Robert Plant Reveals the Song That Inspired To Become a Musician
JB Quentin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A Young Artist Searching for Direction
With long blond hair, a striking voice, and stage outfits that left little to the imagination, Robert Plant became the image of a rock frontman during the counterculture era. His presence alone could command a room, but behind the look was a musician who cared deeply about his craft. Beyond the wild shows and dramatic stories tied to Led Zeppelin, Plant had a strong desire to create music that meant something and carried real emotional weight.
While fans often remember the loud moments and bold choices, Plant’s artistic path was shaped by more than theatrics. He had a keen sense of individuality and a growing interest in songs that carried ideas worth thinking about. From a young age, he believed music could do more than entertain. It could challenge people, open their minds, and introduce new perspectives.
A Shared Admiration for Bob Dylan
Among the musicians who inspired him, Bob Dylan held a central place. Dylan’s influence reached Plant and his Led Zeppelin bandmates, especially as they navigated the rise of socially conscious music. Jimmy Page once shared a meaningful memory about their connection to Dylan. “In May 1965, I experienced the genius of Bob [Dylan] at the Albert Hall,” Page wrote in an Instagram post.
He added, “He accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and cascaded images and words from such songs as ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’ and ‘She Belongs To Me’ to a mesmerised audience. It was life-changing.” Page’s reflection showed just how deeply Dylan affected their understanding of what songwriting could be.
Though Plant was younger, he was already paying close attention to music that pushed boundaries. In 1963, as he approached 16, he began recognizing that songs could speak about more than simple themes. They could reflect real experience. “This next track was a particular and magnificent inspiration to me when I was 15 years old,” Plant said while DJing.
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Hearing Dylan for the First Time
He continued with honest admiration: “I think my world turned around and upside down when I heard this track from The Freewheelin Bob Dylan. It’s ‘Down The Highway,’” he orates with great reverence. The song, though not one of Dylan’s biggest hits, left a lasting mark on Plant. He believed Dylan didn’t just reshape his own outlook, but influenced people everywhere. Dylan himself talked about his work as a path toward a “liberated republic,” and in Plant’s eyes, that idea reached its fullest form through songs like “Down the Highway.”
The track’s structure is plain 12-bar blues, and on the surface, it even resembles a simple love song. Yet Dylan used these familiar elements in a fresh way. He avoided clichés, stayed personal, and added a reflective tone that set the song apart from most folk music of the time. For Plant, this showed how traditional styles could hold deeper meaning when approached with honesty.
A Lesson in Writing with Purpose
Even Dylan’s notes about the album added to the impact. As he wrote: “What made the real blues singers so great is that they were able to state all the problems they had; but at the same time, they were standing outside of them and could look at them. And in that way, they had them beat.” Dylan took his own feelings—partly shaped by Suze Rotolo leaving for Italy—and turned them into a thoughtful expression instead of a simple lament.
During an era when many folk artists relied on old standards, Dylan’s willingness to write from a personal place stood out. It showed listeners a new kind of songwriting, one that allowed the artist to think about life, observe it, and shape it into something meaningful. This approach opened Plant’s eyes to what lyrics could do beyond filling space between guitar parts.
How Dylan Changed Plant’s View of Music
Plant later explained how strongly this shift affected him. “Something happened when Dylan arrived. I had to grapple with what he was talking about,” he told The Guardian. It pushed him to understand references, ideas, and influences he had never encountered. He added, “His music referenced Woody Guthrie, Richard and Mimi Farina, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk and all these great American artists I knew nothing about. He was absorbing the details of America and bringing it out without any reservation at all, and ignited a social conscience that is spectacular.”
He concluded with a reflection on how Dylan introduced real-world themes to young listeners like him: “In these Anglo-Saxon lands we could only gawp, because we didn’t know about the conditions he was singing about. Dylan was the first one to say: hello, reality. I knew that I had to get rid of the winkle-pickers and get the sandals on quick.”
