anonymous 2008-08-02 20:05:51    

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About all the backwards talk: It's bound to happen. The chance isn't high to happen in a song, but put any number of words randomly after each other and play it back words, some of them have a feeble impression of giving a satanic message..

If you don't believe this, I suggest you read up on chance calculations :)

anonymous 2008-08-18 13:02:18    

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Ok I know you are all gonna hate me for this, and I don't entirely believe this is what it's about myself, but just for kicks, listen to the song and think 'hitman'

-X

anonymous 2008-08-31 17:06:27    

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If you listened to the "backwards message" but nobody told you what it said, you wouldn't think anything of it. Backwards jibberish could be made to sound like anything, so don't get too worked up, ok? Great song, though!

anonymous 2008-09-06 01:43:59    

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I've come to the conclusion that there is no possible way page or plant meant to encode some "secret" message in this song. Not to say that it's not there, because I've heard it, and its pretty creepy. I believe that the most likely scenario (if there is anything to the message at all) is far scarier.

I've read many interpretations of the song by members of this site and some of them I have to discredit right away. There were a few people who COMPLETELY broke the song down line for line and explained a religious meaning. Although it was very interesting and well thought out, it's bogus. Page and Plant both admitted that the song really had no particular meaning and, honestly, I don't think Page would give it such a religious meaning since he is an admitted dabbler in the occult.

I believe maybe something far more sinister might have occurred during the production of this song. Have you ever heard that an idle mind promotes evil things?(or maybe something along those lines) it makes sense to me. being religious and righteous requires constant thought to prevent yourself from evil deeds. you must constantly guard yourself against the temptation of sinning. (narrow is the path, right?) so, it makes sense that if your mind is idle, it leaves more of a chance for "evil" to enter. when musicians talk about what its like being in a band and "jamming out", they talk about the "feel" and emotion involved. I recently watched a youtube video of jimmy page speaking about his experience with led zeppelin. He spoke of unity and of four musicians coming together and feeding from an unseen energy, or a "fifth member" as he put it. I don't mean to sound like some paranoid babbling Bible beater, but this is what happens when satanists and other occultists "channel" energies or spirits or whatever. They are completely caught up in the moment(so to speak) and find themselves prodigiously stimulated by an unseen force. I don't think musicians TRY to channel this energy, it just happens. probably without them knowing. I mean, satan (or lucifer, as an angel) was the ruler of music, right? this is why some churches don't partake in musical sessions. don't' get me wrong, I love music and I am a musician, myself. but, how many times do you think music has shaped worldly youth in a negative manner? if there is any satanic influence applied to "stairway to heaven", I think it probably comes from satan himself. I don't think the writers of the song had evil intentions, even though page was somewhat of an occultist. The writers have already said that the song didn't really have a meaning, it's basically just poetry. but, in my interpretation, the song can only have a negative message, in a religious sense. I do believe the opening of the song refers to a woman who plans to kill herself by overdose. "there's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold" to me implies that she does not see the true meaning behind things. all that glitters is not gold, this is the basic principle behind sinning. Sinning feels beautiful to the sinner, if it did not, there would be no temptation. was lucifer not God's most beautiful angel? Buying a stairway to heaven clearly refers to the purchase of drugs for overdose. The next lines secure the idea: "when she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed, with a word she can get what she came for" does that not sound like a drug deal? it insinuates that she is not coming for something to be purchased in a store, rather something she can get with one word. I'm not going to break down every line for the sake of brevity, but I would like to discuss other points. for instance, later on in the song they bring the lady back into the picture and speak of her shining white light and wanting to show how everthing still turns to gold. Insinuating that she made the right choice and wants to show all the path.

I also think the piper refers to satan. "your head is humming and it won't go", refers to the constant temptation from satan to sin. ("the piper's calling you to join him") someone in a previous passage made reference to the book of Ephesians and the apostle Paul stating that the spirits of those who are against God are of the air("you're stairway lies on the whispering wind", refering to the lady in the opening, who eventually shines white light) and why are our shadows taller than our souls when we meet this redeemed lady? maybe our souls are small and meaningless at the end of this path that leads us to this lady shining her "white light".

Anyway, like I said, it may just be a song without meaning, shrouded in controversy. but if not, I think its some pretty eerie stuff.

anonymous 2008-09-13 15:22:29    

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I don't have time to read through every one of these posts but I did get to this one
avatar:
"Dudes, enough, it has dawned on me that all the talk about different paths in this song can mean only one thing; to find your own meaning/rationalization. I love this song because it can be understood so differently, like a sonic Rorschach test. Stop taking it as one absolute meaning, many of which are just moronic and poorly thought out and just LOVE THE MUSIC!"
There are songs that are meant to have different meanings.Period. They are there for each and every person in his or her own way. They help the songwriter and they help you in your own way.

This is not the place for me to get on my soapbox but all the "Christians" who automatically think that this song is "Satanic" because it doesn't fit into your cookie cutter world are MORONS.