A woman walks into a bar and asks for a double entendre, so the barman gives her one.

I'll get me coat...

I agree. Not a big fan of Zep, but this is a great song.

Anybody else think the cover art looks like kiddie porn on acid?

The cover art for Houses of the Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End.^<1> (The ending involves several hundred million naked children, only slightly and physically resembling the human race in basic forms). It is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. This location was chosen ahead of an alternative one in Peru which was being considered.^<1>

The two children who modelled for the cover were siblings Stefan and Samanatha Gates.^<2> The photoshoot was a frustrating affair over the course of ten days. Shooting was done first thing in the morning and at sunset in order to capture the light at dawn and dusk, but the desired effect was never achieved due to constant rain and clouds. The photos of the two children were taken in black and white and were multi-printed to create the effect of 11 individuals that can be seen on the album cover. The results of the shoot were less than satisfactory, but some accidental tinting effects in post-production created an unexpectedly striking album cover.^<1> The inner sleeve photograph was taken at Dunluce Castle near to the Causeway.

Like Led Zeppelin's fourth album, neither the band's name nor the album title was printed on the sleeve. However, manager Peter Grant did allow Atlantic Records to add a wrap-around band to UK copies of the sleeve that had to be broken or slid off to access the record.^<1> This hid the children's buttocks from general display, but still the album was either banned or unavailable in some parts of the Southern United States for several years.^<3><4>

The first CD release of the album in the 1980s did have the title logos printed on the cover itself.^<1>

In 1974, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package. The cover was rated #6 on VH1's 50 Greatest Album Covers in 2003.

Jimmy Page has stated that the album cover was actually the second version submitted by Hipgnosis. The first, by artist Storm Thorgerson, featured an electric green tennis court with a tennis racquet on it. Furious that Thorgerson was implying their music sounded like a "racket", the band fired him and hired Powell in his place.^<5> Thorgerson did, however, go on to produce the album artwork for Led Zeppelin's subsequent albums Presence and In Through the Out Door.