Music Blog

My Baby Sent Me A Letter

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“Engaging With Music”.
This is my response to the challenge.

© Rolling Stone

Over at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday this week, the theme is “Engaging With Music” and our challenge is to write about a song from an album we’ve never listened to, suggested by our friend, Clive at Take It Easy. Thanks, Clive!

In 2007, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss released a collaboration album called Raising Sand; it was an unlikely, mesmerizing pairing of one of rock’s greatest frontmen with one of country music’s finest and most honored artists. Produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, Raising Sand entered the Billboard 200 at #2, was certified platinum, and won all six Grammy Awards for which it was nominated, including Album and Record of the Year.

The term “raising sand” is an idiom, mainly Southern U.S., meaning to cause a commotion, make a fuss, stir up trouble, or get into a fight, often over honor or principle, similar to “raising cane” or “kicking up dust”. It can imply a noisy disturbance, but in the context of this album, it conveys a feeling of being “raised up” from the earth, reflecting the album’s deep roots in folk, blues, and country, with producer T Bone Burnett aiming for a sound that felt ancient and elemental, like things “rising from the sand,” rather than polished studio perfection. The title evokes images of dust, vast landscapes, and timeless stories, fitting the gritty, authentic, and soulful covers on the record. 

Raising Sand is also an album I have never listened to with the exception of one song which I’ve heard numerous times on YouTube and SiriusXM. That song is “Please Read the Letter” by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. I immediately fell in love with its seductive sound, hypnotic harmonies and its atmospheric allure.

“Please Read the Letter” was written and originally recorded by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (as Page & Plant) for their only studio album, Walking Into Clarksdale, released in 1998. The Plant & Page version is a mid-tempo rock song with more traditional production, while the Plant & Krauss version is a slowed-down, acoustic, Americana-infused duet that emphasizes mood, lyricism, and Alison Krauss’s harmonies as well as her skillful fiddle playing.

The Plant/Krauss recording is a stirring folk-rock saga that hints at past indiscretions and irreparable mistakes; it’s a note of sincere regret in which they express their longing for the love they once shared. It’s about breaking up, but wanting to do so on good terms without any ill will. They sincerely hope that their shared memories will be cherished. When the line “It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more” appears, it demonstrates that they were not a good fit for each other, resulting in the inevitable breakup.

Despite the song’s nostalgic theme, the repetition of the chorus “Please read the letter that I wrote” is an urgent need for resolution. What crowns the track are the elegant harmonies, Plant downplaying his bluesy growl so as not to overwhelm the purity of Krauss’s vocals. They imbue “Please Read the Letter” with a great sense of yearning, of longing for someone. Robert Plant remarked that the lyrics are about “unfinished business”.

Please note just how important the letter is; they are pleading for it to be read and it wasn’t mailed or dropped in a mail slot or slid under the door. No, anyone can do that. This letter was “nailed to the door”.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have chemistry and they have it in spades. They are good together and exude sex appeal. Each possesses innate animal magnetism. And as much as we may want them to be romantically involved, they are not. They are dear friends with a platonic relationship; the love they share is for history, music, and the stories their songs tell.

It’s now obvious to me that I need to listen to Raising Sand.

This is “Please Read the Letter” by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.


LYRICS

Caught out running with just a little too much to hide
Maybe baby, everything’s gonna turn out fine
Please read the letter, I nailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more

Too late, too late a fool could read the signs
Maybe baby, you’d better check between the lines
Please read the letter, I wrote it in my sleep
With help and consultation from the angels of the deep

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Once I took beside a well of many words
My house is full of rings, and charms, and pretty birds
Please understand me, my walls came falling down
There’s nothing here that’s left for you
But check with lost and found

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote, oh

One more song just before we go
Remember baby, you gotta reap just what you sow
Please read my letter and promise me you’ll keep
The secrets and the memories we cherish in the deep
Please read the letter, I nailed it to your door
It’s crazy how it all turned out we needed so much more

Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote
Please read the letter that I wrote

Oh no, oh, oh no

Please read the letter
Please read the letter
Please read the letter

Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, yeah, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Robert Plant/Stephen Charles Jones/Michael Gary Pearson/James Patrick Page
Please Read The Letter lyrics © Sons Of Einion Limited, Succubus Music Ltd.

Engaging with Music

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week and to Clive for his suggestion. Be sure to follow the links and check out their sites.

Thanks for stopping by for a look and a listen.

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

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

44 thoughts on “My Baby Sent Me A Letter”

  7. I bought this CD as soon as it came out and it remains one of my favorites. Their voices are absolutely amazing. But the Box Tops “The Letter”…oh, that is a favorite from a long time ago.

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    1. Thank you for picking up on the title of my post today! Whenever I can, I like to use the name of a different song as the title for my posts, especially here on Song Lyric Sunday. “The Letter” by the Box Tops is a great song, and I especially like the version by Joe Cocker. So glad you love the album and the song, Lois. Thank you for your comments; I really enjoyed them.

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    1. Thanks very much, Jim. I’m really glad you liked it. I’ve seen the video many times before, probably on YouTube; I can’t think of any other place where I could have seen it. The combination of video, song and performers is the total package and it’s no surprise they won every Grammy for which they were nominated. They make beautiful music together.

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  12. As a fan of Robert Plant I bought this album on whim when it was released. I had no no clue who Allison Krause was but every song I listened to I grew to love without first hearing the single released. 😁

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  15. I’ve never heard this song before, thank you for your fabulous background story. I loved the powerful song and its equally powerful lyrics. They definitely sounded great together, Nancy … Oh, and our coincidences prevail again my friend … my poem later on, is called “The Magpies Letter” … and of course, one more time, I love this song …

    https://youtu.be/hUmXscq9p_s

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    1. Thanks for that fabulous Joe Cocker video; it was great to see Leon Russell again. I was wondering how long it would take someone to make the connection between Joe Cocker’s song …. which is, of course, a great hit by the Box Tops …. and the title of my post today. I believe, dear Ivor, you are the first. Thanks for your wonderful comments; I do have a lot of fun sharing this synchronistic little world of ours. 🥰

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  16. I have heard this track … strangely it the video that sticks with me…… This is such an interesting prompt… There must be literally millions of Albums out there that we have never really listened to….

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    1. There are countless albums I haven’t listened to, Willow. That’s the whole point of this challenge. We could go with almost any song but I think most of us will choose a song that means something to us. I certainly did. I am not the least bit surprised that you remember the video more than you do this song. For me it is one of those little vignettes that sticks with you. I just love these two together. Thanks very much, sis.

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    1. There is definite synchronicity in the air, Brian. Plant enjoyed his time with Alison Krauss so much, they got together again and released a second album. I absolutely adore the two of these gorgeous people together. I’m hoping to find their CD under my Christmas tree on Thursday. Thank you for a wonderful comment.

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