RICHH: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN LYRICS EXPLAINED!! Subject: American Pie Lyrics Explained in rec.music.misc, someone writes: > Remember the song "American Pie" by Don McLean? Remember wondering > what the heck he was saying? Well, this song has been placed on > some pop music critic's Ten Best Songs of All Time list and > another's Ten Worst Songs of All Time list. The difference was in > knowing what he was saying. ------------------------------------------ Remember the song "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin? Remember wondering what the heck he was saying? Well, this song has been placed on some pop music critic's Ten Best Songs of All Time list and another's Ten Worst Songs of All Time list. The difference was in knowing what he was saying. My SO and I spent an evening attempting to decipher the lyrics, which for the most part isn't hard except that the blasted album never provided printed lyrics - a major boo-boo for this album IMHO. The lyrics are sheer poetry and account for most of the quality of the album. Maybe Roger was trying to make it more secretive and get cult status from it or something. Anyway, here's our "guess" as to what is being said in the lyrics, I hope you agree. Add insightful constructive comments where you think I didn't fill in enough detail. Now maybe if I played it backward... Players: King ............. Buddy Holly Lady ............. Clearly, Billie Holliday, given Jimmy Page's love of the blues. True, Billie Holliday's forum was jazz, so the point is clearly moot. But valid, nonetheless! referenced Pink Floyd............ Piper at the Gates of Dawn Robert Frost Stairway To Heaven -------- -- ------ 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, and she's buying a stairway to heaven. ------------------------- Billie Holliday is in her dressing room, shooting up. A single candle and a bent spoon stand in mute testimony. ------------------------- 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. Ooh, it makes me wonder, Ooh, it makes me wonder. ----------------------------- Lady Day can see the writing on the wall. The drugs have taken their toll. But, with the first rush from the heroin, she hears a songbird. That songbird is she. ----------------------------- 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 standing lookin Ooh, it makes me wonder, Ooh, it really makes me wonder. --------------------------------- Makes us wonder too. --------------------------------- And it's whispered that soon If we all call the tune Then the piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn For those who stand long And the forests will echo with laughter. If there's a bustle in your hedgerow Don't be alarmed now, It's just a spring clean for the May queen. 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. And it makes me wonder. ----------------------------------- the piper is clearly a Pink Floyd reference. the "piper at the Gates of Dawn" will lead us to "Momentary Lapse of Reason", thereby encompassing the whole Floyd canon. How Plant could have foreseen "Momentary Lapse" we attribute to the endless mystery that is genius. bustle in your hedgerow. "Hey," says Roger Plant, "Whazzat?" "Nothing," responds Jimmy Page. "Nothing at all." May queen? Queen. Brian May. I think you hear me knockin... two paths you can go by. Clearly a reference to Robert Frost, Bonham's favorite American poet. Zeppelin, like Frost, chose the path less-travelled. Innovators, all. ------------------------------------ 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. ----------------------------------------- Back to Lady Day. Yes, she well knows which way the wind blows. ------------------------------------------ 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 ev'rything 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. ------------------------------- Listen very hard We take this to mean "Play the song backwards." But then again, we're clearly psychotic. ------------------------------- And she's buying a stairway to heaven. ------------------------------- And the farm. ------------------------------- RICHH