“Please Read the Letter” by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
“Please Read the Letter” is a breakup song. And it’s obvious that the vocalists, who are participants in said relationship, aren’t particularly happy that it’s coming to an end. But at the same time, they don’t appear to be making an attempt to prevent what’s transpiring.
So it’s as if they both know that parting ways has become an inevitability. And apparently it is so because they have respectively done things which are not conducive to its perpetuation and/or were unable to pick up on the signs that the other person was becoming disinterested. Both parties seem to have come to realize that the other just doesn’t fit the bill.
So as far as this letter which they are pleading with the other to read, all lyrics considered it would logically be something like a goodbye note. Or viewed alternatively, it is the last expression of ‘I love you’ between these two former significant others.
So it’s like even though they’re breaking up, they obviously don’t want it to be one of those types of situations where you walk away hating your ex. Rather the message being relayed is akin to ‘we tried our best but failed’, as in ‘I know I’m not the right person for you’.
But evidently some good transpired between the two of them nonetheless. And the vocalists come off as if, in closing, they want that part of the relationship to be remembered more so than anything else.
Original Release Date of “Please Read the Letter”
This song was originally released in 1998 by Robert Plant alongside Jimmy Page, both of whom are co-writers. It was featured on an album they put out as a pair that same year entitled “Walking into Clarksdale”. And to note, Robert Plant was the lead vocalist of Led Zeppelin throughout their 20+ years of existence, and Jimmy Page was the guitarist of the band.
The other writers of this song are Charlie Jones and Michael Lee.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Version
It doesn’t appear that the original Plant and Page version of “Please Read the Letter” was ever released as a single. The one Robert put together with Alison Krauss did though. It originally came out as part of an entire collaborative album between the two, entitled “Raising Sand”, on the date of 23 October 2007. And in 2008 it was released on its own.
Alison Krauss is a country singer from Illinois who specializes in a related brand of music known as bluegrass. She isn’t necessarily a household name. And that is actually odd enough considering the fact that Krauss is one of the most Grammy-decorated musicians in history.
Plant and Krauss’s version of “Please Read the Letter” was not a hit in the popular sense of the word. For instance, upon first being released it didn’t chart at all.
However, it did catch the attention of The Recording Academy, i.e. the organization responsible for the Grammy Awards. And this resulted in the song taking home a Grammy, in the much heralded category of Record of the Year, in 2009. (To note, Raising Sand was also named Album of Year also.) And after receiving this accolade it managed to appear on the UK Singles Chart and Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100, though not necessarily impressively in either regard.
The producer of this track is one T-Bone Burnett. T-Bone is another musician who, like Robert Plant, has been in the game since the 1960s. And the company that made the song public is an indie label called Rounder Records.
Who directed this song’s music video?
The music video to “Please Read the Letter” by Plant and Krauss was directed by Rocky Schenck.
