dpat Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Since there is no official LZ lyric book (that is, written by Percy himself) does anyone think something else is being said during the "Satan and man" part of Houses of the Holy? As for myself, I'm not sure what is being sung! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houses of the Holy Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Probably an oblique reference to lemons and whatnot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woz70 Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 7 hours ago, dpat said: Since there is no official LZ lyric book (that is, written by Percy himself) does anyone think something else is being said during the "Satan and man" part of Houses of the Holy? As for myself, I'm not sure what is being sung! Definitely not "Satan and man". It's something like "slide now man", or at least something that begins "sl..." and ends "man". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmic_juice Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 I do believe its Satan ... He also says Satans daughter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the chase Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Just now, cosmic_juice said: I do believe its Satan ... He also says Satans daughter Yep.. That's what I hear.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IpMan Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Yes, that is the lyric and it refers to choice, that is Satan & man both represent the physical, base elements or the id & ego respectively. If taken in that context the lyric makes perfect sense, hence the reference to the "world is spinning faster, are you dizzy when you're stoned? Let the music be your MASTER, will you heed the MASTER'S call?" Music being the liberator, Satan & Man being the oppressor. That is why on the one hand in the lyric you have "...from the Houses of the Holy, we can watch the white doves go, from the door comes Satan's daughter, and it only goes to show..." Now we see duality, the choice between goodness and righteousness on the one hand (the white dove), and base materialism (Satan's daughter...hubba hubba). Of course dipshits will see a "satanic reference" and be all LZ are devil worshipers. This song's lyric is a great example of Robert's use of symbolism & subtlety to tell a rich story. Those who feel on the one hand Robert was a simple hippy, and those on the other who feel Robert's lyrics contain Satanic or Lucifarian principles are simply uneducated. Robert is a student of history & Jimmy a student of theology, both of which are frequently expressed intelligently within their lyrics. Then again you have D'yer Mak'er? Oh well, not everything can be deep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houses of the Holy Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 I actually like this explanation better than mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woz70 Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 8 hours ago, IpMan said: Yes, that is the lyric and it refers to choice, that is Satan & man both represent the physical, base elements or the id & ego respectively. If taken in that context the lyric makes perfect sense, hence the reference to the "world is spinning faster, are you dizzy when you're stoned? Let the music be your MASTER, will you heed the MASTER'S call?" Music being the liberator, Satan & Man being the oppressor. That is why on the one hand in the lyric you have "...from the Houses of the Holy, we can watch the white doves go, from the door comes Satan's daughter, and it only goes to show..." Now we see duality, the choice between goodness and righteousness on the one hand (the white dove), and base materialism (Satan's daughter...hubba hubba). Of course dipshits will see a "satanic reference" and be all LZ are devil worshipers. This song's lyric is a great example of Robert's use of symbolism & subtlety to tell a rich story. Those who feel on the one hand Robert was a simple hippy, and those on the other who feel Robert's lyrics contain Satanic or Lucifarian principles are simply uneducated. Robert is a student of history & Jimmy a student of theology, both of which are frequently expressed intelligently within their lyrics. Then again you have D'yer Mak'er? Oh well, not everything can be deep. Deep stuff... but I think you're reading too much into it and mishearing the words. When RP sings "from the door come Satan's daughter.." his pronunciation of "Satan" is something like "Saay-ten" - a very long "ay" sound. For the bit that people seem to think is "satan and man" his pronunciation is now "Sigh-ten", and knowing the accent of his home area well - where the "ay" tends to get lengthened in normal speech - it just doesn't seem very likely to me that he'd sing an "ay" sound as an "eye" sound. Later in the song, when he gets to the end of the "let me take you take you to the movie" verse, he sings "aaah, I sigh", which is now far clearer on the reissues than ever before. (Also you can hear than "stoned" is actually "stop" now - the 'p' at the end of 'stop' is very audible). Given the distinct difference between the "eye" sound in "sigh" and the "ay" sound in "satan", and also given RP's natural west-midlands accent I think the "satan and man" lyric is misheard, and is actually more likely to be "I sigh now man" (given the later lyric) or "slide now man" (given RP's common use of the word "slide" in performance). It's still difficult to make out, but it's definitely an 'eye' word rather than an 'ay' word. In the lyrical context "satan" doesn't really work either. "so the world is spinning faster are you dizzy when you stop? let the music be your master <-- it's music that's the master, not satan! will you heed the master's call?" <-- surely that's just an invitation to dance, or screw? If it's an invitation to screw, the "slide" makes sense... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reswati Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 At least it's no dino lyric, hehehe. (Sorry, needed to type this....I just woke up, and I'm a horrible person, lololol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woz70 Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 1 minute ago, reswati said: At least it's no dino lyric, hehehe. choked on my tea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reswati Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Just now, woz70 said: choked on my tea. Cheers, hehe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmic_juice Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 To all who have posted ... The lyric is " are you dizzy when you're stalled?" ... And yes it is "satan and man" ... I.e. the recurring fixation with evil or bad things much like "satans daughter" ... I get the feeling we could get an answer from RP on this one somehow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woz70 Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 22 minutes ago, cosmic_juice said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woz70 Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 46 minutes ago, cosmic_juice said: The lyric is " are you dizzy when you're stalled?" What does that mean? If you've been spinning and you stop, you're dizzy. That make sense. Why would be dizzy when you've stalled? Stalled what - there's been no mention of cars, and that seems to be the most obvious thing you'd stall. The whole song is mostly about sex (probably with groupies), going to/playing a gig and getting absolutely loaded, and then the inevitable comedown... until the next gig. "Let me wander in your garden, and the seeds of love I'll sow", and "let me make your garden grow" - it's not even subtle! We all know that 'The Houses of the Holy' were what the band called the concert halls that they played in (and 'the ocean' was the crowd). White doves symbolise peace, and we're watching the 'white doves go', so there's no peace at the gigs - again we know from the boots that RP was often imploring the crowds to calm down. 'From the door comes Satan's daughter', simply temptation (the devil seeds temptation, and daughter because, well, female groupies) at the stage door. 'And it only goes to show, you know' and there we have temptation succumbed to - definite 'whoops, oh well!' "the world is spinning faster" - stoned/drunk to f**k, "dizzy when you stop." - self explanatory, over indulgence. "Let the music be your master, will you heed the master's call" - dig the music, get lost in the music and let it do its thing. Next verse is the comedown, "did you really screw so-and-so" etc. And then we're off to do it all again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all hail the rock gods Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Well if you have an accent people surely will mishear something. Trust me I've misheard plenty of Brits singing. Take this Zep lyric I misheard "Baby, pretty baby, love me like the window". Yes, I misheard Black Dog so badly. The real lyrics are "Baby, pretty baby, tell me what you do me now" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmic_juice Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 10 hours ago, woz70 said: What does that mean? If you've been spinning and you stop, you're dizzy. That make sense. Why would be dizzy when you've stalled? Stalled what - there's been no mention of cars, and that seems to be the most obvious thing you'd stall. One definition of stall is to stop... Also singers use copious amounts of different inflection when enunciating lyrics they sing so for RP to sing Satan with different inflection would not be out of the norm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woz70 Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 1 hour ago, cosmic_juice said: One definition of stall is to stop... Also singers use copious amounts of different inflection when enunciating lyrics they sing so for RP to sing Satan with different inflection would not be out of the norm. If RP was an Aussie or a Kiwi, I could agree with that. The 'ay' sounds for those accents can end up sounding as an 'eye'. However, he's a west midlander (long 'ay's), putting on a west coast american accent (also long 'ay's). There's just no way way he's pronouncing 'satan' as 'sigh-ten' with that combination, unless of course he's trying to win the Dick Van Dyke award for ridiculously mangled cockney accents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IpMan Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Ok, its really all subjective until Robert decides to publish a book of Zep lyrics and then explain his meaning. Until then, who knows. Let's just enjoy the music and not worry about inflections, accents, or regional meanings. Oye Vay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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