During an Robert plant interview on one of the classic rock stations

[Lynne]

Robert was a staying at a local Hotel in one of Hollywood's Hotels and he said he when he was writing it it was something just flowed and as he was writing it it was something coming from his soul.So i think that song comes from God.

What does anyone think about Stairway to Heaven lyrics.

[sweetredwine]

Robert was a staying at a local Hotel in one of Hollywood's Hotels and he said he when he was writing it it was something just flowed and as he was writing it it was something coming from his soul.So i think that song comes from God.

A "Holy Wood" Hotel? Could be!

(poetry by Thomas Merton:)

“O brilliant wood!

Yours is the voice of a new world;

And all the hills burn with such blinding art

That Christ and angels walk among us, everywhere.

These are their ways, their fiery footsteps,

That flash and vanish, smile and pass;

--By those bright passengers our groves are all inspired.

Lo, we have seen you, we have seized you, wonder,

Caught you, half held you in the larch and lighted birch:

But in that capture you have sailed us half-mile-high into the air

To taste the silences of the inimitable hawk:

But in the dazzled, high and unelectric air

Seized in the talons of the terrible Dove,

The huge, unwounding Spirit,

We suddenly escape the drag of earth

Fly from the dizzy paw of gravity

And swimming in the wind that lies beyond the track

Of thought and genius and of desire,

Trample the white, appalling stratosphere.”

International Thomas Merton Society - Italy Chapter

[Lynne]

I like that poem makes you think very spiritual thank you.

[Mr. Da-Lo]

I like apples.

Wow...a cohesive sentence!

[SteveAJones]

Robert was a staying at a local Hotel in one of Hollywood's Hotels and he said he when he was writing it it was something just flowed and as he was writing it it was something coming from his soul.So i think that song comes from God.

What does anyone think about Stairway to Heaven lyrics.

He wrote it round the camp fire at Bron-Y-Aur in Wales, not in some Hollywood hotel.

[sweetredwine]

I like that poem makes you think very spiritual thank you.

Thank you, Lynne!

[Lynne]

Thank you, Lynne!

Your welcome.Thank you for what?

[eternal light]

I just thank God it wasn't written in a toolshed.

The song's instrumentals were written by Page "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night". Page always kept a cassette recorder around, and the idea for "Stairway" came together from bits of taped music. The opening guitar cadence took influence from a song called 'Taurus' by the band 'Spirit' with whom Led Zeppelin were acquainted in their opening days.

The first attempts at lyrics, written by Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then". Jimmy Page was strumming the chords and Robert Plant had a pencil and paper. Plant later said that suddenly, "my hand was writing out the words, 'There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven'. I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat." Plant's own explanation of the lyrics was that it "was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with that cynical sweep of the hand ... and it softened up after that."

The recording of "Stairway to Heaven" started in December 1970 at Island Records' new Basing Street Studios in London. The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971. The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV in November 1971.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven

[SilverVishnu]

Robert doesn't strike me as a particularly religious man.

[Lynne]

Robert doesn't strike me as a particularly religious man.

it doesn't matter where they come from satan or God we love the lyrics to that song.

[Georgia]

He wrote it round the camp fire at Bron-Y-Aur in Wales, not in some Hollywood hotel.

No he did not he wrote it at his welsh estate.

[eternal light]

Maybe he was cynical about a woman who was getting everything she wanted all the time without giving him anything, and he wrote the song out of frustration.

He wrote the lyrics at Headley Grange.

Edited December 18, 2007 by eternal light

[tyedye]

He wrote it round the camp fire at Bron-Y-Aur in Wales, not in some Hollywood hotel.

The Definitive Bio of LZ by Ritchie Yorke quotes Headley Grange as the location that Stairway was written....in front of the fire.

[Lynne]

i don't know about that i heard his interview was on the radio!

He honestly said that would he lie about it?

Edited December 18, 2007 by Lynne

[maven2blue]

i don't know about that i heard his interview was on the radio!

He honestly said that would he lie about it?

He might. He seems to get tired of people asking the same questions. So, maybe he was bored with the question and decided to get creative.

[Georgia]

Maybe he was cynical about a woman who was getting everything she wanted all the time without giving him anything, and he wrote the song out of frustration.

He wrote the lyrics at Headley Grange.

I know it was written in his welsh farm.

[Georgia]

Robert Plant told me personally in 2003.The lyrics to Stairway were written at his welsh home.

[Chris.]

He didn't have a Welsh home in 1970, did he? The song was begun in the cottage in Wales, though (Bron-Yr-Aur); the majority of the lyrics were completed at Headley Grange (cf. Page's quote about writing most of the words "there and then"). So you're both right.

[Lynne]

A "Holy Wood" Hotel? Could be!

(poetry by Thomas Merton:)

“O brilliant wood!

Yours is the voice of a new world;

And all the hills burn with such blinding art

That Christ and angels walk among us, everywhere.

These are their ways, their fiery footsteps,

That flash and vanish, smile and pass;

--By those bright passengers our groves are all inspired.

Lo, we have seen you, we have seized you, wonder,

Caught you, half held you in the larch and lighted birch:

But in that capture you have sailed us half-mile-high into the air

To taste the silences of the inimitable hawk:

But in the dazzled, high and unelectric air

Seized in the talons of the terrible Dove,

The huge, unwounding Spirit,

We suddenly escape the drag of earth

Fly from the dizzy paw of gravity

And swimming in the wind that lies beyond the track

Of thought and genius and of desire,

Trample the white, appalling stratosphere.”

International Thomas Merton Society - Italy Chapter

Thank you Chris for clearing that up.

[Chris.]

It's just according to the 3278190463278905674380956 things I've read about the song. No arrogance here.

[SamG]

Robert was a staying at a local Hotel in one of Hollywood's Hotels and he said he when he was writing it it was something just flowed and as he was writing it it was something coming from his soul.So i think that song comes from God.

What does anyone think about Stairway to Heaven lyrics.

Jeeeez

If you're not on drugs, Plant certainly was when he wrote that song cause that's what it is about.

[Lynne]

Jeeeez

If you're not on drugs, Plant certainly was when he wrote that song cause that's what it is about.

I don't think Robert was doing heavy drugs.Jimmy was.It probably was jimmy who inspired him while writing the music to that song while he was writing his lyrics,lol.

[Chris.]

I don't know that either of them was into heavy stuff that early on. By all accounts, Jimmy didn't get into narcotics until the stress about the 1977 show cancellations got to him (not that I'm defending that awful stuff, mind you). If you're familiar with Lord of the Rings, it's interesting to notice how many "Stairway" lyrics, in addition to the obvious references in a couple other songs on the album, could refer to those books. Rings of smoke through the trees, when I look to the west, etc. That is, until you get to the part about menstrual cycles...

[Honeydripper]

the first very rough acoustic instrumental jams of Stairway were done at Bron-Y-Aur Cottage in Wales in may of 1970.

The first preproduction/arrangements work was done at Headley Grange, Hampshire January / February 1971

During the 71 sessions you can clearly hear the arrangements being worked out...early versions had many extra music measures that wound up being chopped down. Page was on acoustic, Jones on keys and Bonzo tapped a single drum to keep time. Robert started by humming along......what sounds like hashing out the vocal melody.....which to my ears sounds like he was directly playing off of JPJ's mellotron. Further takes has him quietly singing what is about 80% of what was to become the final lyrics. Some lines were close but not exact. So that means rewrites did take place. One alternate take even has a full vocal line where "and it makes me wonder" is now. Later takes has the final lyrics. Goes to show that writing is a process and not some message from above. It is however true that the songs that seem to come naturally w/o much thought are usually keepers right from the start.

Here's how 99% of rock tunes are written......a riff or chord progression sparks interest in wanting to write a song around it. Other instruments are added and arrangements are hashed out. Vocal melodies are then figured out by humming along to the instrumental song until something works. Key words that fit the vocal melody are included in the humming.......then the lyricist takes what he/she now knows about the music and fills in the vocal melody with words. Later when asked what the song is about, they make up some extravagant and poetic story behind it. It's that simple. And when a lyricist says they were "inspired by"...does'nt mean some prophetic message came from the sky...it just means they happened to have recently read a book or seen a film about something and it happened to be on their mind at the time.

Here's how some other classic tunes were written. Satisfaction by the Stones. Keith is playing guitar at home while on a bender. He passes out. In the morning he wakes up and hits play on a recorded he had rollong the night before and Satisfaction was on there.

Walk This Way by Aerosmith was "inspired" by????.................Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. (true!)

[eternal light]

the first very rough acoustic instrumental jams of Stairway were done at Bron-Y-Aur Cottage in Wales in may of 1970.

The first preproduction/arrangements work was done at Headley Grange, Hampshire January / February 1971

During the 71 sessions you can clearly hear the arrangements being worked out...early versions had many extra music measures that wound up being chopped down. Page was on acoustic, Jones on keys and Bonzo tapped a single drum to keep time. Robert started by humming along......what sounds like hashing out the vocal melody.....which to my ears sounds like he was directly playing off of JPJ's mellotron. Further takes has him quietly singing what is about 80% of what was to become the final lyrics. Some lines were close but not exact. So that means rewrites did take place. One alternate take even has a full vocal line where "and it makes me wonder" is now. Later takes has the final lyrics. Goes to show that writing is a process and not some message from above. It is however true that the songs that seem to come naturally w/o much thought are usually keepers right from the start.

Here's how 99% of rock tunes are written......a riff or chord progression sparks interest in wanting to write a song around it. Other instruments are added and arrangements are hashed out. Vocal melodies are then figured out by humming along to the instrumental song until something works. Key words that fit the vocal melody are included in the humming.......then the lyricist takes what he/she now knows about the music and fills in the vocal melody with words. Later when asked what the song is about, they make up some extravagant and poetic story behind it. It's that simple. And when a lyricist says they were "inspired by"...does'nt mean some prophetic message came from the sky...it just means they happened to have recently read a book or seen a film about something and it happened to be on their mind at the time.

Here's how some other classic tunes were written. Satisfaction by the Stones. Keith is playing guitar at home while on a bender. He passes out. In the morning he wakes up and hits play on a recorded he had rollong the night before and Satisfaction was on there.

Walk This Way by Aerosmith was "inspired" by????.................Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. (true!)

A message from above could find its way through a process like writing if someone from above intended.