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"Achilles Last Stand" is a song by the English rock group Led Zeppelin, featured as the opening track on their 1976 album ''Presence''. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at Page's house in Malibu, California where they stayed for a month while Plant was recovering from injuries he sustained in a car accident in Greece in 1975. The song was then recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany. It is often seen as a precursor to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound that would expand soon after. ==Overview== "Achilles Last Stand", at 10 minutes and 25 seconds, is the third longest studio recording released by Led Zeppelin (after "In My Time of Dying" at 11:06 and "Carouselambra" at 10:34). It is famous for John Bonham's powerful drumming, John Paul Jones's galloping bass line (played on a custom-built Alembic eight string bass) and Jimmy Page's overdubbed orchestral guitar arrangement (the dozen or so guitar tracks having been recorded in Munich in a single session). Page applied vari-speed during production of this song to speed up some of the guitar overdubs, one of the few times he employed that device in the studio for Led Zeppelin songs. In 1977, he explained: It has been suggested that the title of the song was originally supposed to be known as "Wheelchair Song" as an acknowledgment of Plant's broken ankle which caused him to fear he would never walk again, and which was a result of a car accident. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Plant's experiences in Morocco, where he and Page travelled following Led Zeppelin's 1975 Earl's Court concerts.〔 〕 Plant specifically refers to Morocco's Atlas Mountains in the line: "The mighty arms of Atlas hold the heavens from the Earth". This is a double-meaning to imply the Atlas mountains in a physical sense seeming to hold up the sky, as well as the reference to the Titan Atlas and his task to hold up the sky on his shoulders and thus separate it from the Earth. Plant's lyrics were also inspired by some of the poetry he was reading at the time, which includes William Blake. "Albion remains/sleeping now to rise again" is a reference to Blake's engraving ''The Dance Of Albion''. The following is an excerpt from the poem that goes with the song: :''Albion rose from where he labour'd at the Mill with Slaves. Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death.'' Albion is the most ancient name of Great Britain. Jimmy Page has been quoted as saying that "Achilles Last Stand" is his favourite Led Zeppelin song. "Achilles Last Stand" was used in the film ''Dogtown and Z-Boys'' (2001), one of the few times the band allowed a number from its catalogue to be used in a motion picture. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Achilles Last Stand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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