| Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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My goodness there's a lot of posts; I don’t see how mine could make a difference, but ill post what I know none-the-less. First off, let us get a few myths and misconceptions out of the way. When asked, none of the band members has ever given a straight answer regarding the meaning of this song. When asked on NPR Robert Plant pretty much just talked about how it was written. The most we can get out of them is Plant generically describing it as “spiritual” and saying “This is a song about hope” (which actually substantiates my argument). Let me make it as clear as I can: backmasking is impossible. There are no intentional backmasked lyrics in “Stairway to Heaven” because it is not possible. Without blatantly technical proof and such, I can break this down a lot more simply. Take a microphone and record yourself saying the words in it. Play it backwards. Still not convinced? If you have a decent voice and good sense of meter and time sing it (or get someone else to) and record it. Play that backwards. Still not convinced? Take a live recording of Led Zeppelin playing “Stairway to Heaven” and play that backwards. Still not convinced? Get the studio version of “Stairway” and play it backwards for anyone and everyone can without telling them the hypothetically backwards words and see if they can distinguish anything. For anyone who thinks they brought in a Satanic priest to supernaturally do it, you can ask an psychologist and see if Led Zeppelin would have any motive for that. Furthermore, Zeppelin did not rip off this song. There was a song by Spirit called "Taurus" in which the first few notes are incredibly similar to "Stairway to Heaven". They are both arpeggiating an Am chord in 4/4 which is about as common as “Stairway to Heaven” gets played on the radio. This really only takes place in the first few seconds of the song, so really, I don’t see where Zep is ripping anyone off. They've done it before, but not on this song. Now, take a look at the lyrics. The problem that the lyrics are proposing are very much parallel to the Eagles' song "Hotel California". The Eagles claim that “Hotel California” is about the depravity of L.A. (Blender magazine had an article on it). “Stairway to Heaven” is very much the same idea that the world is on the path to destruction. I would say the solution is where the Eagles and Led Zeppelin differ. For one thing, “Stairway” is more about the solution than it is the problem. For another, the Eagles don’t seem to believe in a solution (keep reading). Now, while the Eagles say “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”, Led Zeppelin says “There are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” I think what Plant is saying is that we are on the path to destruction, but we can change and work towards utopia. I think the lady who is buying a stairway to Heaven (we’ll call her “the Lady”) almost represents a person, who in a way, will plead with the human race to change. She’s going to try and make it so that the human race can change and then look for those who will help her and allow her to do so. Then we have characters (obviously symbolic) like the May-queen and the Piper who will lead us to fulfill the Lady’s goal. I’m not so sure that Plant intends to imply that the Lady has actually figured out how to revive the human race. Plant tells her “Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know/ your stairway lies on the whispering wind.” The “whispering wind” is probably Plant’s own opinion of the solution and he’s trying to tell the Lady what to do. The majority of what I am arguing as the meaning of the song comes out in the last stanza. The lady wants to show how there is still beauty in the world and that if we really listen to her we can have unity. Still the solution Plant is proposing is very unclear. I do believe that Plant is suggesting that the world can united in utopia under music, hence the character the Piper, who will lead us and that it will be a “tune” that comes to us at last. The Led Zeppelin song “The Rover” off of Physical Graffiti has some interesting lyrical parallels. In “Stairway” Plant talks about the “whispering winds” being the answer. In “The Rover” Plant says “There can be no denyin' that the wind 'll shake 'em down/ And the flat world's flyin'. There's a new plague on the land.” I wonder if this is the same “wind” from “Stairway”. The main chorus of “The Rover” goes “If we could just join hands…” (yes, it’s corny). In some ways this seems to contradict my hypothesis that Robert believes that music can unite the world, all the same, the context of this line (you’ll have to read the rest of the song for yourself) is almost implying that through rock n’ roll we can “join hands”. Others have speculated regarding the meaning of “Stairway” and let’s face it, it is fairly subjective. I’ve heard people argue it is about Vietnam. Some have argued that it is post-modern and has no meaning. Considering Plant said he wrote the bulk of the lyrics in under half of an hour, that’s quite plausible. It is not about Lord of the Rings! Some people suspect it is related to Aliester Crowley. I doubt it, because Robert Plant wrote the lyrics and Jimmy Page was the one “fascinated” with the occult. For all we know it’s about really good sex. Any information that is not song interpretation or stated as opinion is more than likely fact. The majority of it probably came from the book Hammer of the Gods which is widely considered the most reliable Led Zeppelin biography to date. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Thank You Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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this is zeppelin thanking their fans. and that would john bohnam on backup vocals |
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| Led Zeppelin – The Ocean Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| plant says he wrote it about his daughter. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Hey Hey What Can I Do Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| yeah she's pretty much a "street corner girl" or prostitute. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Dazed and Confused Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| page admittedly jacked this song from someone else. this song and "tangerine" are the only songs soley credited to page (that featured other members on the track). the lyrics and main guitar line were pretty much stolen. i hate to think of it, but it's undeniable. page did use his violin bow on this song until around 77, when page refused to play this live claiming it was too rudimentary (i think he just felt guilty because he stole it), and so the bow solo was incorporated into "whole lotta love" | |
| Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| it's pretty much one big "we're better than your band" song, which is why zep ruled. they described there sound as the "hammer of the gods" (thor). im almost certain it's about how their music will help them take over the world (so to speak) and take over america. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Achilles Last Stand Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| plant claims to have written the lyrics after climbing some mountain and seeing the view. i definetly could see how the beautiful view from whatever european mountain could instill the muse the write this epic song. i think it's just a description of the feelings he felt from that view in the context of led zeppelin's career. he compares zep to mythology (which has been done since teh "immigrant song") | |
| Muse – Yes Please Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| im not sure on the song meaning (i always listened to in the context of insomnia based on agnosticism, kind like the dyslexic insomniac who would lay awake all not wandering if there's a dog). i do know that thi is "yes, please" as found on hullabalo. do know that there is a file circulating on P2P that is mislabelled as "yes please" but is actually "ashamed". | |
| Muse – Hysteria Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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it's pretty blatantly about liking a girl. this is even more obvious in the original lyrics to the song (when it was called "i want you now"). i for one, found these lyrics incredibly relational considering my most recent circumstances with a girl. i couldn't sleep because i couldn't stop thinking of her. that kind of thing. as for TIRO and hysteria sounding alike. that's really subjective, but i know how to play both songs on guitar (and im familiar with the bass lines) and i can tell you that they are both in A and that's about the only similarity (im not even sure of that). while they do both use a similar bass distortion, chris did use two different distortions between the songs (i read this in an interview in BassGuitar). guitar-wise it TIRO uses octaves and scale progressions while hysteria is more or less a I, IV, V progression. believe it or not you could probably find more similarity in stockholm syndrome and TIRO than hysteria. |
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| Muse – Plug In Baby Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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for a while i thought this was matt saying that music is his catharsis, but i actually read where he said it was a critique of the internet generation and how we find our out in technology while forsaking the really important things. for the record, pretty much anything i say that matt bellamy said can be found in the microcuts.net news archives. |
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| Muse – Fury Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| i think there is intentional irony when matt says "we'll PRAY that there's no god". well, who are you going to pray to? he could have used the word "hope" just as easily (no it wouldn't sound right to us, but had he done it we would have thought "pray" wouldn't sound right). i think it's an acknowledgement of humanities depravity. bellamy is saying that if there's no god then our actions are existential and relative and there is no "wrong", but if there is a god then he will punish us for our right and wrong even though he put pain in the world. religiously i would probably ahve to disagree with bellamy, but that's none the less what i got out of the lyrics. | |
| Muse – Citizen Erased Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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i think it's about how we are raised. you are born and immediately are taught to sin (to "lie" and "coverup"). and by the time your older you're a slave to this sin. at one point he might have been "free" and "open minded" it could also be about a girl cheating on him. i know that's the less-deep answer, but all the same he does say "please stop asking me to describe him" and it would imply she's "cheat"ing on him. blah blah. all the same i dont think that's the case, but it's just another perspective. |
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| Muse – Megalomania Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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i definetly think he is denying perfection. the idea is that what we think is paradise is really just one big pain in the ass and not worth the injustice it would take to acheive it. it's almost like he's saying he doesn't want to to go to war in in order to acheive peace (as all wars have claimed as their reason). oh and megalomania is when one person is so obsessed with themselves they are almost dictators. hitler would be a great example, the guy practically thought he was a god. i dont see what is has to do with big cities, but whatever you were saying about that sounds more like Romanticism (as in Roman and not romance). |
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| Muse – Bliss Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| bellamy said himself it was about him wanting happiness. im not sure if it actually envied a particular person or it was a hypothetical person. i think it has to do with Bellamy's search for truth (last thing i read from him was that he's agnostic) that will bring him bliss. | |
| Incubus – Circles Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| at least as of Make Yourself Brandon is an existentialist (hence the album name "Make Yourself", yet in this song he refers to existentialism as a carosuel. i wondered if this wasn't a critique of existentialism. perhaps it is the whole "what goes around comes around" thing, but i think it's referring to thinking circles and not karma circles. | |
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