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The Zep Song

Also known as “Zep Jamb,” or frequently mislabeled as “I’m Not In Love With You,” this little ditty is one of the very earliest Maladroit sketches on record. It was attempted at the DC Demos session in May of 2001, while Mikey Welsh was still playing with the band, and also performed many on their world tour that summer (Welsh’s last). By the following January, the band recorded it during the official Maladroit sessions with Scott Shriner now manning the low notes.

The only interesting thing I can say about this song is that its rather obvious titular reference to Led Zeppelin is reiterated in its lyrics, which repeatedly urges a probably female somebody to “lay money down” — a reference to the lyrics of both “Living Loving Maid” and “Heartbreaker” of Led Zeppelin II (“you better lay your money down” and “see how the fellas lay their money down,” respectively). These are practically the “Zep” lyrics in their entirety: other phrases in the song include “love me,” “hey baby,” “I’m not in love with you,” and “alright.” No wonder it was originally dubbed a “jamb.”

Between the two studio recordings and one live bootleg I have (at the hilarious June 2001 Dortmund show), I can find no redeeming quality to this song. On the live bootleg, Welsh’s falsetto backup on the “I’m not in love with you” bridge is pretty okay, I guess. Then there’s the DC version, which lacks even that detail, and the Shriner/Maladroit take that manages to be the worst of the lot.

This is Rivers Cuomo at the very nadir of his antagonist Maladroit phase, pretending to be any one of the stereotypical metal band heroes of his youth without making much worthwhile out of the mimicry.

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