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Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top Make Top Thanksgiving Songs List

11/24/2010
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(Gibson) As thousands of families gather this Thursday to give thanks (and to devour scrumptious turkey dinners), it seems appropriate to pause and consider the number of songs that contain expressions of gratitude. Anyone who doubts there are thousands of ways to say "Thank You" need only peruse this venerable list of compositions. From Abba (with "Thank You for the Music") to ZZ Top, artists of every color and stripe have offered up humble missives of appreciation. Below are 10 such songs that represent the cream of this rich crop.

"Thank You" � Led Zeppelin (1969): This track from Led Zeppelin's second album marked the first instance in which Robert Plant wrote all the lyrics to a Zeppelin song. An ode to the singer's then-wife, Maureen, the song instilled in Jimmy Page the confidence that Plant could handle all of Zeppelin's future lyric-writing. A staple of the group's live shows in the early '70s, "Thank You" served as a showcase for John Paul Jones' exemplary keyboard work. Page and Plant revived the song � in mellower form � in 1994 for their Unledded tour.

"I Thank You" � Sam and Dave (1968) / ZZ Top (1979): With the exception of Aretha Franklin, no R&B act experienced greater success than Sam and Dave did during the duo's Stax years. Fittingly, "I Thank You" was their swan song for Stax, although they continued to record for Atlantic in the years that followed. Of course, as every guitarist knows, ZZ Top resurrected the song in superb fashion for their 1979 album, DeGuello. Delivering their version with a slinky, slower tempo, Billy Gibbons and his mates imbued the track with slyly sexual innuendo.

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