Classic Rock Lyrics

That's The Way Lyrics - Led Zeppelin



I don't know how I'm gonna tell you
I can't play with you no more,
I don't know how I'm gonna do what mama told me,
My friend, the boy next door.
 
I can't believe what people saying
You're gonna let your hair hang down,
I'm satisfied to sit here working all day long,
You're on the darker side of town.
 
And when I'm out I see you walking,
Why don't your eyes see me,
Could it be you've found another game to play,
What did mama say to me.
 
            That's The Way,
            Oh, That's The Way it ought to be,
            Yeah, yeah, mama say
            That's The Way it ought to stay.
 
And yesterday I saw you standing by the river,
And weren't those tears that filled your eyes,
And all the fish that lay in dirty water dying,
Had they got you hypnotized?
 
Yesterday I saw you kissing tiny flowers,
But all that lives is born to die,
And so I say to you that nothing really matters,
And all you do is stand and cry.
 
I don't know what to say about it,
When all you ears have turned away,
But now's the time to look and look again at what you see,
Is that the way it ought to stay?
 
            That's The Way,
            Oh, That's The Way it ought to be,
            Yeah, yeah, mama say
            That's The Way it ought to stay.

As pointed out in Stephen Davis's Hammer of the Gods, this song's lyrics reflected Robert Plant's views on ecology and environment. (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wrote this in Wales on a retreat to the Bron-y-Aur cottage, where they wrote many of the songs on the album. They took a long walk with a guitar and tape recorder, sat down in a ravine, and wrote this.
One of the most mellow Zeppelin songs, it reflects the quiet countryside in Wales where it was written.
This was the first song Led Zeppelin authorized for use on a film soundtrack. After seeing a rough cut of Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous in 2000, Page and Plant agreed to let him use some Zeppelin songs on it, but this is the only one that is on the soundtrack. Other Zeppelin songs in the movie are "Tangerine," "The Rain Song," "Bron-Y-Aur" and "Misty Mountain Hop."
The lyrics "I can't believe what people saying, you're gonna let your hair hang down, I'm satisfied to sit here working all day long, you're in the darker side of town" reflects the way Zeppelin was treated in their earlier days in America. In the south it was common for Zeppelin to receive death threats before concerts. When they walked into restaurants they were usually asked to leave, but not before being spit on or having a gun pointed at them for their long hair. (thanks, John - Boca Raton, FL)
The original title was "The Boy Next Door."

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