Listen to Jimmy Page’s Previously Unheard Original Instrumental Demo of a Classic 1975 Led Zeppelin Song

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has shared the original home demo of the 1975 Led Zeppelin song “Ten Years Gone.” The previously unheard instrumental track has been posted on Page’s YouTube channel and social media pages, along with a video featuring footage of the Physical Graffiti album’s cover and sleeve art.

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The raw track features layered electric and acoustic guitars and bass.

[RELATED: Led Zeppelin to Release New Live EP to Celebrate 50 Years of ‘Physical Graffiti’]

Page also posted a message about the recording that reads, “As a footnote to Physical Graffiti, I thought you might like to hear the original home demo, recorded in my studio at Plumpton Place[,] of a piece of music that was going to surface as Ten Years Gone.”

He continued, “I presented this rough mix to the band at Headley Grange in order to do this for real. Robert Plant came up with some lyrics for my music that were extraordinary and then we arrive at the song Ten Years Gone.”

Plumpton Place is an Elizabethan manor house located in Plumpton, England, that Page owned from 1972 to 1985. Headley Grange is a historic building in the village of Headley, England, where Led Zeppelin frequently recorded from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s.

Fans React to Hearing the Rare Track

Plenty of Led Zepelin fans took to the comments section of Page’s Instagram post to share their reactions to the rare recording.

One fan wrote, “One of the prettiest songs of all time. I hear this and just see the leaves falling off the trees. I will cherish this song the rest of my life. Thanks Jimmy.”

A second shared, “My fave Zep tune. This version as sounds great. You should do an album of demos.”

A third fan commented, “Amazing how this ‘stripped down’ version actually highlights the complexity of the arrangement. Sublime.”

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More About “Ten Years Gone”

Plant wrote the lyrics for “Ten Years Gone” about a girlfriend he dated during the 1960s who gave him an ultimatum.

As the singer recalled in a 1975 interview with Cameron Crowe for Rolling Stone, “I was working my ass off before joining Zeppelin. A lady I really dearly loved said, ‘Right. It’s me or your fans.’ Not that I had fans, but I said, ‘I can’t stop, I’ve got to keep going.’”

Plant then shared, cheekily, “She’s quite content these days, I imagine. She’s got a washing machine that works by itself and a little sports car. We wouldn’t have anything to say anymore. I could probably relate to her, but she couldn’t relate to me. I’d be smiling too much. Ten years gone, I’m afraid. Anyway, there’s a gamble for you.”

“Ten Years Gone” appeared at the end of side three of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 double album, Physical Graffiti. The album, the band’s sixth studio effort, topped the Billboard 200 for six straight weeks in March and April of 1975.

Physical Graffiti was certified 16-times Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 8 million copies in the U.S.

(Photo by Ian Dickson/Redferns)