Music Blog

Been A Long Time

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Song Lyric Sunday,
where we’re writing about songs
that were released posthumously.
Here’s how the theme inspired me.

© Discogs

This week for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday, the theme is “Turn Me On, Dead Man”. The challenge? To write about a song that was posthumously released.

John Bonham, also known by his nickname “Bonzo”, is celebrated as being one of the greatest rock drummers of all time, remaining a constant source of inspiration to generations of drummers since his years with Led Zeppelin. Bonham was an ardent listener of music. Among his favorite British groups were Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, The Hollies and The Graham Bond Organization with one of his drum idols, Ginger Baker. He was also a keen listener of American Jazz with drummers such as Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, Max Roach and Louis Bellson.

John Bonham met Robert Plant in late 1965 when he joined The Crawling King Snakes, a group for which Plant sang lead vocals. By early 1968, Bonham had built up a strong reputation among musicians and bands in the Redditch area for being one of the best drummers around. He had the combination of power, stamina, technique and stage presence that made him stand out. When guitarist Jimmy Page was starting up a new group, Robert Plant recommended John Bonham as a potential drummer. Page, along with his manager Peter Grant, went to check out Bonham’s drumming first hand. Jimmy was impressed and invited him to join Led Zeppelin. However, around the same time Bonham had received tempting offers from esteemed artists such as Joe Cocker and Chris Farlowe who were in positions to offer him more lucrative prospects. In September 1968, after being bombarded by nearly 50 telegrams of persuasion sent by Plant and Grant, John Bonham decided to join Led Zeppelin, saying he liked the music they played.

John Bonham was Led Zeppelin’s drummer for 12 years; had it not been for a tragic turn of events, he would have remained the band’s drummer indefinitely. On September 24, 1980, Bonham was picked up by Zeppelin assistant Rex King to attend rehearsals for their upcoming North American tour set for October. The duo stopped for breakfast along the way where Bonham drank four quadruple vodka screwdrivers; he continued to drink heavily during the rehearsals. The band stopped rehearsing late in the evening and then went to Jimmy Page’s house. After midnight, Bonham fell asleep; someone took him to bed and placed him on his side. He was found unresponsive the next afternoon. Bonham was pronounced dead September 25, 1980, at 32 years of age. The inquest on October 27showed that in 24 hours, Bonham had consumed around 40 shots or 1–1.4 liters of 40% ABV vodka, after which he vomited and choked … a condition known as pulmonary aspiration. The finding was accidental death.

Rather than replace Bonham, Led Zeppelin chose to disband. They said in a press release on December 4,1980: “We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.”

Two years after John Bonham’s death, Led Zeppelin released the compilation album Coda … a collection of previously unreleased material, outtakes, and live tracks from their recording sessions. “Baby Come On Home” was recorded during sessions for the band’s debut album. The master tape from the recording sessions went missing for a number of years and allegedly turned up in a refuse bin outside Olympic Studios following renovations in 1991. The song was originally recorded under the title “Tribute to Bert Berns” in honor of the late American songwriter, producer, and friend of Jimmy Page. It is a combination of two different blues songs Berns wrote in the mid-60s. Led Zeppelin recorded the song for their first album but it was not released until Coda.

This is “Baby Come On Home” by Led Zeppelin, John “Bonzo” Bonham behind the kit.

LYRICS

There was a time
I used to call you on my very own
We were so happy woman
Talkin’ for hours and hours on the telephone

Then one day
I set you up to walk right outta my life
Leaving’ me all by myself
All alone, to cry every night

(Babe …) ooh, I want you to come back home yeah (come on home)
(ooh yeah)
Sweet little girl
(ooh yeah, been gone so long)
You’ve been away so long

Now listen to me

I said I made up my mind
Woman when you left me there, oh
I was gonna find another sweet lover
Who’s gonna feel all of my … cares

So I met a sweet little girl
Just about as nice as she could be, oh
I fell in love with that woman
But she turned around, and did the same thing again to me, woohoo…

(Babe …) Baby, please come home (come on home) home yeah…
I know, (ya been gone too long) been away so long
(Babe …) I want you to please come home, oh (come on home…)
(Ooh yeah)
(Ya been gone too long)

So I made up my mind
I gonna crawl right back to you woman
I’m gonna plead and plead and plead, yeah
‘Till you’re here by my side
I can’t even walk down the same old streets we used to walkdown
‘Cause I keep thinkin’ about all the good times
Keep thinkin’ about it
I wanna make you mine
ooh babe

babe, babe, babe, please (come on home, yeah) (come on home)
(ya been gone too long)

I want you to…oh! (babe … come on home)
I want you to come back running home to me woman (ooh yeah)
I want you to think

Written by: Bert Berns/Jimmy Page/Robert Plant

This is John Henry Bonham, 25th September 2020, 40 Years Gone

Turn Me On, Dead Man

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some tunes.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, The Rhythm Section, et al., and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

54 thoughts on “Been A Long Time”

    1. They were and still are a favorite of mine.

      Tickets in 1970 were cheap back then, even for the good seats in big name venues. We were in the 2nd row at The Garden and when Robert Plant swung his blonde mass of curls, we were sprayed by his sweat. How I cried when, weeks later, my mother took the t shirt I wore that night out of my room and washed it!

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  5. What a loss that was. In a two year span…almost two years exactly…Keith Moon and John Bonham died. To me the best two drummers in rock history. Love the bottom video.

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      1. I never put that together about Lennon so shortly after Bonham.
        Having Keith Moon as your Godfather…now thats something to say.

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  10. A great tribute to an awesome drummer, Nancy. Variations of this song, also titled “Baby Come On Home”, were recorded by Hoagy Lands and Solomon Burke in 1964 and 1965 respectively.  Led Zeppelin was playing this song when they were still called the Yardbirds. I may circle back to this post later as I didn’t have time to watch the last video.

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  12. So young Nancy, … but you wonder why they’re so driven that they just find the solution in drink, and it ends up killing them, … such a waste, …( I nearly swore then, …). But life is so precious., …. Anyway, this is not what I was trying to say., … thank you for the background I didn’t know most of it, … and you’re filling in gaps, without Me needing to google, … which is a help, a great help, …🎶. I’ll be asking Alexa, music wise🎶 … have a great Sunday, and I hope you’re keeping cool, just in case I’ll send a few more ice cubes, for your delectation,…💫🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊💫. 💙

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    1. Never being much of a drinker (I would get drunk after two drinks), I can’t fathom how one person can drink so much. How much more drunk do you want to be? It doesn’t compute. Such a shame, such a loss. Thank you for your thoughts and the cubes, Penny. All very much appreciated. 💙

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      1. No probs, … our temperatures are dropping slightly, … I don’t know if they’re gonna zoom up again, … but I’ll enjoy the cooler weather, … I’ve got to go and do a stirfry, chicken, … and then sit eating dinner or late lunch or whatever it is, … and watch the final of Wimbledon, … the men’s final…💫🧊💙🧊💫

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  14. Zeppelin brings to mind Plant and Page, but Bonham’s skill kept the group tight. So young to die from alcohol poisoning. Makes one wonder if the band attempted to get him into rehab, or if his addiction was part of the rock n roll lifestyle and they rolled with it.

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    1. Probably the latter, Phil, but I can’t say for sure. Different times, you know? What has always impressed me is how Zeppelin chose to disband after Bonham’s death instead of going on without him. If there’s another band that did that, I don’t know who they are. Thanks, Phil.

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  15. Thank you for all of the amazing information about John Bonham, and Led Zeppelin … I enjoyed reading your article immensely (my Carole was a big fan of Led Zeppelin)

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      1. Didn’t they perform the song in the studio:
        “Led Zeppelin recorded the song for their first album but it was not released until Coda.” Do you mean they never performed it in front of an audience?

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