Expert: Chris M. Zangara - 4/30/2009

Question
What is the name of the old man carrying the stack of wood on the cover

Answer
Hello Maurizio,

LED ZEPPELIN IV

The depiction on the cover is fictional. Meaning the location could be anywhere. A poor old man is left with nothing as his run down apartment building was torn down to make way for industry. But there was certainly no actual location here.

But the story behind the cover is interesting.

Over the past 30 years perhaps no other album jacket has been dissected more than the one found on the enigmatic untitled fourth Led Zeppelin album.

Jimmy Page says his interpretation of the Led Zeppelin IV cover is that it is a reflection of the music inside: a harsh urban landscape juxtaposed against antiquity. In other words the big city blues of 'Black Dog' versus the Celtic folk of 'The Battle of Evermore'.

Jimmy Page: "I used to spend a lot of time going to junk shops looking for things that other people might have missed. Robert was on a search with me one time, and we went to this place in Reading where things were just
piled up on one another. Robert found the picture of the old man with the sticks and suggested that we work it into our cover somehow. So we decided to contrast the modern skyscraper on the back with the old man with the sticks - you see the destruction of the old, and the new coming
forward.

'Our hearts were as much in tune with the old ways as with what was happening, though we weren't always in agreement with the new. But I think the important thing was we were certainly keeping space...if not going beyond it. The inside cover was painted by a friend of mine. It's
basically an illustration of a seeker aspiring to the light of truth.'"

When asked which figure represents the band: the giver of light or the seeker of truth, Page replies: "A bit of both, I suppose. A bit of both."

Hope this helped!

Chris Z.