This song opens up as soon as it starts, with the wind blowing like a whisper until it absolutely doesn’t. Around two minutes in, I begin to wonder, just as the lyrics say.
Stairway to Heaven is poetic, musically and lyrically, and approximately 8 minutes in duration. It’s a new song every time you hear it. I’ve heard it hundreds of times, perhaps 500 or more.
Released on November 8, 1971, on the untitled fourth Led Zeppelin album, known as Led Zeppelin IV, Stairway to Heaven is whatever you think it should be. At the time of writing, it’s captivating.
Most times when I hear the song from the beginning, I really begin to tune in when Plant sings “Ooh, it makes me wonder.” I always want to start over and understand what’s happening in this folklore. However, I respect the art, continue to listen until the end, then play it again, only to get lost when Jones plays the recorder and takes me down a path. So I continue, then play again.
Suddenly, another 24 minutes of wondering was added to my day.
First impressions from an insider: “Bloody hell, this is earth-shattering”
Led Zeppelin consisted of founder and lead guitarist Jimmy Page, Robert Plant on lead vocals, John Paul Jones on bass and keyboards, and John Bonham on drums. The band was active from 1968 to 1980, when the band disbanded following Bonham’s death.
There’s an interview that perfectly details hearing Stairway to Heaven for the first time. Glenn Hughes played in a band called Trapeze and had been friends with Bonham for years. In autumn 1971, Trapeze was playing at Mother’s in Birmingham and Bonham was in the crowd, jumped on stage, and started playing with the band.
After the show, the party continued at Bonham’s house. Hughes stated, “It’s about three or four in the morning… and he says: ‘I want to play you something. It hasn’t been released yet – it’s an acetate of the fourth Led Zeppelin album, it hasn’t been mastered yet.’ “He plays me the entire record and it comes to Stairway to Heaven, and of course I’m only 19 years old, and I’m thinking: ‘Bloody hell, this is earth-shattering.’”
As for the lyrics, Page wanted to create an epic song for the fourth album. In April 1970, 18 months before its release, Page was interviewed by NME, stating “It sounds corny, but we’ve got something we want to try out but I don’t want to tell you about it in case it doesn’t come off. It’s an idea for a really long track on the next album…well, we want to try something new with the organ and acoustic guitar building up and building up to the electric thing. It will be probably a 15 minute track and I’m really looking forward to doing it. I can’t really tell you more about it in case it doesn’t work out. But I think it will.”
Led Zeppelin recorded their fourth album in late 1970 and early 1971, with the majority of it being recorded at Headley Grange in Hampshire.
Was the Piper holding the pen?
Page stated the band was working on the instrumentals, “We’re running through it, and it’s taking a lot of concentration, but we’re getting the movement in and the sections are really starting to gel, and it’s all working and becoming cohesive. I remember vividly Robert was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, writing, while this was going on. We had another couple of run-throughs and then he walks over and he starts singing along. From my recollection he had a good 90% of it then.”
“As we were doing all that, Robert was writing down the lyrics. They just came to him really quickly,” said Page. “He said it was like someone was guiding his hand.”
Plant recalls that “I was holding a pencil and paper, and for some reason I was in a very bad mood. Then all of a sudden my hand was writing out the words, ‘There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold/And she’s buying a stairway to heaven …’ I just sat there and looked at the words and then I almost leapt out of my seat.”
Plant said the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven drew some inspiration from the book The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis Spence.
“My contribution was to write lyrics and to sing a song about fate and something very British, almost abstract,” said Plant.
The first live performance of Stairway to Heaven happened Friday, March 5, 1971, at Ulster Hall in Belfast. The audience was clapping and cheering. This was also the first public performance of Black Dog, Going to California, and Rock and Roll.
Lyrically: Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
The opening verse is magical, mystical in a way. Transportive and quickly takes you toward a journey to the one place people really want to experience—Heaven, and whatever and wherever that is to you.
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And 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
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to Heaven
Whoever this lady is, she has confidence and power, along with the ability to get whatever she wants with only saying one word, even if the stores are closed. In this case, the glittery facade of happiness that materialism brings.
Plant stated that the opening lyrics are “some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with that cynical sweep of the hand… and it softened up after that.”
There’s a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven
The emotional shift happens quickly. Despite having everything, doubt creeps in with that sign on the wall. What does it say? It makes me wonder. Then comes the sage wisdom: sometimes words have two meanings. A choice must be made to move forward.
“Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven” resonates. We question, we doubt, we worry about outcomes that may never come. That’s the tension within Stairway to Heaven. It keeps you wondering.
Then, just before you get too deep, an image of hope during uncertainty comes in with a songbird in a tree by the brook. A feeling that something is with you guiding you along the way.
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, makes me wonder
There’s a feeling I get when I look to the West
And my spirit is crying for leaving
Now the narrator enters. “Look to the West” and “my spirit is crying for leaving” suggest a desire for something more. The West has long symbolized new beginnings. That crying spirit reveals a desperate, emotional pull toward something new.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees
And the voices of those who stand looking
Rings of smoke signal a beginning. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Something is starting, momentum is building. Others are waiting there, calling to join them on this journey.
Ooh, it makes me wonder
Ooh, really makes me wonder
The tension builds again. Plant himself is still wondering, stating, “Depending on what day it is, I still interpret the song a different way – and I wrote it.”
And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
The awakening. A reverse on “he who pays the piper calls the tune.” The piper as mythological figure or a spiritual guide will lead us to reason, but only if we call the tune. The “tune” is the collective understanding that material pursuits do not lead to lasting happiness.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter
This journey requires patience and discipline. Stand long enough and the reward comes: a new day to experience. Those forests where smoke signaled the uncertainty of something beginning now echo with joy.
If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen
A hedgerow is “a strip of densely planted trees, shrubs and other plants forming a border,” common in Britain. The “bustle in your hedgerow” may represent the transition between the old self and new self. “Don’t be alarmed now” is a reminder not to be stressed, just continue to call the “tune.”
“It’s just a spring clean for the May queen” points to renewal and a fresh start coming. Spring cleaning is about decluttering and removing unwanted items that take up space.
The May Queen is a symbol of spring and appears on the May Day holiday on May 1st in many countries, particularly in Europe. The May Queen was a young woman chosen by a village to represent the hopes and potential for the coming year. The “spring clean” is preparation for her arrival, clearing away the old to welcome the new.
May 1st is roughly the halfway point between spring and summer, symbolizing the time when nature is in full bloom. Coincidentally, the inclusion of the May Queen comes at the halfway point in the song. Mind-blowing artistry from Led Zeppelin, especially when Bonham comes in with the drums.
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
The long run demands self-discipline and patience. But regardless of your choices, you can always change the path you’re on.
Your head is humming, and it won’t go, in case you don’t know
The piper’s calling you to join him
The lyrics “Your head is humming, and it won’t go” mean there’s a recurring thought in your mind about something important that continues to capture your attention.
“In case you don’t know, the piper’s calling you to join him” serves as a reminder that when you forget your purpose or doubt sets in, the guidance is present and will lead you toward reason.
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow? And did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?
What she’s seeking can’t be bought. Heaven and fulfillment come through listening and acting on reasoned guidance, not through the accumulation of materialism. Her stairway is built on nothing solid, and the “whispering wind” is a metaphor for how you pursue happiness.
The crescendo
The music and Plant’s vocals elevate, almost drilling the message into you, with this art:
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one, and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll
As we wind down the road of combined decisions and outcomes, “Our shadows taller than our soul” reveals how our past experiences cast a heavy influence over us. Shadows linger and pull us back, even when we’re trying to move forward.
Then the familiar lady reappears, shining white light from all the materialism she’s accumulated, showing off to anyone who passes.
But there’s another way. Listen hard enough and the tune will come when we come together, “When all are one, and one is all.” Stand strong, side by side. Don’t roll ahead in self-interest searching for the next shiny item. “To be a rock and not to roll.”
The final lyric: “And she’s buying a stairway to Heaven.”
She’s still on the same path, chasing gold. Forever on repeat, never reaching heaven.
Plant said, “‘Stairway’… was something that had been really crafted. The lyrics were fantastic. The wonderful thing is that, even with the lyrics in front of you-you know how you listen to something, and you might not quite get what the words are but you get your own impression? With this, the lyrics were there but you still got your own.”
Plant said, “It’s like an orgasm at the end. It’s whatever you want it to be.”
Page stated, “This one plays with you more… It plays with your emotions, entices you in. Stairway’s almost seductive.”
The lyrics to Stairway to Heaven became the first ever to be reprinted on a Led Zeppelin album sleeve. “so that people could really concentrate on it.”
Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and Stairway to Heaven was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.
At the O2 Arena in London on December 10, 2007, Page, Plant, Jones, along with John Bonham’s son, Jason, played a benefit concert held in memory of Ahmet Ertegun, who was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records, the label that backed and believed in the band.
At the end of the song, the audience was in awe, grateful for the experience. Another 8 minutes. As Plant looked up and out of the arena, parted words with whoever heard, declaring, “Hey Ahmet, we did it!”
It makes me wonder, what is this ‘it?’
