppelin was at their peak success, arriving in New Orleans for a packed show. Before they hit the stage, Plant received a call from his wife saying their son Karac had become extremely ill. Two hours later, he received another call announcing his son had died. He and guitarist Jimmy Page caught the soonest flight back to their hometown in England and cancelled the rest of their tour.

One year later, the band was set to record their latest album “In Through the Out Door,” featuring Plant’s heart-wrenching tune written for Karac. He would go on to write two other songs for his child, but “All My Love” is the only one that became a radio hit.

The verses are ethereal and surrealist, like most Led Zeppelin songs, combining literary allegory with obscure metaphors:

Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time
his is the force that lies within
Ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find
He is a feather in the wind

Read the lyrics here, or listen to the full song below: