'How Many More Times' is yet another song from the first album containing a myriad of influences and songs... as Jimmy once said, 'That has the kitchen sink on it, doesn't it? It was made up of little pieces I developed when I was with the Yardbirds.' 'How Many More Times' is by far the closest thing to a Led Zeppelin concert performance ever recorded in the studio. Both individual and group talents are at full strength, and the sheer exuberance of Led Zeppelin as a live band is well in evidence.

As Page explained, the whole song 'was played live in the studio with cues and nods.' The song owes to The Yardbirds' live cover of Howlin' Wolf's 'Smokestack Lightning' - a prime example of this number is the version from a session at the BBC in December of 1965 (although Page was not in the group at the time). Jones recalls that '"How Many More Times" was another number that The Yardbirds had been developing live during their last days.' After Jimmy had joined, the Yardbirds used similar arrangements on their live performances and they would often mutate into instrumental versions of 'How Many More Times'.

The swinging main riff [:00-2:03] is present in The Yardbirds tune, along with some of the basslines [eg. 3:31] and drumfills. However, Jimmy once claimed he got it from Howlin' Wolf's 'Come Back Home (take 1)'. To further confuse matters, the riff is also reminiscent of Mickey Finn's excellent 'Night Comes Down' - a group Page sessioned with in his early days. 'How Many More Times' bears much more of a resemblance to 'Smokestack Lightning' though, and one of the members of Mickey Finn has said that 'Mickey [Waller] overdubbed his lead guitar' which may exclude Jimmy from having even played on that particular tune (as a sessionman, Page was usually called upon for solos). Either way, the Jones bass (left) and Page guitar (right) combo on the riff is striking when performed in unison with Bonzo riding his cymbals. Jimmy recalls recording the riff - 'I do remember using the board to overdrive a Leslie cabinet for the main riff in "How Many More Times". It doesn't sound like a Leslie because I wasn't employing the rotating speakers. Surprisingly, that sound has real weight. The guitar is going through the board, then through an amp which was driving the Leslie cabinet. It was a very successful experiment.' Plant joins in with some generic blues rhymes, which allow him to more easily show off his voice than if he had sung the wordy 'Smokestack Lightning':

Ahhh__.

How many more times Treat me the way ya wanna do?
How many more times Treat me the way ya wanna do__?
Well I give you all my love, Please, please be true.

I'll give you all I've got to give: Rings, pearls and a__ll.
I'll give you all I've got to give: Rings, pe__arls and a__ll.
I got to get you together baby, I'm so sure you're gonna cra__wl.

Oh! Wanna love some other man too?

Plant's lyrics are similar to a song of the same name (recorded in 1964) by Gary Farr and the T-Bones and the first verse appears to be an adlibbed extension of Howling Wolf's 'How Many More Years'.

After some Page overdubs [2:17-3:00] which includes a snippet from another Yardbirds song - namely the solo from 'Shapes of Things', Bonzo moves the song into 'Beck's Bolero' [3:00-3:35], on which Page had "collaborated" with his friend Jeff Beck: 'Wrote it, played on it, produced it... and I don't give a damn what he says. That's the truth.' (The original 'Beck's Bolero' appears on Jeff Beck's 'TRUTH' album along side a cover of 'You Shook Me'.)

After that, Jimmy pulls out his violin bow, as he did on 'Dazed And Confused' [3:35-5:30]. Page remembers fondly, 'I think I did some good things with the bow on that track... I think some of the melodic lines are pretty incredible. I remember being really surprised when I heard it play back.' Meanwhile, Plant adlibs a bizarre passage about having 10 children, and conceiving the eleventh:

Oooh.
I was a young man, I couldn't resist.
Started thinkin' it over, just what I had missed.
Got me a girl and I kissed her an' then 'n' then.
Whoops! Oh no~yeah well I did it again.
Now I've got ten children of my own.
I got another child on the way, that makes eleven.
But I'm in constant heaven.
An' I know it's alright in my mind,
'Cause I got a little schoolgirl and she's all mine.
I can't get through to her 'cause it doesn't permit.
But I'm gonna give her everything I've got to give.

Following this, Robert kicks off with his 'Rosie' section [5:30-6:17]. Jones, still getting to know Plant and the others, was impressed. He remembers, 'All of those musical stops were so spontaneous. Robert would just go off on a tangent and we'd all join in. That's how "Oh Rosie" and "The Hunter" came to be included on this track.'

Oh Rosie! Oh girl!
Oh Rosie! Oh girl!
Steal away now, steal away.
Steal away baby, steal away.
Little Robert Anthony wants to come 'n' play.
Why don't ya come with me baby?
Steal away.
Alright, alright.

This is something of an adlibbed amalgam of material he had previously sung with The Band Of Joy and a track he recorded with Alexis Korner. During the brief period Plant spent working with Korner, they recorded a song called 'Steal Away' which appears to be influential to the arrangement presented here. It may even be a tribute by Plant to one of the fathers of British Blues. The 'Little Robert Anthony' line can be interpreted in many ways. His wanting to "come 'n' play" could be seen as an announcement of himself and the entire group on the music scene. It may be a crude reference to "stealing away" with a woman, since Plant (and his "little Robert Anthony") want to play. Most likely, however, is that the phrase came into his head during recording and it sounded good.

This leads into a powerful cover of 'The Hunter' [6:17-7:04], one of Albert King's most famous songs. Originally, the song was written by Booker T. and the MGs, some of whom were in King's backing band. Plant summarises King's lyrics, as Bonham drums a near-march and Page punctuates the end of each phrase with a stabbing wah wah effect. The band builds a very Zeppelinesque dramatic pause (which is something they would become quite adept at, and employ many times throughout their career), highlighted by Plant's over-the-top 'guuuun!' before exploding back to the main theme.

Well they call me the hunter,
That's my name.
Call me the hunter,
That's how I got my fame.
Ain't no need to hide.
Ain't no need to run.
'Cause I got you in the sights of my gu__n.

How many more times Barrelhouse all night long alright?
How many more times Barrelhouse all night long?
Well I got to get to you baby, Gi__rl please come home.

Why don't you listen to me babe?
Why don't you please come home?
Why don't you please come home?
Why don't you please come ho__me?

This final verse frames the song with the main section, bringing back the riff from the beginning. The excellent structure of this coda must have been worked on beforehand, unlike the lengthy improvised jam in between. "Barrelhouse" is a common blues colloquialism (for instance, it appears in Robert Johnson's 'Travelling Riverside Blues') for a low-class saloon - somewhere to go to party and dance all night.

Page was rightfully proud of the production on this track - from the surreal violin bow, to the ambitious arrangement of the mutlitude of sections, to the innovative use of the stereo technology of the time - Jimmy remembered, 'After the overdubs were completed I had an idea of the stereo picture and where the echo returns would be. For example, on "How Many More Times", you'll notice there are times where the guitar is on one side and the echo return is on the other. Those things were my ideas.'

However, Page's production couldn't contain one thing - Plant's powerful voice. As with other songs on the album, Plant's vocals often bled through to other tracks. This was either not noticed with the primitive equipment of the day, could not be removed or was left on for the strange effect it produced.

Another interesting story behind this track is that on the original pressings of the album, the duration of 'How Many More Times' is listed as 3:30, not even close to the actual duration of 8:26. Zeppelin folklore has it that this was done intentionally so that discjockeys would think it was within the time limit of what was considered appropriate for airplay and it would thus get played, at least once. Whether it was a typo or a marketing ploy for airtime, isn't likely to ever be resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

'How Many More Times' has also appeared on the soundtrack of the movie 'Homer' (1970). The catalogue number for this album is Cotillion SD 9037 (US)/Atlantic 2400 137 (UK). The soundtrack also includes Steve Miller.