Misty Mountain Hop

I came to this site looking for more information on the story that I had heard in multiple places regarding the meaning of this song, but it seems no one has posted the true meaning as I've heard it. Well, here it is, courtesy of Wikipedia, the quickest reference I could find:

"It refers to an incident when Robert Plant was held for some hours in police custody for loitering after dark in Hyde Park." -Wikipedia article on the song

Based on this information, it would seem that Plant was out for a walk when he ran into some flower children who asked if he wanted to score. While many people see marijuana here, I think given the time period and who he scored from, I think LSD is an equally likely possibility. Furthermore, given the fact that he says he:

A) Didn't even notice that it had gotten very dark, and B) Was 'really, really out of his mind'

It seems likely that he was on more than just marijuana. I know I can say that no matter how much grass I've smoked (and I live in BC, widely known for our excellent smoke) I've never been in a state that I would even remotely describe as 'really, really out of my mind.' Stoned, yes. Baked, yes. Even too high, yes. Never 'really, really out of my mind.' On the other hand, there have been many times during my long career of psychedelic exploration that I have reached states that I would describe, either in the moment or in retrospect, as 'really, really out of my mind.' So basically he was detained by a policeman for hanging out after dark in a park, with a bunch of 'suspicious characters' (as I'm sure the police would refer to a bunch of members of the counterculture of the day) while being under the influence of something.

The verse that begins 'Why don't you take a good look...' has always struck me as being spoken by a member of the police department. It seems like a very typical thing for a member of the establishment (see: 'the man') to say to a group of hippies who, in the mind of the speaker, are accomplishing nothing but spinning the clock and 'rotting their mind.' I can remember many a-time when a similar thing was said to me in my youth.

The final verse has always carried for me the tone of a 'call to arms' (figuratively) for the youth of the day. In my mind, Plant is saying that the majority of people of that day in his society don't really care what their government does to them and their kin. They don't care if they're pushed from the political 'right' or 'left', they're just happy to do what the establishment tells them to. It is so upsetting to him that he has decided to go to a place where his spirit can be free and he can be among like-minded individuals. The Misty Mountains are a metaphor for a long and difficult, yet ultimately rewarding and meaningful journey. Anyone who has read Tolkien's work can tell you that the Misty Mountains are a place that is mysterious, awe-inspiring, and seemingly infinitely far away from the perspective of the main characters at the start of their journeys.

While the basis of the song , Plant's encounter with the police one evening in Hyde Park, are apparently known, the rest of the song is certainly open to interpretation, and I could have gotten it quite wrong. I'd be happy to hear what others think.

Plant explained it briefly in concert a few times, in that he's describing someone just wanting to enjoy a walk with a little stuff to smoke, with the hippy generation around, and being busted by police. He certainly employs quite a bit of symbolic license (as mentioned above) in saying he'd like to head off to a place that isn't so sociologically rigid.

He really had a thing about Tolkien, didn't he?

Its definately a Hobbit reference. One of Bilbo's stops on the way to the Lonely Mountains was the Misty Mountains. It's where he met Gollum and consequently found the One Ring.

But the song isn't really about the Hobbit, its more of a metaphor.

i think it's refering to a person's perspective on a party that gets raided by the police for drugs.

Robert Plant goes through a park and sees these hippies. They ask him if he wants to score some big weed. but some aren't really hippies. They are undercover officers.("I didn't notice cus it had been very dark, and i was really, really out of my mind") He is so stoned that he didn't notice the hippies weren't hippies. Then another officer who was working with them comes up and lines all of them up, and reads them their rights and all that shit.

Next, the policeman ask him to describe his state, and if he likes it. Mainly, do are you happy to just smoke your head off? Do you realizing you are killing yourself?

"There you sit... Rusting." he is just sitting there, oblivious, cus he is high. "You really dont care... State of mind" He doesn;t even notice or care that the police are coming, he is so amazingly stoned.

Thats all I got.

Its about the hippy movement, pot, and Bilbo Baggins

I think this is a song about what was going on all around in the 70's, and how it made (i think robert plant wrote the lyrics?) him look at himself and question his own identity. After realizing that it's impossible to find yourself in a sea of society's conformity he decided to go someplace secluded and magical to see who he really was, without the pressures of other people and the media distorting his perspective. The beginning reminds me of New York...like how Central Park was in the late 60's-early 70's...

this song only makes one mention of any of tolkiens books, and that is the line, so i am packing my bags for the misty mountains,, this parallels bilbos leaving the shire at beginging of fellowship, in that plant was obviously disturbed by society and seeking so type of secluded place that would better fit him for the time being.

word...all four of them were into all sorts of cool, mystical shit. and some people who are obsessed with the lord of the rings take the ideas of the books and see them in almost every zeppelin song. come on now guys...