The song “Stairway to Heaven“ marked an extraordinary opus by the american rock band Led Zeppelin. Many think that “the Zeppelins“ had more successful songs related to their artistic expression, but the voice of the audience, in spite of everything, won. And besides that, later, every significant band had to have one song in their discography that would be a match to “Stairway to Heaven“. For Deep Purple it was “Child in Time“, for Genesis “Supper's Ready“, etc.
When it comes to Jimmy Page and his virtuosity every story has already been told. One of the greatest guitarists in the history of rock 'n' roll, with his solo parts, made the above-mentioned song so appealing that many critics compared it to lovemaking. It starts with gentle tones building up toward a brilliant ending like an orgasm. However, most of the confusion is caused by the lyrics, which some people praise and consider it to be top poetry while others see it as pretentious and absurd.
The truth is, the meaning of the song will be incomprehensible to anyone who tries to approach it rationally. First of all, we should understand the era in which those lyrics were written. It was a period of the hippie movement, anti-war mood, massive drug use and above all, there was desire to reach the level of the universal love that erases all the differences among people.
According to one of the interpretations, the band's frontman Robert Plant wrote the lyrics under the strong influence of Tolkien's epic (books). That is why there are numerous motifs which point to a forest that has magical powers. Therefore, you can get the answers that you seek only if you are one with the nature. But, in my opinion, the point of the song is in its last verses:
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
Plant hid the song's meaning in variety of symbols, just like a mystic, to conclude, in the end of the song, that only if we listen to our own soul we will connect with each other. And when we do connect, we won’t be the stone that rolls aimlessly, but the rock that resists time, forever.
That is the charm of “Stairway to Heaven“ . Whatever approach you use, nobody can tell you that you are wrong. Your interpretation will be a reflection of yourself. If you want to believe that this song, when played backwards, is an ode to the devil, let it be so. If you believe that this song embraces and sends a message of universal love that hippies left as a legacy to this world, you are not alone.
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