• Writers: Led Zeppelin
• Producer: Jimmy Page
• Recorded: 1972 at Stargroves, England, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
• Released: March 28th, 1973
• Players:
  Robert Plant — vocals
  Jimmy Page — guitar
  John Paul Jones — bass
  John Bonham — drums
• Album: Houses Of The Holy (Atlantic, 1973)
• Also On:
  Led Zeppelin (Atlantic, 1990)
  Remasters (Atlantic, 1992)
  Complete Studio Recordings (Atlantic, 1993)
  Mothership, 2007
• One of Led Zeppelin‘s handful of hit singles, “D’Yer Mak’er” peaked at Number 20 the Billboard Hot 100.
• The title is pronounced “jer-may-ker,” as a play on the word “Jamaica.” American fans sometimes miss the joke, and pronounce it “Dire Maker.”
• Bassist John Paul Jones says the title “is from an English joke — a guy says, ‘I took my wife on holiday in the sun last year.’ And another guy goes, ‘D’yer mak’er?’ And the first man goes, ‘No, she went of her own accord.’ It’s an extremely English joke.”
• Jones said the song came about from a haphazard studio jam: “It started off with me just doing a reggae rhythm and (drummer John) Bonzo (Bonham) not doing a reggae rhythm — he found reggae extremely boring. We were just falling about and he was trying his best not to. And it turned into ‘D’Yer Mak’er.’”
• The song also makes use of doo-wop conventions, which were a favorite of lead singer Robert Plant.
• Plant was reportedly the Zeppelin member most enthusiastic about the song. At his urging, Atlantic Records released it as an advance promotional single to announce the Houses Of The Holy album.
• Led Zeppelin never performed the song live, but Plant would throw lines from it into the group’s extended performances of “Whole Lotta Love.”
• The release of Houses Of The Holy was delayed for three months while the cover photo of naked children crawling around a hill of rocks was shot and perfected.
• The Houses Of The Holy album peaked at Number One on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 11 million copies. It also hit Number One in the U.K.
• Interestingly, the actual song “Houses Of The Holy” did not show up until Led Zeppelin’s next album, Physical Graffiti.

FAST FORWARD:

• Sheryl Crow covered “D’Yer Mak’er” on the 1995 album Encomium: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin, while Great White did so on the 1999 covers album Great Zeppelin: A Tribute To Led Zeppelin.
• Following the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin chose to break up the band rather than continue on without him.
• Page, Plant, and Jones have reunited for special occasions, such as Live Aid in 1985 and the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert in 1988.
• Plant and Page hooked up for an “unledded” tour, which paved the way for the albums No Quarter and Walking Into Clarksdale.
• The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
• Page played a handful of shows with the Black Crowes in late 1999 that led to the album Jimmy Page & the Black Crowes: Live At The Greek.
• Jones has released two solo albums and toured in recent years. He has been working on a new studio album for some time.
• Page and his wife Jimena (pronounced hee-MEN-uh) are active in trying to help Brazilian street children. That work earned the guitarist the honor last year of being named an Officer Of The Order Of The British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.
• Led Zeppelin received the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2005 Grammy Awards.
• Plant recently scored a hit album with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, called Rising Sand, which opened at Number Two on the Billboard album charts.