Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven (Lyrics Interpreted)
R. Plant & J. Page
© 1971 Superhype Music Inc.
There's a lady(1.) who's sure
all that glitters is gold(2.)
And she's buying a stairway to heaven(3.)
1. Erma Rees-Gwynn, a Welsh divorcee intent on starting her own carpenter contracting business. She was recommended (some say as a joke) by the castle's previous owner, actor Richard Harris, who fled to the Bahamas to avoid the taxman.
2. This is a bit of Plant's irony. In other words if it didn't glitter, it probably wasn't worth much. Erma and her assistants reportedly broke and scratched a lot of valuables carrying lumber through the residence.
3. This means "building" a stairway to heaven, or, more likely, buying the materials for the stairway. Erma was contracted to build a deck in back of Page's castle, three stories high. The plans were for a 2nd floor landing, and steps leading up from the back vegetable patch. Plant once described Lelawcge-an-bryn as "heaven." The staircase when completed would be a stairway to view heaven if you climbed up it, or going down, a stairway to carrots and peas.
And when she gets there she knows
if the stores are closed.
With a word(4.) she can get
what she came for.
There's a sign on the wall
but she wants to be sure.
Cause you know sometimes
words have two meanings(5.)
In a tree by the brook
there's a songbird who sings
sometimes(6.) all of our thoughts are misgiven.
4. "Foreclosure." The small Welsh town in the district had only one hardware store in the area, and the owner was on a picnic with his family. Erma complained to Jimmy about not being able to get screw nails. So Jimmy called a couple of local aldermen he had in his back pocket, so they could get the damn store open. The store owner soon received the politicians' threats, and cut short his picnic.
5. In order the secure the landing at the second floor, Erma's crew had to enter Jimmy's so-called "Guitar Room." The sign on the wall said "Keep the Fuck Out - Everyone!" These words don't have two meanings, do they? Well, Erma let herself in anyway. In fact, only two double-necked Gibsons could be found in the room, out of Page's reputed collection of 75 guitars. No, this was his Occult Room, full of red satin furnishings and things with horns on them.
6. Reportedly Jimmy was out on his property, singing in his favorite tree, when he saw Erma's helper hanging out the Guitar Room's window. His berserk ranting ("misgiven thoughts") could be heard in the next county.
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(7.)
And the voices of those who stand looking.
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(8.)
And the forests will echo
with laughter.
And it makes me wonder(9.)
7. West of Page's property, beyond a neighbour's forested grove, there was a coal-burning power plant. Apparently the tons of sulphur-rich deposits pouring from its stacks disheartened Plant. One day Percy got pretty inebriated, and schemed that they should all protest until the plant shut down. Why not get all the girls, the other lads, and large-fisted manager Peter Grant out blocking their gate? "Great idea," one of the girls responded, "but how are we going to keep the stereo going, or even have hot baths without power?" This comment silenced Plant's protest.
8. Jonesy was the true all round musician of the group. Before Led Zeppelin the bassist/keyboardist extraordinaire wrote and arranged some of Lulu's best work, including "To Sir With Love." Whilst up at Page's castle he tried to form a little choir he wished to call the Zeppettes. Singing careers could've meant a "new day" for the girls, but none could carry a tune. The neighbours watched them rehearse in vain, hence the laughter echoing in the forest.
9. It's likely Plant spend as much time wondering about things as it took for him to write this line.
If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
don't be alarmed now(10.)
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(11.)
Your head is humming and
it won't go- in case you don't know(12.)
10. It's said a lot of clothes were found in strange places after their infamous Victorian dress-up parties.
11. The "May-Queen" was Maytag's laundromat-sized washer/dryer combo ordered in to handle hotel-sized loads of laundry being done at Page's castle. Jimmy was promised a money-back warranty on the set if he wasn't satisfied. The "two paths" were whether to keep them or return. The warranty gave him time to change the road he was on, you see.
12. This was one of the worst hangovers Plant had ever felt.
The piper's calling you to join him(13.)
Dear lady can you hear
the wind blow.
And did you know
your stairway lies on the
whispering wind(14.)
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 everything still turns gold(15.)
13. Jonesy was going back to London and asked Plant to come along.
14. Actually, your stairway, and the whole damned sundeck laid on the ground. A spring torrent ripped through Great Britain that year, and destroyed Erma's shoddy work.
15. Jonesy and Plant hit the road in John Paul's Stutz Bearcat. By coincidence, they came across Erma waving a flashlight, trying to hitch out of Lelawcge-an-bryn County. After the sundeck fiasco she gave up on carpentry, and was leaving for a cousin's residence in King's Cross. "Everything still turns to gold," she promised, boasting ten thousand pounds profit on the Page job alone.
And if you listen very hard
the tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all(16.)
To be a rock(17.) and not to roll.
And she's buying(18.) a stairway
to heaven.
16. A sarcastic bit of advice from Percy to the Zeppettes: just keep practicing, girls.
17. Plant decided to be a rock, if not a lump of clay, and stay home with his wife and family until the next tour.
18. Last heard from, Erma was in the Bahamas. "And she's buying a ticket to Nassau."
