In 1971, Led Zeppelin released a chart topping, revolutionary song that is currently still played by many people across the globe. The song “Stairway to Heaven” off of their fourth album( Led Zeppelin IV) was almost an instant hit amongst all people of the United States, and various other countries.
The song was composed by band members Jimmy Page (guitarist) and Robert Plant ( vocalist). The song is lengthy one, with a duration of roughly eight minutes and withholds many complex segments.Stairway to heaven begins as somewhat of an older folk type melody, then delves into a deeper, more abrupt, electric type of composition whilst the whole time altering tempo. It was and still is today one of the most revolutionary and most played rock songs of all time.
When you take the time to sit down and analyze the message of song, you may find yourself puzzled as to what the meaning of the song truly is. While there are many theories behind the definition of the song, there is no verification by any credible source that these theories are indeed facts.Zeppelin has never actually disclosed their intentional meaning of the song, this leaves Stairway to Heaven solely up to the listeners own interpretations. Responsible for Revelations : The Author There were two authors responsible for the construction of the masterpiece known as “ Stairway to Heaven”. Robert Plant was born in West Bromwich, England on August 20th, 1948 (PlantBio 1).
He was raised by his mother and father Robert and Annie Plant in Halesowen, England (PlantBio 1) .When he was just a kid he took a strong interest in singing and was greatly influenced by idols such as Elvis Prestley, Robert Johnson and Bukka White (PlantBio 1). He later on became to be one of the most successful song writers of his era. He later met up with guitarist Jimmy Page whom was born August 9th, 1944 in England (PageBio 1). Page was just a small boy when he picked up a guitar and began instructing himself how to play (PageBio 1). After various involvements with other music groups and numerous solo gigs Page was discovered by a popular band known as the “Yardbirds.
(PageBio 1)It was at this point in time Page was introduced to Robert Plant and offered him a role in the band (PageBio 1). The “Yardbirds” had much success as a band, however, Page and Plant decided to break off from the band. The two men founded the band we know today as Led Zeppelin. After a few years of success the band was underway on their fourth album ( Led Zeppelin IV)(PageBio 1). After the bands fifth tour which took place in Wales, guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant were spending time at the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in South Snowdonia, Wales.Here they began building the piece and putting many of the musical elements of the work together.
Page had many guitar riffs and other electronic pieces that he had long been working with but had no occasion or adhesive to tie them all together. As Page worked to intertwine all these pieces Robert Plant was close by listening and absorbing the acoustics and electronic waves that would soon enough become Stairway to Heaven (PageBio 1) . One evening while listening to Page collaborate all of these elements in a working order Plant stood up and began singing lyrics to the melody (PlantBio 1).This act comprised most of the lyrics of the upcoming song leaving only bits and pieces of lyrical addition and piece revision left to be done. Around this time many people were engaging in the idealism of self liberation and expression.
There are many beliefs in what this song is written about however none are justified or validated by the band. Since there is no research to sway any ones natural opinion in a reasonable manner it leaves the songs listeners with only one option, think and evaluate. The rise of the these new beliefs in self liberation and peace went against the normal “conformity” of society.This popular uprising of ideals and behaviors allowed people to really delve into their own lives and consider who they truly were with no restraints from society and a relief from pressures of the “norm”. This leaves the song open ended, with no set boundaries and allowed oneself to express and reveal individuality through interpretation. People, Perspective, and Perception : The Audience The main audience of the song stairway to heaven was not limited to any particular group or country.
The creative diversity of this song seemed to have adopted a broad range of listeners from throughout the globe.The song was open to anyone and everyone, from people who strictly liked the new acoustical factors of the song that had not been prevalent in many song prior, to people who wanted to do some soul searching and analyze the lyrics to better understand themselves through interpretations without having to conform to strict definitions that society had pressed upon heaps of musical works prior and up to the release of this song. The take off of this song was a little shaky because of the new elements and components that Plant and Page added into the instrumentals of the song.All of these new unique parts required the listeners of this song to do some “getting used to”. Your ideal listener to this song is younger people who were trying to navigate their lives through a new system of beliefs and wanted to become detached from the concrete lifestyles of their previous generations. These people wanted to experiment and go beyond the confines of a sheltered routine life and experience life for themselves with aspirations to become their own person.
This song allowed revelations through interpretation.A handful of listeners were from the United States and preaching for a message of peace amongst life, and were involved in the Counterculture movement of the nation. Many listeners also were from other countries from throughout the world such as England throughout many parts of Europe (StairwayAnalysis 1). Older listeners did not quite see eye to eye with the song due to its creativity and tempo variations. These audiences were raised and influenced by more of the folk music genre and were somewhat biased to the song.
These were exactly the opposite motives of the new generation of listeners. They sought open minds and hearts among people and felt that bias was merely a shutter to many of the different yet beautiful things in the universe. The emotions of the song from the newer listeners had mixed emotions about the song. The listeners who enjoyed the song felt that it was taking the genre of rock music and the culture of its listeners to a newer stage. The song had implied meanings of beliefs of religion and non-religion depending on how one interpreted it.
The excluded audience felt that the song was trying to alter values of religious beliefs to the younger age groups of the world. As a part of the culture shifted to a less narrow minded and more accepting and less biased one, one could clearly see how older listeners would say the song was an outlet to express individuality giving its listeners a notion that maybe the religion they were raised upon was only practiced by them because it was strictly all they have never experienced, and possibly influencing them to seek and explore and even adopt other sets of religious beliefs.Stairway to Heaven had an underlying message of apocalypse, this did not settle well with the older more biased view of the song (StairwayAnalysis 1). Since the majority of the older listeners were of Christian or Catholic denominations and for the most part stood firmly in these beliefs, the song conflicted with many of the beliefs and scriptures of these religions , like such that god would never create another naturally occurring mass wipe out of people on earth, and the assumption that the listeners of the new age interpreted that the lyrics were talking about another higher power that was not necessarily the Christian god.
The younger generation of America in particular was becoming more open to more profound and greater means of supernatural beliefs or faiths therefore were able to better adapt themselves to the lyrics and ideas of the music. Honestly I believe that Plant and Page had no real intentions for the analysis of this song, rather, they wanted to their audience to be able to express their own values and interpretations of the meaning of the song. It is such a new and controversial piece of music, that depending on the creativity, values, and ideals of the listener can mean many different hings and be taken in a variety of ways. I believe that their intentions of interpretations were successful because still today there is no real knowledge of what the song means. Although, there are some opinions that are more strongly believed than others, all they amount to are opinions.
Inspiring Individuality : The Text By sitting down and analyzing certain excerpts from Stairway to Heaven one of many messages that can be adopted is the idea that there are many choices in life that determine where you spend eternal afterlife.In the song the lyrics say ,“Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you're on”, this can be fathomable by retaining the concept that during life you can take the route to do good or evil but in the larger spectrum of your life you always have the option to stop taking the righteous path of life and do evil or vice versa. Also in the song they sing, “ There's a lady who knows all that glitters is gold, nd she's buying a stairway to heaven, When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed, with a word she can get what she came for. ”An interpretation of what this is implicating on a more in level that meets the ear is that not all things in the world can be bought and that there is a sense of salvation that when mortal man realizes that not all things are of a material essence it is then they become accepted and embraced by the higher supernatural power.
Another verse that can be perceived and correlated to a sense of judgment and conviction from an immortal omniscient presence reads “Your head is humming and it won't go, In case you don't know, The Piper's calling you to join him, Dear Lady can you hear the wind blow, and did you know, Your stairway lies on the whispering wind. ” Analysis of this portion of the text depending on views and mannerisms of the translator can be depicted as implying that the decisions you make in your life are not always going to be simple.Along the course of life you will be exposed to situations that you will have to decide between what is righteous, which, in this case is the whispering wind leading you to the stairway to heaven. However, you are sometimes deafened to the calling of this righteous path because there is a conflicting factor luring you in and blinding you to this righteous calling, which is the wicked piper's tune engaging your mind causing the humming that disables it to acknowledge the route of righteousness.Some believe that because of Robert Plants fascination with the Tolkien books “Lord of the Rings” that the meaning of the song corresponded to Frodo's journey throughout the series of books (StairwayAnalysis 1).
In the lyrics “ There's a feeling I get when I look to the west, And my spirit is crying for leaving, In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, And the voices of those who stand looking”, in a sense this can correlate to the journey for the ring by hobbits Frodo and Sam (StairwayAnalysis 1).Some people still interpret the song in this sense even though Led Zeppelin has denied and connection between the song and Lord of the Rings (StairwayAnalysis 1). There is also another popular idea of the song amongst people that the message throughout the song is about the apocalypse and that people need to change there ways and start doing good before the day comes that the “Piper calls for you” (StairwayAnalysis 1). Piper in this sense of interpretation being a supernatural evil being.
There are many other interpretations of the song leaving us no real knowledge of what it actually means but peoples opinions and analysis.Therefore, the message of this song is very obscure and is limited only to a listeners imagination. In listening, as many believe was intended, it tends to make you think deeply if one lets themselves delve deeper than just the song and further into their souls. It allows you to question the decisions you've been making in your life thus far.
This enables people to question whether they have been living morally right or wrong and then can lead to an examination of who is to decide what is morally right or wrong.Examination and reflection of oneself from this point forward can break off into many tangents as to beliefs of higher powers, uncertainty of religious views etc. , leaving the in depth analyst with a philosophical debate with themselves and the world around them. As many believe this justifies the artists' intentions which was to think outside the imprisonment of conformity and what is considered “usual” and allows one to open ones eyes to the countless possibilities and views of this universe.
Labeling this work with a set structural organization is troubling if even possible, being merely just a compilation of verses, electronic elements, and guitar riffs. Zeppelin uses a very emotionally loaded type of approach to the singing of this song because of the variance of pitch and volume and because they are trying to get creativity active in the readers head so they can better enjoy the song and be able to express their own thoughts and ideas about it.This makes the tone of the song very serious, yet powerful, and almost overwhelming to get a full idea of the first time you listen to the song. The audience may listen to the song five or six times before even having an idea what to think about it. Conclusion Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin was and still is today one of the most revolutionary and most played rock songs of all time.Thinking about the true message of stairway to heaven is an impossible task because there are so many interpretations of the song that no single analysis can be correct, the meaning of the song is limited only by ones imagination, beliefs and influences.
Plant was definitely successful in making people give a second thought to existence, religion, and other means of everyday life that requires that implication of influence to spark the notion in the listeners head that in life your only limits are what you can personally conceive.
