increased over eight minutes leading to a climactic feeling at the end. The song itself doesn’t have just one set format but rolls into different meters and instrumentals. The lyrics are very abstract which Plant said was part of the reason for its allure and Page said that he "knew it was good, but I didn’t know it was going to be almost like an anthem. The wonderful thing about Stairway to Heaven is the fact that everyone has their own individual interpretation to it, and actually what it means to them at their point if life." as quoted in the Deezen article. Thus the adolescence of many generations find the words entrancing and transformative.
The title of the song is often compared to the biblical stairway which Jacob saw in a dream in Genesis 28:11-19. Jacob’s ladder as it is called, is used in this context to draw some connection with Jacob’s wrestle with God and bring religious meaning to the song. In fact, many of the lyrics are interpreted to speak of the second advent of Christ. However Plant argued that this was not his intention. He said that it was a “cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration.” The idea of a woman trying to purchase salvation while others followed the pied-piper to a true heaven is the central concept of the song. Also, Page and Plant abhorred the idea of these lyrics being overanalyzed. They felt that the song should be taken “as is” and be more of an emotional experience than an intellectual one. Plant always evaded specific questions and criticism. He has and is still answers vaguely the questions regarding himself, the band and this, their most famous song as heard in the NPR interview of September 2014.
The tone of the song is one of mysticism and has an ancient medieval flare to it. Folklore and history are also included in the lyrics providing another-worldly scene. The repetition of the pied-piper character leading others relates to an old German folktale of a village hiring a pied-piper to lure their rat pestilence away from their homes and into a river to be drowned. After not receiving payment for his services, the pied-piper lures the children of the village to the same fate. Although the tale is dark, Plant’s usage of the character has an uplifting connotation in that he leads others to salvation. The May queen refers to the leading lady of the May Day festival in which farmers would celebrate the first day of planting. This conjures medieval images of children at the maypole and the warmth of spring. Nature itself it revered in the song with lines such as “In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings.”
Rock
Classic Rock's Transcending Hit
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