Hmmmm. I thought the column sucked. He could have at least checked to see if the “alleged” Esquire article really exists, for Pete’s sake. Also, not funny at all. In short: Worst. Column. Ever. But I’m not bitching. That’s the problem with art: to each his own.
OTOH, SSitser’s posat made me laugh out loud. I assume microshakespeare is a variation on the reputed SSI unit of beauty: the millihelen, defined as the amount of beauty required to launch one ship.
Personally, if this song is also Lord of the Rings related, I lose some respect for Zep… I like the books plenty, but couldn’t Plant have maybe come up with a few of his own ideas? 
Seems like half of Zep’s songs are about Tolkien, and the other half are uncredited covers or steals from classic bluesmen. [Nothing against Zep, but it’s sorta true.]
Another thought: Plant supposedly dashed this song off very quickly; I remember reading in a music mag some years ago that he just put the pen to the paper and suddenly he was writing “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.” (Of course, that’s a steal from Shakespeare, so perhaps it’s easy to do quickly - but anyway.)
There are meanings and things to the song. The May Queen and the bustle in the hedgerow definitely has something to do with fertility, yada yada - but I think it’s always problematic when you start saying an entire song is about something, since so many songs are combinations of a lot of ideas that aren’t initially related. The beginning of the song deals with materialism in some way, but that doesn’t come up in latter parts of the song. In case I’m muddying my meaning, I’m saying that trying to create a singular, over-arching meaning to the song probably distorts it.
Thanks, dtilque and SSittser for the feedback and the correction. Math was never my strong point.
Go here for more stuff on Doper standardized units of measure.
Jeese, I remember when the Perfect Master actually answered the question presented. What the hell was that-- a clip show of (admittedly) clever phrases he had been storing for a rainy day?
I am a bit disappointed with the effort of providing an answer, actually.
Still, given all the great previous columns, and this site, all for free, I should just shut my piehole and allow the Perfect Master a pass. So if he even remotely cares, all is forgiven.
Just out of curiosity, I did a few quick lab tests on the music, and it turns out S2H comes in at about 3 microbachs - a startling correlation with the quality of the text. Maybe we should apply for an NIH grant to explore this further!
Haven’t made it back to the other Stairway thread - headed back over there now. But still GACK!
Desmostylus said:
Except that the poem was written by Bilbo. It has nothing to do with Arwen. Nada.
From the canon:
Chapter 2 in Book II of Fellowship, p. 325 in the Ballentine paperback.
So it’s really about the love affair between Aragorn and Bilbo. Or not.
The Tolkien connection is all in the mind of the guy writing that thread.
Huh? The poem is about Aragorn, regardless of who wrote it. And who fell in love with and married Aragorn? Arwen.
Arwen never uses that poem.
Besides, the wording of the poem expresses a significantly different idea than the wording used in the song. There are many things that glitter that are not gold - silver, diamonds, flakes of aluminum (aka glitter), and glass fragments to name a few. The poem says all things gold do not glitter. This means that the gold is hidden and doesn’t shine. Very different meaning.
If Aragorn is gold that does not glitter, and Arwen is looking for gold that is glittering, then she’s going to have a hard time finding Aragorn.
Dude, it’s stretching to find the meaning you want to be there. Once you’ve concluded the result (the song is about LOTR), then searching to find phrases that can be interpreted to match. The only connection in that line is the similarity of phrase, which comes from a common expression already in the lexicon. Shakespeare uses a version in “The Merchant of Venice”. http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxallnot.html
There’s another song, from the '90s, that uses “All that glitters is gold” as a line, are you going to assert it’s about Aragorn, too?
All that glitters is gold
only shooting stars break the mold.
…
Well the meteor men beg to differ
judging by the hole in the satellite picture.
“The ice,” they say, “is gettin’ pretty thin”
That’s what I remember of it, and don’t recall the artist.
Look, it’s a common phrase, and it’s even in a different form that expresses a different meaning. S2H is not about LOTR.
I’ve long held that the songs on Led Zeppelin IV (1971) refer to Tolkien’s (1935-55) imagery, theme, and ethos, but intend other parallel assertions. I see these LZ works representing various societal opinions of the artists, expressed through lighter-than-air heavy metal, influenced by the experience of contemporary culture and literature. S2H makes sense after considering the artists’ enthusiasm for LoTR literature and the occult, coupled with world political climate, as would be observed by young rockers in Hampshire, England in the late 60’s. Fueled with artistic passion and deft musicianship, S2H was born irrefutably a classic. But what does it MEAN?
Band members have claimed that the song has nothing to do with Tolkien, despite obvious references, and Robert Plant’s, “Song about hope,” quote before S2H in Song Remains the Same, serves as substantiation that there is parallel meaning. The Tolkien references have been over-exhausted earlier in this thread - I’m not an LoTR expert, so I’ll not comment on them specifically. The original LZ IV vinyl (yes I have a copy) is devoid of text, save a production credit to Page and the lyrics of S2H. This indicates that it was the thesis of the album, whether devinely inspired, drug induced, or intentionally crafted. Despite the mysterious and intriguing, “We were stoned when we wrote it, we don’t know what it means” subterfuge by Page and Plant, we know better. Ironically, record sales haven’t been hurt by this subtle deception.
I say “ironically,” because the underlying statement S2H seems to make, considering its many devices, is the age-old theme that greed, power, (sometimes self) deception, and materialism are not the path to utopia. The symbolism implicates Western society generally, and America in particular, the “lady” referring to Lady Liberty Herself.
In an era (1965-1975) of disenchantment with American military muscle-work and a growing international animosity toward America’s heavy-handed economic and political “benevolence,” European youth felt powerless against the cold-war squeeze. Meanwhle, the buzzing drone of Madison Avenue painted a thin veneer of idealistic American optimism over a society which, at best, appeared immature and self-indulgent to more established nations.
Rock of the era, framing this LZ masterpiece, corroborates this - “American Woman” by Canadian The Guess Who (1970), English The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (1971), and an American view of English and American imperialism in The Eagles’ “The Last Resort” (1972) are but a few of numerous excellent examples of critiques on Western and American values released within a year of S2H.
Thinner than the veneer of Madison Avenue is the LZ allegory describing privately-brokered power, and mistrust among nations. The handwriting is on the wall, while we reminisce about the simplicity of a simpler, happier time. Page goes on to acknowledge the pursuasive, intoxicating draw of Western idealism/materialism, likening it to the promise and the music of the Pied Piper of Hamelin (1284), yet balanced against the threat of mushroom clouds enabled by the inaction of bystanders (Paul Simon, “Sounds of Silence” (1965)).
Harder to verify is the allusion to Queen Elizabeth II, causing a “bustle” as she cleans house, forcing figures out through the hedgerow at the edge of her monarchy. This was probably an important political referent at the time but is meaningless now (at least to this American).
All the while, the hopeful news is that we have a choice to become money-grubbing sell-out hedonists, or to take another path - the high road similar to one pursued by a particular Hobbit.
Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “Blowin in the Wind” (1963), or Martin Luther King’s, “Winds of change are blowing, and the new order is coming into being” (1967), may have been the inspiration for S2H’s warning of a perilous climb upon the blowing, whispering wind - a shallow materialism built on a naive ideal.
As the song culminates in an Orwellian (1949) prediction of the facade of materialism overtaking our souls and our society in its entirety, it warns against inaction - to be a rock, and not to roll - an ironic and antithetical twist on Gandalf’s similar LoTR phrase, and upon the premise of Tolkien’s entire work.
So yes, the text of S2H has meaning. And is it relevant today? Imperialism is being reborn in a new world order of unparalleled dimension. And lest you think these stoners hadn’t the capacity for this depth of complexity, pick up a guitar and try to learn this music.
You have to have a solid ear for the old, old sayings, to discuss permutations on them properly. The Tolkien phrase “All that is gold does not glitter” is but a re-working, for the sake of rhyme, of the old saying “All that glitters is not gold.” The latter does not mean that anything that glitters is not gold, it means that not everything that glitters is gold. The ancient ones were not fools, they knew gold glittered; they also knew “fool’s gold” glittered. In the same way, Tolkien’s rephrasing means that not everything that is “gold” glitters (one ancient example: a heart of gold).
The old term “stairway to heaven” is of course used every which way in these modern times. It long ago passed into what was called the “common coin”, or phrases that everybody, no matter how ignorant, had heard more times than they could count. Poetic license allows us to turn such phrases to our own uses, not necessarily according to their original meaning (which no one knows these days anyway, besides me). The Stones’ use of it merely elicits the meaning of “reaching for heaven”, the common understanding.
Peace
…On second thought, I’d retract my previous assertion that the “May Queen” verse has anything to do with the Queen of England or the Monarchy. I do not believe this is a direct reference.
I think the analysis is correct, in that the phrase has to do with political housecleaning. But I think the May Queen represents yet another euphemism for Lady Liberty, the youthful, vibrant symbol of American bread-basket prosperity and power, and is perhaps an indictment of Her self-serving and manipulative foreign policy, all supposedly in the name of freedom. This interpretation makes the song even_more relevant today.
RE the “hdh 04-27-2003 11:57” comment on glitter/gold, I agree, and add the additional interpretation, “Some apparent forms of prosperity are not actually prosperity beneath the surface.” I’ve proposed that the lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold, is the US deceiving Herself that materialism - money and power - are the way to happiness.
These comments go stanza-by-stanza as the lyrics are listed in the jacket sleeve of the LP. Lachesis said pretty much the same thing, but we diverge a bit toward the end. This is just how I’d read the song, but by no means would I suggest that “this is what it means.” Nope. Just my thoughts.
Like many songwriters, Plant gives us a character to illustrate his song. She thinks she can earn/buy her way to heaven (bliss/joy/literal heaven) and that her affluent influence will still give her privilege.
She sees a sign on her way to heaven, and she “wants to make sure” because words can have two meanings. Literal lyrics within his story (lady buying a stairway). Then, the image of a songbird singing—the first of his nature images, and it sings that thoughts can be mistaken just as words can. That’s important.
What does he wonder? He’s wondering about the previous lines: if sometimes ALL of our thoughts are misgiven, what can we believe? What is real? (Is there no spoon?)
A common image for an inner spiritual yearning. It’s the quest of the song. Even buying a stairway is a spiritual quest. Then, Plant’s image of “heaven,” one shared by countless fantasy enthusiasts.
Once we all know the song, we’ll ‘get it,’—that is, we’ll understand life, the universe, and everything, most likely–and once we SING IT, we’ll be given those answers. The “piper” will lead us into a “new day” with laughter in the forests and wisdom all around. Of course, if we’re all calling the tune, who is the piper?
Don’t worry if life gets a little messy (a bustle). The fuss and bother is just part of life sorting things out. And don’t worry about wrong choices: even if you take the Wrong path in life, you can ALWAYS choose the Right path (for whatever that means). In other words, redemption and forgiveness are always possible.
Now you’re wondering, too. Your head is humming—you’re starting to get the tune, it ‘hums’ in your head. (What is ‘the tune?’ It means that you ‘get it,’ you understand. It may be another Tolkien link, as Middle-Earth was “sung” into being by Eru (the One, or God) and his ‘Ainur’.) Hey, lady, are you starting to understand? Heaven isn’t a tengible item you can buy. It’s intangible, and it is everywhere—like the whispering wind. Everywhere, but impossible to grasp.
As we go through our lives, overwhelmed at times by life (our shadows), we see the lady, now shining and realizing that EVERYTHING is gold. The rest is literal, Plant’s thesis in a nutshell.
I don’t see a sacrifice in the last “buying a stairway,” I think it was just Plant-style semi-folk songwriting, the common way of ending a song by repeating an opening line.
Hmm…I had never thought it through before.
Interestingly enough, on Sat. 4/26/03, the Science Channel’s program called Pharoahs - Egypt Uncovered, relayed a translation of a hierolglyph regarding Pharoah’s ascent to the heavens via the pyramid. They specifically translated it as “a stairway to heaven.” I guess they should get credit for being the original purveyors of this thought, & perhaps Robert Plant, in an enhanced state of drug induced enlightment picked it up on a stream of consciousness.
Just a thought.
Good stuff, Paulonius, Lachesis.
And I concur, Laurengr, the pharoahs did think they could buy their way in…
So like, maybe, the song was, like, eternally floating in the Aethyr*, and, like, Robert Plant just kinda, like, FOUND it! Whoa, Dude!
Actually yeah, it probably all was a mishmash of imagery in Plant’s head from Tolkien, Celtic lore, Goddess paganism & all sorts of other mysticism, including Egyptian.
*Ya can’t take a great esoteric concept & spell it normally.
“Ether”? Bah! It’s AETHYR!
Shopping. Consuming. Buying:
“There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
And when she gets there she knows if the stores are closed
With a word she can get what she came for…
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven …”
Least that’s what my wife claims, and since she survived the 60’s and early 70’s I suppose she’s got squatters rights.
Just her and a few tens of million of other boomers.
Me, I think Plant wrote some of these magnum opuses the same way David Byrne supposedly did–pull slips of paper with random thoughts out of a shopping bag. Or out of his head, or the ozone or whereever. His greatest accomplishment might be just surviving to the present, him and Keith Richards.
Nah, it’s Æther :). And if you’re going to fall back on “traditional” references, the May Queen is either Titania, queen of færies, or the Blessed Virgin Mary. If you’re falling back on traditional references. But it’s quite possible, of course, for a songwriter to ascribe a completely different meaning, or no particular meaning at all, to that phrase.
Did Plant have influences from Tolkien in that song? Probably. But he probably also had influences from a bunch of other stuff, to just as great a degree. Doesn’t mean you can claim that it’s really “about” any of those in particular.
Stop it you freaks, read"Hammer of the Gods"- it tells where Robert was reading some other book by some Brit writer with a lot of the references used in Stairway… and the lyrics just rolled of his tongue (Jimmy was playing the acoustic start of the song at the time). Or something like that - I had the paperback and it’s no where to be found. They do use a lot of “mystical” crap so the Tolkien references are valid but not the whole tune. And yeah, I was disappointed at how many songs they “lifted” off of obscure bluesman too, but they sure sounded good ! It’s not like we needed another Dylan(not his real name) to bang our heads to…
After reviewing all the posts, I think the “Seinfeldian” answer is the correct one, it is a song “about” nothing. Just a bunch of interesting phrases, snippets and ideas strung together around a few general themes. The thing is, is that the music behind the lyrics are what really make the song great anyway. Heck, my laundry list would sound pretty good to that music and sunf by Robert Plant at the height of his talent.
*There’s a lady who knows, that Eric needs cloves, and he’s driving his car to Saaaaafeway. . . *
See!
Well…there are a lot of good thoughts here, but I recall a quote by Robet Plant concerning the meaning of Stairway to Heaven…and I’m paraphrasing I’m sure…
“I wish everyone would quit asking me what that song is about…it isn’t about anything”
Plant was pretty well known for writing lyrics that gave a song certain cadence…not really so concerned with meaning. I feel ceratain that there are obvious Tolkien references there…every “good hippy” had read Tolkien’s works by that point…in fact I believe they issued every hippy a copy of “The Trilogy” with their first bong. I don’t however think the song is in any way rewriting of ANY tales or poems from The Lord of the Rings. I think the chosen lyrics gave the music the “mystic” feel that Zep was going for on that album…ultimately I really doubt there is any deep hidden meaning to the song. But as someone said earlier…it is a fun game.
ZenDude