Ramble On

I like the LOTR references in this song, though I don't think that the entire thing is about those books. I think that the main idea is trying to find a perfect girl (as mentioned before.) but losing her (I really liked what a person said about the deffiniton of Gollum on the first page. I think that the reference to Mordor was just talking about a bad place in general, where he least expected to find her. Then Gollum maybe meaning some liar basically ran away with her at the last minute. I'm not deniying the references at all. I just think that LOTR refernences aren't as frequent in Zeppelin songs as some people think they are.
There deffinetly are references to it in this.

This is probably my favorite song off of Zeppelin II. Funny thing is a just read the LOTR series for the first time,and I've had the books for about four years. (This is probably because I was eleven when I got the books)

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I'm pretty sure this song is about Aragorn (Strider) and the story is actually only covered in Appendix A of the LOTR. This song recounts a part of Aragorn's life that happened well before the LOTR begins, and just before the events recounted in The Hobbit. The song refers to Aragorn's unexpected re-union with Arwen (daughter of Elrond and Aragorn's true love) in Lothlorien. At the end of this chapter, Aragorn must decide whether to stay in Lothlorien and marry Arwen or leave the forest and pursue Gollum. in the appendiceed story, we learn that, just previously to Aragorn finding Arwen, Gandalf tells Aragorn that Gollum has the ring and is hiding on the outskirts of Mordor. He also tells him that Sauron is also looking for Gollum. He begs Aragorn to find Gollum before Sauron does (neither of them winds up finding Gollum and he escapes to the misty mountains). The lyrics "but gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her" does not mean that they literally kidnapped her, but that his duty to pursue Gollum, and to not let Sauron possess the One Ring, caused him to lose his true love. The choruses in the song also seem to support my theory because, as we learn in the LOTR, after Gollum slips through Aragorn's fingers in Mordor, he goes on a thirty year, middle-earth wide search to find his true love.

I didn't know Led Zepellin are such big Tolkien fans, as apparent in a couple of their songs! That is quite awesome.

once again, zeppelin seaches for their perfect lady, or are they searching for power over all(the one ring)? they are on a journey to find the "girl so fair," it could be either one. with the tolkien references, it does seem to follow the story of LOTR. and im convinced it's not about the hobbit, but of the "rings" series.

It was inspired by the Hobbit and LOTR series..

and seeing as he says "ramble on, its time for me to go, got to sing my song, got to find that girl." as well other lyrics. its clearly a tribute to Ramblin Man by the The Allman Brothers- Ramblin Man

Ramblin' Man A man who is always on the move, travelling constantly, wherever life may take him, Also possessing a strong affinity for women but is too much of a restless soul to settle down; therefore, he often breaks hearts. His own as much as the women he is with.

First off, all artistic work is open to interpretation. Secondly artist’s do not uses literally or historic references without purpose. This literally concept is called allusion.

An allusion is a literary term, though the word also has come to encompass indirect references to any source, including allusions in film or the visual arts. In literature, allusion is used to link concepts that the reader already has knowledge of, with concepts discussed in the story. In the field of film criticism, a film-maker's intentionally unspoken visual reference to another film has come to be called an homage. It may even be sensed that real events have allusive overtones, when a previous event is inescapably recalled by a current one. "Allusion is bound up with a upon the ready stock of ideas or emotion already associated with a topic in a relatively short space. Thus, an allusion is understandable only to those with prior knowledge of the covert reference in question( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allusion).

The first verse of the song Planet says “Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay. But now it's time for me to go. The autumn moon lights my way. 

For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it's headed my way.” This refers to Planet’s many short relationships in his search for is soul mate and how he breaks them off before the become to serious. Plant’s reluctance to settle down is supported by the verse

“Got no time to for spreadin' roots, The time has come to be gone. And to' our health we drank a thousand times, it's time to Ramble On.”

The phrase “And to' our health we drank a thousand times” shows that he truly enjoyed his time with these woman. However, the need to settle down and fall in love again has alluded him and he may not even believe life is real anymore. Planet uses the line “magic filling the air” as a metaphor for the death of love.

The big controversy over the references to Mordor and Gollum in the song are allusions of Aragorn and Arwen’s relationship in LotR. 

“T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair. But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her”

Plant maybe referring to a past girlfriend he now sees as his soul mate that he met in a dark period of his life ‘Mordor’. Gollum refers to either Plant’s own pursuit of a personal task (possibly his music career) or another man who stole his soul mate from him. Plant also shows optimism towards his future with his soul mate through this reference as well. Aragorn and Arwen eventually reunite when Aragorn nears the completion of his task. In conclusion the song is a love song about Plant’s hopefully eventual reunion with his soul mate. Plant references Mordor and Gollum in the song only further enhance to depth of his story through the story of Aragorn and Arwen’s love in LotR.

yeah, there's definite references to Tolkein, but I'm not convinced it's about the hobbit... at least not entirely. Who's the woman gollum slipped away with? Certainly not the ring, Bilbo has that. The hobbit references don't fully explain it... perhaps they are there to add meaning, but I don't think that's what the song is about.

The song is about The Return of The King, Frodo, not Bilbo. Frodo realizes how much he wants the ring (A Girl so Fair), gollum comes up to him and bites his finger off, and falls into the mouth of Mount Doom. My favorite song of all time.

i think youre stretching it to say that the song is actually about the return of the king. they just used to the references to help create the kind of mysterious/mystical feeling that a lot of their songs have.

The reference to Gollum is just that, a reference. It's a cultural referent; Gollum is the threat of loss, and just in case you didn't get it (like all the people who think this actually refers to a particular episode in Tolkien), they let us know that Gollum and the Evil One crept up and slipped away with her. Gollum is a thief and murderer who lurks in the shadows, but is never far away. Think of him as malevolence, either in fate or in another person.