No. 925 – Poor Tom

Performer: Led Zeppelin

Songwriters: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant

Original Release: Coda

Year: 1982

Definitive Version: None

The Led Zeppelin box set wasn’t the first CD I bought after I went digital in 1990, but it had to be one of the first.

Box sets, of course, had become popular not too long before that, but at that point it was reserved only for the biggest bands who had enough songs to fill four discs. And buying one was a commitment—as much as $60 if you bought it in a record store, which I did. But that was no sacrifice for Led Zeppelin. It really was the first chance to get a big collection of their songs.

I bought the set at the Genesee Valley Mall west of Flint, and the thing I remember most about that day was that it was the only time I ever ate lunch at the mall. I had finished work around lunch as per usual, so I went straight to the mall, bought the album and went upstairs to the open food court. I remember sitting close to the wall and looking over the song list on the back. What I ate that day was lost to the sands of time.

Poor Tom, of course, was one of those songs, and I realized in reading how little I knew of Led Zeppelin’s songs. I knew all the hits and everything from IV to Physical Graffiti, but that made up only about half of the box set. There was a lot to learn, and I couldn’t wait to get started when I got home. I’m pretty sure I blew through the whole box set that first day.