Immigrant Song

This song is about the Viking invasion of Britain in the A.D. 800's. It was at this time when Christianity was just about to become the dominant religion of all the kingdoms on the island... and then disaster struck. The so-called "Danes" (from Norway actually!) invaded from the north-east coast and subdued region after region, reintroducing the pagan ways of old. Villages were torched, churches and libraries were demolished. As kingdom after kingdom collapsed, civilization in Britain was threatened. The viking rulers forced the people to pay a tribute tax, the "Danegeld", making them the "overlords" of Britian. The lone hold-out was the south-west Kingdom of Wessex (West Saxons) lead by Alfred the Great. They were the only people stopping the vikings from reaching "the western shore". Here Christian culture was preserved, and eventually the pagans were driven from Britain and/or introduced to Christ.

sounds that way at first, but what ruins would there be to rebuild in america between 800 and 1066 AD? i`m pretty sure it's about the viking invasions of Britain around 800-1000 A.D., since Britain's eastern coast (or the english channel's western shore) was where most of the attacks were aimed. also, i think

"For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing"

could be an allusion to england's norman invasion in 1066, since that invasion was pretty much the last great invasion of the British isles, and paved the way for England's power in the future. oh, and by the way, Valhalla is the "hall of Heroes", where, in norse mythology, Odin kept the souls of those great fighters that died in battle so that he would have an army of great fighters with him for the final battle at the end of the world.

Norsemen of course:-) My ancestors. I doubt this is the actual meaning, but it always made me think of the Norse being the first Europeans making it to Vinland-The Western Shore- Sailing in their longships, fighting against the storms, on a wide sea to reach Vinland.

Yeah, sounds more like an invasion of Britain. "To fight the hoarde" To my knowledge, there weren't exactly an abundance of hoardes in North America at the time.

The Vikings were mostly from Norway and Denmark, very few if any from Finland. But I'm not going to talk about that. This might either be about when the Danish invaded the English shores or when Leifur Eiríksson sailed from Iceland to America, since this song is written after Led Zeppelin played in Iceland, I'm guessing it's the second:P

"From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow."

It's bright 24/7 in Iceland in the summer, so the midnight sun might be referring to that and even though there are hot springs in other places in the world, I do believe that they only "blow" in Iceland, because of the subterranean heat:P

i think this song refers to them first touring the united states and winning over new fans.

Back in the day, Zeppelin were known to pillage like vikings.

In my opinion, taking into account everything that has been said about the song; that is is supposed to be funny etc, this is Robert comparing the way Led Zep were sweeping through the world at the time, to the way the vikings did. He said they had just come from iceland, "we come from the land of the ice and snow". it is about them and their incredible domination of the music scene. Now, don't you think that sounds like Robert Plant's brand of humour? :)

and guys dont compare the lyrics in this song too harshly with the historical facts of the viking invasions. yes, the mentions of 'hordes' and 'ruins' dont exactly fit in with north america, and yes, it's iceland that's famous for hot springs, not mainland scandinavia - but remember these were rockstars writing the lyrics, not history or geography professors.

makes sense it fits with led zepplins obsession for celtic lore