Led Zeppelin, ‘Dy’er Mak’er’ – Butch’s Way Back Wednesday

As a music fan there is always something new and great, but there really is something special about the songs you grew up listening to. For me, that was 70′s and 80′s classic rock. If I am in a shi**y mood, I throw in a little Zeppelin or Rush and take a trip back to rolling in my mom’s T-Bird. Now every Wednesday you get to take that trip with me. It’s Way Back Wednesday with Butch, and today’s feature is "Dy'er Mak'er" by Led Zeppelin. 

The last few weeks we had a lot of fun with our Way Back Wednesday, so we are back at it for more today. 40 years ago this month Led Zeppelin released their 5th studio album, Houses of the Holy, the first Led Zeppelin album composed of entirely original material, and represents a musical turning point for the band, who had begun to record songs with more layering and production techniques.

The album was certified 11× Platinum by the RIAA. In 2012, Houses of the Holy was ranked number 148 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Although, there are many Zeppelin anthems on the album, the song with the best commercial success was "Dy'er Mak'er."

The song intended to be pronounced with a British non-rhotic accent as "jah-may-kah" is a play on words based on the joke, "My wife's on vacation in the West Indies." "Jamaica?" "No, it was her idea." The title was chosen because it reflects the reggae flavor of the song. Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant has said that he finds it amusing when American fans pronounce the title as "Dire Maker."

This song was meant to imitate Reggae and its "dub" derivative emerging from Jamaica in the early '70s. Bonham's inability to replicate a Reggae beat on his drums, however, turned the song into an odd melange of what sounded like '50s doo-wop and reggae. This track, as well as another song entitled "The Crunge", were initially not taken seriously by many listeners, and some critics reserved their harshest criticism for these two arrangements. In an interview he gave in 1977, Page referred to this negative response:

I didn't expect people not to get it. I thought it was pretty obvious. The song itself was a cross between reggae and a '50s number, "Poor Little Fool," Ben E. King's things, stuff like that.