Boogie with Stu

"Boogie with Stu" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

Recording and production

It was a freeform jam recorded in 1971 at Headley Grange by Island Studios, London, where the band had done most of the recording for their fourth album. They were using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and were accompanied by Rolling Stones' road manager and pianist, Ian Stewart, who ended up jamming with the band on piano.

According to Jimmy Page this song would not have emerged had it not been for the particularly informal 'live-in' environment at Headley Grange where it was recorded:

It has been reported that Plant played guitar on the track (Page playing mandolin). The slapping guitar came from an overdub session with an ARP guitar synthesizer. Bonham's drumming was improvised in the studio. The song was never performed live.

Original title

The working title for this song was "Sloppy Drunk", said to be a title that Robert Plant came up with. but in fact that of a Leroy Carr song The song is credited to "Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Ian Stewart/Mrs. Valens", being heavily based on Ritchie Valens' "Ooh, My Head". Valens's publisher, Kemo Music, filed suit for copyright infringement and an out of court settlement was reached. As Page explained: