Robert Plant Recalls One Of The Toughest Calls He Made Apart From His Audition For The Yardbirds

In the recent episode of his podcast ‘Digging Deep,’ Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant revealed that the hardest decision he had to make, apart from his audition for the Yardbirds, was covering ‘Polly Come Home,’ with Alison Krauss. 

Led Zeppelin was first formed as New Yardbirds after the guitarist Jimmy Page’s former band The Yardbirds broke up, leaving Page alone in the band. After his band members left the guitarist, Robert Plant auditioned for The Yardbirds, which he claimed in his recent episode of ‘Digging Deep’ was one of the toughest calls he ever had to make.

However, this was not the only time he recalled making a tough decision. Robert also stated that singing ‘Polly Come Home,’ with Alison Krauss was quite challenging as well. Plant collaborated with Krauss in 2007 to release an album called ‘Raising Sand.’ According to Plant, singing ‘Polly Come Home’ from that album was very difficult for him, and actually, as difficult as his audition to join The Yardbirds.

He simply stated:

“It’s one of the toughest calls I’ve had, apart from my audition in the Yardbirds.”

He continued to state that he was very fond of the song and he thought it was great. However, he somehow didn’t feel like he was enough for it, especially on basis of his vocal capabilities. Aside from his insecurity considering his talents as a vocalist, he also questioned how he would get the words right. 

Here is how Plant described how he felt:

“It’s such a remarkable feel and it’s such a beautiful song. The song itself is just, it’s so poignant. And it’s so slow. So the very opening line of the song, in my chest, my lungs, my vocal cords, in my sense of timing… It was, ‘How am I gonna get these words right to the end of that bar without collapsing?’ It was just such a beautiful lilt.

So this is the guy that sang ‘Immigrant Song,’ he’s just gonna go and sing this song here where I need an iron lung to give me a little more air to get the song out. It’s just such a great song, but the tempo… was so languid, it was magnificent. But it was a hell of a challenge.

He compared his 2007 self with his 1970 self when he sang ‘Immigrant Song’ which was also a challenging track to sing. Although he stated that he was scared and felt like he wasn’t enough, the album and the song became a huge success. ‘Raising Sand’ even won Americana Music Honors & Awards in 2008 and a Grammy Award in 2009. 

You can listen to the recent episode of ‘Digging Deep’ through Spotify and ‘Polly Come Home’ below.