Album cover
Media: Figure identified on “Led Zeppelin IV”.
Lead singer Robert Plant (r) and guitarist Jimmy Page (1970): As Led Zeppelin, they made music history, including with the covers of their albums. photo
© -/dpa
The guesswork is over: Who was the old man on the cover of “Led Zeppelin IV”? A British scientist explains this.
An elderly man with a load of wood on his back, leaning on a stick: fans of the British rock band Led Zeppelin should recognize the striking image. The motif adorns the cover of the legendary album “Led Zeppelin IV”.
For decades, fans and journalists wondered who the man was – now a British scientist has revealed his identity. It is therefore the thatched roofer Lot Long from the town of Mere in southwest England, who died in 1893, as the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Historian Brian Edwards of the University of the West of England discovered the original image by chance while flipping through a photo album for another study. “I recognized the man with the sticks straight away,” Edwards told the BBC. His research revealed that photographer Ernest Farmer had taken the picture. The photo album is entitled “Memories of a visit to Shaftesbury. Pentecost 1892. A gift from Ernest to his aunt” and contains mainly views and architecture from the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset.
Photo will be exhibited in 2024
The cover of the album, released in 1971, lacks any reference to band or title. Apparently this was intentional: guitarist Jimmy Page wanted to find out whether the record would still be a success. In fact, “Led Zeppelin IV” with the mega hit “Stairway to Heaven” has sold more than 37 million copies so far.
“Led Zeppelin created the soundtrack that has stayed with me since I was a teenager,” said historian Edwards. “So I really hope that the discovery of this Victorian photograph will please and entertain Robert (Plant), Jimmy (Page) and John Paul (Jones).” Singer Robert Plant is said to have discovered a framed, colorized photo of the original painting in an antique shop near Page’s home.
Now the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes wants to exhibit the photo in 2024. “It’s fascinating to see how the theme of rural and urban contrasts was developed by Led Zeppelin and became the focus of this iconic album cover 70 years later,” museum director David Dawson told the Guardian newspaper.
BBC report “Guardian” report