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Even after establishing himself as rock's "Golden God" fronting one of the greatest bands in rock history, Robert Plant knew a successful solo career wasn't a sure thing. His first post-Led Zeppelin album, 1982's Pictures at Eleven, was successful enough, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200, but it didn't produce any top 40 hits. It wasn't until his second solo effort, 1983's The Principle of Moments, that Plant finally had his first major hit on his own: "Big Log."
"I was desperately trying in '81, '82, '83 to write songs and move away from a previous musical place, and to get the story right," Plant explained in a 2019 episode of his podcast Digging Deep.
"It was very interesting because it was the first time ever I'd been away from the kind of crash of Zeppelin," he continued, "and I really didn't realize just how much patience and concentration you really need in a studio, to get people to perform, give you something really, really important."
"Big Log," the first single from The Principle of Moments, hit #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #11 on the U.K. chart. The dreamy, haunting track was exactly what fans were waiting to hear...even if, years, later, it seems no one can agree on the meaning of the title (which doesn't appear in the lyrics at all). Some have theorized that the "Big Log" refers to a truck driver's log, which would fit with the song's driving theme:
My love is in league With the freeway Its passion will rise As the cities fly by And the taillights dissolve In the coming of night And the questions in thousands Take flight
The truck driver theory has never been confirmed, however.
"'Big Log' was born and it seemed like falling off a log, really," Plant quipped on Digging Deep. "It was just...very, very easy to write a road song."
Plant went on to explain that none of the locations he was actually imagining while he wrote "Big Log," like Aberystwyth, Wales, really worked as lyrics.
"I couldn't mention any names in 'Big Log,'" he said. "I couldn't say where I was going...but I could write about going, and most of my time has been about coming and going."
"Big Love" was one of just two songs on The Principle of Moments that didn't feature Phil Collins on drums. Looking for a softer sound, Plant decided to experiment with the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which took some time to figure out.
"I thought, 'This is so shite, this sound,'" Plant recalled. Eventually he learned how to produce the effect he wanted, which reflected the music he was listening to at the time.
"I was into 4AD and the stuff that was going on with Jesus and Mary Chain and all that," Plant said. "There was just loads and loads of music that I was interested in — that kind of almost darkened shadow of the music of that time."
"Big Log" was a hit with critics as well as fans at the time of its release.
"One of Plant’s best outings on his second solo album is 'Big Log,' a ballad that features a vague Latin lilt and a discreet synthesizer gloss that complements the sexy elasticity of Robbie Blunt’s guitar," David Fricke wrote for Rolling Stone. "Against his best heavy-metal instincts, Plant resists easy histrionics and opts for a far more effective quiet tension in his bluesy wails and bassy coos."
The song was a favorite with fellow musicians, too, including Grammy-winning country singer Alison Krauss, whose cover of "Big Log" sparked a collaboration with Plant that resulted in two hit albums.
"I used to play [the cover version] over and over again, saying, 'Look, people know me out there,'" Plant told Variety. "The fact that a luminary like Alison would be singing a song about my torrid love affairs."
Related: 1969 Hit, Written on an Organ, Changed Hard Rock Forever
