Sing A Song Led Zeppelin - IV Being a music freak, I went to every high school dance we had but only if there was a live band. Unfortunately I grew up in the disco era and they would insist on doing these cheap ass disco nights every once in a while. Those were the nights we would show up late to the dance and hassle any guy that actually sacrificed his manhood and danced. You could always see the look in that guys eye as he danced, it said, "I hate dancing but I love chicks", which is really ok now that I think of it. One fine fall evening Jim and I consumed as much beer as we could afford and split for the dance. It was to be a good night as there was a band called Twilight playing in the upstairs gym. They were known to have a great light show and they played lots of Led Zeppelin. Now Jim considered himself "THE" Zeppelin aficionado so these guys were in for some criticism. What kind of criticism I didn't know but I knew there would be something. I too loved Zeppelin but realized these young musicians were mortals and hey, they were playing and I was wishing I could play. We arrived at the gym and displayed our drunkenness to the people that mattered then ran to get a spot within ten inches of the lead guitarists feet. This way I could see what he was doing with his feet. Jim seemed very happy with the spot as well. Twilight were a three piece band Guitar, Bass and Drums the guitarist did all the lead vocals. The show was eventful and I was really enjoying myself. When I looked over at Jim I noticed a great deal of sarcastic eye rolling. I assumed it was this as Jim was not subject to any fits or convulsions. As a grand finale they performed Led Zeppelin's gigantic hit Stairway To Heaven. Now this was when this song was unmovable at #1 on every chart known to mankind. They were executing the tune with grace and passion. I turned my head and noticed a disapproving look from Jim. He looked at me and mouthed "no fuckin' keyboards, it sucks!" I shrugged my shoulders as if to say "so what" and watched a fine execution of Jimmy Pages guitar solo that we could all hum note for note if called upon. So there we were ten inches from the guitarist/singers feet as the tune comes to it's end. For those of you who don't know this song it has a very sensitive meaningful ending in which Robert Plant sings the line "and she's buying a stairway to heaven". There is a brief pause between the words "to" and "heaven". Just as this poor singer is spilling his artistic guts from the depths of his chick loving sensitive soul and exactly during the silence between the words to and heaven, Jim yells "Fuck Off". Jim has this sarcastic nasally tone that increased the rude factor by 500%. Everyone in the room heard it as clear as day. The look of humiliation on this singers face was unmatched. That was it, we were doomed and I say we simply because I do guilt very well and felt every bit responsible for not punching Jim in the face just to display my disapproval but it all happened too fast. He dumped his guitar and we ran. We ran out of the gym and out the front doors of the school. This guitarist in a very impressive athletic fashion jumped from the stage and ran right behind us. This guy had a few years on us and a couple of macho pipes for arms. I expect that if he did not catch Jim he would be happy pounding my face in so I managed to pass Jim as we ran back to his house a few short blocks from the school. By the time Jim got home he was bleeding a lot and all he could talk about was the missing keyboard part at the beginning of the song. I know Jim was hurt but somehow I think he felt good about himself.