# Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 25, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136 "2004-06-25T03:11:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@tinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tinman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/1 "2004-06-25T03:11:28Z")
What’s the story behind Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven?” [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030425.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030425.html) This too is one of my favorite songs. I have always felt there was something behind it, but could never put my finger on it. At different times in my life the song seemed to call out to me a different message. Now, over 40 years of listening and reflecting I have come to find a “purpose” of S2H. (Side bar, Led Zeppelin called it a” Wedding Song” and didn’t like playing it after awhile) Give me a little room here and try to ‘think out of the box’ for a second. One of the strongest feelings that exist is the” Love” a mother has for her child. This might be a leap, and I know there are some non-believers out there, BUT……the “She” as in “She’s buying a Stairway to Heaven” is reference to Jesus dying on the cross. A Jacobs’s ladder of sorts. It is Jesus who “bought” the stairway for all believers to ascend into Heaven. What greater Love is there than the Love of Jesus for you, my friend. Now, my other stretch is the album cover of IV (by the way stairway is #4 on the LP ) showing a man with a bundle of sticks on his back, ie a man with a wooden cross Via Delorosa. (The way of Suffering, the way of the Cross) [http://www.ledzeppelin.com/site\_flash/fs\_discography.html](http://www.ledzeppelin.com/site_flash/fs_discography.html) Try and listen for the’ whisper’en wind’ and maybe ‘the song will come to you at last….’ And with these words he breathed his last…….verse. “And She’s buying a Stairway to Heaven………….” It is finished. “All is one and one is ALL” Together, Again! ---
**Author:** ![tinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@tinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tinman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/2 "2004-06-25T04:22:18Z")
[QUOTE=tinman] What’s the story behind Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven?” [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030425.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030425.html) This might be a leap, and I know there are some non-believers out there, BUT……the “She” as in “She’s buying a Stairway to Heaven” is reference to Jesus dying on the cross. One of my favorite lines: “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.” Quo Vadas ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/3 "2004-06-25T13:58:36Z")
I say it is blatantly about drug abuse, and if anyone wants to debate that I’ll do so later after I come back from work. As for that column by Cecil, it is truly one of his lamest. The problem is that without citing what the songwriter said about its meaning, or at least what someone credible who was close to the band said the songwriter commented it was about, we are just speculating. ---
**Author:** ![tinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@tinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tinman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/4 "2004-06-25T14:59:24Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > I say it is blatantly about drug abuse, and if anyone wants to debate that I’ll do so later after I come back from work. As for that column by Cecil, it is truly one of his lamest. The problem is that without citing what the songwriter said about its meaning, or at least what someone credible who was close to the band said the songwriter commented it was about, we are just speculating. You’re right. Its about drug abuse (evil path). No debate here, you win. Have a nice life. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/5 "2004-06-26T00:20:15Z")
> [@tinman](#): > > You’re right. Its about drug abuse (evil path). No debate here, you win. > Have a nice life. I happen to run 2 websites about the dangers and possible benefits of drug use. I don’t mean to suggest that drugs are all the lyrics of this song are about. Just that drugs are a _part_. “Your head is humming and it won’t go because you don’t know The piper’s calling you to join him Dear lady can’t you hear the wind blow and did you know Your stairway lies on the whispering wind” WHAT other than drugs makes her head humming? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/6 "2004-06-26T13:47:44Z")
Me, I always thought the song was about materialism versus spirituality. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/7 "2004-06-26T20:22:05Z")
And here’s a thread about the song: > **[Stairway to Heaven IS Tolkien related!! (LONG)](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=126556)** > > Since its release in 1971, the meaning of Stairway to Heaven has been to subject to one of the greatest debates in the history of mankind. Now it is solved… 😃 Many people have alleged that Stairway to Heaven is not about the Tolkien book The Lord... ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/8 "2004-06-26T23:35:21Z")
I’ve always assumed it was about love lost to drugs, either literally or figuratively; along the lines of the more blatant, _Needle and the Damage Done_ (Neil Young) or _Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire_ (Joni Mitchell) The “bustle in your hedgerow” would be those moments of sobriety that often frighten the heavy user. Just my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/9 "2004-06-26T23:46:55Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > Me, I always thought the song was about materialism versus spirituality. This interpretation seems plausible. I also think the theory that the lyrics are basically hippy gibberish has merit. Plant may have just slapped together the song quickly, without trying for a deep meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/10 "2004-06-27T18:27:20Z")
Read the thread that I linked to. It’s possible to make a case that the song is about: 1. Tolkien (but specifically Galadriel) 2. Tolkien (but specifically Arwen) 3. the Virgin Mary 4. any of a number of other “Ladies of Light” in any of a number of other mythologies or novels 5. Celtic mythology 6. drug imagery 7. dating a shallow woman 8. Golden Dawn-influenced ritual magic It’s a classic example of a song that can be interpreted in many ways. ---
**Author:** ![Veronica37](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/aca169/32.png) [@Veronica37](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Veronica37)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/11 "2004-06-28T05:45:15Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Read the thread that I linked to. It’s possible to make a case that the song is about: > > 1. Tolkien (but specifically Galadriel) > 2. Tolkien (but specifically Arwen) > 3. the Virgin Mary > 4. any of a number of other “Ladies of Light” in any of a number of other mythologies or novels > 5. Celtic mythology > 6. drug imagery > 7. dating a shallow woman > 8. Golden Dawn-influenced ritual magic > > It’s a classic example of a song that can be interpreted in many ways. There is no doubt that all of us who listened to this song were compelled to listen to it. It is haunting. There is a reason why. Could it be that the glittering lady is an angel? “If there is a bustle in your hedgerow…Clean by the may Queen.” If your piece of mind is disturbed…it will be restored by something pure. Okay…this song is about unity…standing as one… making good choses…The piper?? O.K.(oll Korrect) someone mentioned jesus…yep think so. As for humming in your head??? Your own voices! Piper again is calling…I think somehow this is some reference to revelations…maybe a stretch…but I’ll throw it on the table. You cannot deny that even at the end when you loved the tune…it disturbed your inner peace some how? HMMM “And if you listen very hard:the tune will come to you at last:when all is one and one is all:to be rock and not to roll:And she’s buying the stairway to heaven”…When we have united and love…she earns heaven. Okay my brain hurts. But it is good poetry. Not drug induced mumble. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven/252136/12 "2004-06-28T05:56:21Z")
I once read someplace that this part: “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now It’s just a spring clean for the May Queen.” Is an entendre about menstrual cycles. The “bustle in the hedgerow” is a tampon, supposedly. That’s all I have.