Led Zeppelin: Stairway To Heaven Meaning
Stairway To Heaven Lyrics
All that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to Heaven
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Ooh ooh and she's buying a stairway to...
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Hey guys,
This is a bit of an aside, but I thought I'd add some notes on backward masking...
There are four typical ways that people say "secret messages" are put in music. The first is the most simple. You just record something at a much lower volume level than the ambiant tune. An example of this can be found in the song "Love Bites." If listened to carefully you can faintly hear the line "In the heat of the night, love bites" in the intro. Nothing too devious there, and not too hidden either.
The second method is also pretty straightforward. You record something, and then reverse it on the tape. There are quite a few examples of this, but one that springs to mind is in Cheap Trick's song "Voices" the Lords Prayer is played reversed (Satanic? Probably not. The band states "We certainly could have used something much worse..." In a black mass the Lords Prayer IS recited backward, but the words are said in reverse order, not the whole thing phonetically reversed. A small but significant difference) This type of reversal is pretty easy to pick out on a recording, and is usually done as a joke, for publicity, etc.
A third method would be to come up with a phrase that says something one way, but then something else when reversed. This is not as easy as one might think. When speech is reversed it doesn't keep the same structure as it had to begin with. There are different numbers of syllables, for example. Therefore if you read a phrase backward on to a tape and then reversed it, it wouldn't come out as the same phrase. Weird, but true. Try it... This fact makes these type of reversals interesting, but almost impossible to predict. Even though, there are tons of "examples" that people hear on recordings. Queen's "I like to smoke marijuana" in "Another One Bites the Dust," The Beatles' "Turn me on deadman" in "Revolution 9." All of these examples have one thing in common; They are not very clear and can actually be interpreted in several ways. The reason for this is that the human brain identifies patterns in order to make sense of stimuli- even if no patterns exist. Therefore most, if not all, of these examples are simply accidents.
The final way is kind of interesting. In this method a phrase is recorded and then reversed. The reversed phrase is then learned and rerecorded spoken (or sung) in that manner. Then THAT recording is played reversed. The result is a weird "otherworldly" sounding dialect that's pretty cool. I don't know of this being done on any music recordings, but the TV show "Twin Peaks" used it for a dream sequence to great effect.
By the way, the great conspiracy buffs notwithstanding, there is absolutely no evidence that backward messages can be understood by the unconscious mind (or conscious, for that matter)
SO, what we have is a tempist in a teapot. There probably never were any intentional backward messages in "Stairway," and even if there were they wouldn't affect anyone who heard them. End of story. Case closed. Let's all get on with our lives. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I agree that this song has many different interpretations. This is mine:
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
This lady is rich and thinks that she has enough money to buy herself a free ticket to salvation. She thinks that $ can buy happiness. Reminds me of the people who go to church and are complete assholes mon-sat.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
'When' she gets to heaven, she knows (thinks) that she will be rewarded.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.
There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
She wants to be sure to get her money's worth of... whatever. She doesn't trust the 'sign on the wall', which I assume is an analogy of some sort, but I dunno.
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Sometimes we think that we are doing the right thing because we want to, or because we tell ourselves that we are.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.
There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
I agree with the theory that this is about his soul asking to be freed-to go to heaven.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
Some say this is a reference to Jesus. I don't have an opinion on it, really. Good line, either way.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.
And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
In legend/folklore the piper gives peace to those whose souls are filled with conflict. He will lead us to peace and understanding.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.
Everlasting Life???
If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Not quite sure, to be honest. I'm pretty certain that it isn't about a woman's period though...
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.
First of all, let me say that I completely disagree with the backwards message about satan and his toolshed or whatever. Like someone said, you can take any song and play it backwards and, sooner or later, there will be a bunch of people with ideas-all of them different-about it being satanic or about drugs. I believe that it is as simple as it sounds. We start out on the road to heaven or the road to hell, but we can always change that.
And it makes me wonder.
Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
I don't know why someone's head it humming, maybe something to do with death. The piper calling you, in my opinion, means you are dying.
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.
I can see why some think the wind is the word of God. Actually, I think that's a pretty good explanation.
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
As we continue on the road of life, our shadows (bad deeds, evil thoughts) oughtweighing our soul (the humanity, the goodness in our hearts).
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
The lady (same lady) has found the right path (shines white light) and wants to show that everything (in the afterlife) is pure, good, untainted-if we want it to be.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
If you want to be led down the right path, you will be. If you listen for the right tune, it will eventually come to you.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.
I like the idea that the rock is Jesus. However, I have an idea of my own. I think that 'to be a rock and not to roll' means to stand up to evil, not give in to it (the rock being a person, the rolling symbolyzing giving in to evil). I really don't know about the 'all are one and one is all' part.
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
I think that this means that the cycle will start again, that there will always be some (rich) person who thinks that they can buy their way into heaven. Or, maybe it's just a line Zep threw in there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm not trying to make this song sound religious. In fact, I've never read the Bible (criticize me later, I WILL read it). This is just my interpretation.
Someone mentioned Zep saying that there is no meaning to this song. I cannot believe that. Either they were trying not to cause a war over their song (lol) or they just didn't want the meaning known. I tend to agree with the latter. Is it really that hard to believe? Think about it, some bands refuse to allow their lyrics to be published. Why? Who knows? They just do. Maybe that's why they deny there being a hidden meaning.
On a biased(sp?) note, this is one of my favorite songs, besides Freebird, of course. Rock on.
PS: Just because many kids these days don't appreciate good rock and roll, don't steryotype us. I am 14 and I grew up listening to bands like Led Zeppelin, The Allman Bros, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath (there's a subject if you want to talk about satanic...), Pink Floyd, etc. Just remember that.
~SpIKe~ -
I don't know what this song is about, but if you play any song backwards, the song is gonna sound messed up maybe even satanic......hmmmm?
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The song is plain and simple "great" and all interpretations will not change it for the world!!! That's the bottom line.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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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 rorscach test. Stop taking it as one absolute meaning, many of which are just moronic and poorly thought out and just LOVE THE MUSIC!!!
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FOR THE RECORD-
Typing away in a hurry on my two previous posts, I noticed I've typed in error the lines for the "alleged" backward message on the song found in its stanza:
'Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, and there's still time to change ... '.
Basically it's not that I'm trying to impose that the song Stairway to Heaven is 'satanic' per se-- it's only that I find the song to not only've totally blown me away with its lyrics, melodical structure and everything- it's just that I find the song to be a truly irrefutable proof of a paranormal phenomenon.
As for Page and Plant's (who to my surprise happens to be the one who 'did' the lyrics to the song, and not Page (who did say he is a 'fan' of Alister Crowley's work and books)) claim that there are no particular meaning(s) to the song - it could only pertain to either that its a statement of
a) a downright denial from Jimmy Page and Robert Plant under the interest to save their own butts from being staked by them religious circuits due to the nature of the song's lyrics.
or,
b) that explains Plant's occount when he's putting into paper the lyrics for the song - which according to Plant they just came out of their own to his surprise, that the words literally wrote itself on the paper (manly the first lines)-- which is somethong like that of the phenomenon called "automatic writing" (that's being practiced by some occultists), and that is why they themselves do not know the meaning to the song's lyrics, if that would be the case. 'Cos it's Captain Howdy who wrote 'em ~kidding.
Anyway, as for what the backward message says- they are as follows:
'Here's to my sweet Satan, no other made a path, for it makes me sad who's power is Satan!'
If you're cynical about it you could do a personal experiment yourself, by memorizing the said lines complete with how they sounded like along with the melody on how they went backwards- record your voice reciting them, then put your recorded voice's recitation in reverse, then try to see or rather hear what would appear backwards.
Having done this myself recording my own voice singing the backward message portion and recording it along with comparisons to the original recording done by Led Zeppelin,it resulted the same. I first recorded my own voice singing the forward segment, then playing my recorded voice backwards, I found it emit the same said backward message; afterwards by recording the backward message in my own voice reciting it out- complete with how the melody went backwards, then playing it back in reverse, what I heard are the following:
'yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run ... and there's still time to change!'
Funny that its diction even sounded like MATCHBOX 20's Rob Thomas. -
OK, I agree with whoever said that this song has multiple layers of meaning, because it certainly does. I agree that you can find drugs, the woman with the money, and religion (Jesus AND Satan) in the song. I just wanted to add something I got out of this song that no one really touched on.
This song definitely talks about the woman who tries to buy salvation. but, I think the song may go further into the actual money itself, i.e. materialism and our dependence on money. you can't really find it in every line of the song, but there are a couple where it's pretty obvious.
There's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
Well duh, this is about the woman buying salvation. But think about "buying salvation". That means that you depend on your money and its security maybe not to actually go to heaven, but maybe to lead your life the right way and be the best person you can. you can't actually buy the stairway to heaven (obviously), but you can try to buy into a better life with more direction, and THAT can get you into heaven. This lady represents the majority of people who are depending on their money.
There’s a feeling I get
When I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
Looking to the west, or at western culture, which is the center of reckless materialism and greed. The author notices this and wants to leave it.
And it’s whispered that soon
If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
The materialism part does have to do with religion, because Jesus himself lived a nonmaterial life and gave up his possessions to spread the word of God. He even says in the book of Matthew (sorry, I don't remember exactly where) that dependence on money can interfere with your faith in God, and you have pick between the two. Anyway, in this part, I see it that Jesus (the piper) is offering to help us free ourselves from our money and our greed, but we are the ones who have to "call the tune", or get ourselves to realize that we are dependent on our possessions. This goes back to relying on your money to live your life well, because to get Jesus to help us to not depend on money, we have to be able to rely on human ability and learn by ourselves to live our lives without the money that will make it easier. comprende?
And a new day will dawn
For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.
Eventually, there will be a time when it will pay off to learn selflessness. These selfless people will hear the forests laughing. The forest is representing nature, which is the opposite of modern, urban civilization, which is in turn dependent on money. So nature is rejoicing that there are those who appreciate the god-given gifts in life, like nature, rather than the pleasures of money.
Maybe that's not right, but that's the way I see it. -
Yeah, that's a good one.
I do not understand why they would write a song and claim it has no meaning... That sounds stupid. You don't write a song with no meaning! -
It's about listening to the universe and the hidden messages and help you have that you have to find by listening, looking and sensing. Finding your chosen path, your destiny.
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Crutchead, I found your analysis of the song to be very fulfilling. However, I did not get to read any past your second response.
Perhaps, the lines about Satan that occurs when played backward is trying to say the woman who is disappointed in the church turns to Satanism? Or, as many others have said, there is no meaning at all in the song and we're over analyzing it. -
bigmike24,
You wrote:
Page was in fact one of Aliester Crowlys biggest students and followed directly in his footsteps of witch craft.
However:
Crowley died in 1947
Jimmy Page was born in 1944
So, it seems to me that either
1. you made this up or mis-remembered.
2. Mr Friend's research (all of which is, of course, documented) sucks.
Anyway, Page bought Crowley's old castle. He also had "do what thou wilt" inscribed on the vinyl for III -- a crowley quote. So, it would seem that Page was at least a fan of Crowley. Perhaps he was even Crowley's student for the first three years (almost four) of his life. So what? Crowley wasn't even a satanist. He was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and later started Ordo Templi Orientis. He was definitely a free thinker and supposedly a "mystic" but not a satan worshiper. Secondly, what is so "satanic" or "evil" or whatever about stairway? The whole backmasking thing that FTR was so adamant about that made no sense?
I have a different theory: perhaps it was just a good song.
Imagine that. No other-worldly influence, no vast evil conspiracy, people liked stairway to heaven for no other reason that it happened to be a good song. It's also kinda timeless. Everyone likes it.
Let's look at some other songs that everyone is familiar with:
Stayin' Alive
Born To Be Wild
Jesus Loves the Little Children
Boot Scootin' Boogie
The Monster Mash
So these are popular too. Is that because Satan was the king of music? Probably not. They were the right song at the right time.
You wacky pseudo-Christian conspiracy people need to get a grip on life, probability and statistics, and what satanism even is. -
I defy anyone to put a SINGLE meaning to this song.
It's got several levels of allegory and symbol buried in it.
On one level, yes, it's about a woman with a lot of money who thinks that even spirituality can be bought, simular to Simon Magus who tried to buy the secrets of the Holy Spirit from the apostles (OK, that's the cliff notes version, but it's the gist of the whole story).
On another level, it may well be about drugs, god knows Zep probably did their share of them, and my share, and his share, and her share...
On the third level, there are numerous allusions to spiritual figures. The May Queen obviously. There's also the line "There stands the Lady we all know". I've had arguments with friends about that one. One of them thinks it stands for a woman they all 'know' in the biblical sense of 'knowing', IE a prostitute. I think it's more likely a reference to Mary, the woman we all 'know' in our hearts, in the religious sense.
As to the alleged 'backmasking' I DEFY anyone who has NOT been told the supposed hidden message to hear it, before someone tells you it's there and plants the suggestion your mind tries to make the sound match, it's nearly impossible to make out anything intelligible. People have done analysis of the phenomes and said, basically, that there may be a cursory resemblance to some words, but they don't form coherent sentances unless we're TRYING to make them.
It's an accident of language, a product of the fact that most english phenomes sound like other phenomes backwards.
TRUE backmasking is far more distinct and clear, like the backmasked line in Pink Floyd's "Empty Spaces" that tells you "congradulations, you've found the secret Message, send your answers to old Pink, care of the Funny Farm, Chalfront"
In this case it's probably one of the most unfortunate phenome accidents ever, but hardly intentional satanism.
Keep in mind if they wanted to be 'satanic' they could outright have done so, after all Black Sabbath wrote songs about Lucifer, Crowley and other 'satanic' themes not too much later. -
This song is about life itself. "There are two paths that you can go from and there is still time to change the road you are on". In life you can choose the wrong path but god gives you chances to change to make it better because he knows that we are human and were not perfect because neither was he. Another line "There is a sign on the wall but she wants to make sure because you know sometimes words have 2 meanings". That is one of the greatest lines. Words always have many meanings to it, people take it in different ways. If you are not careful just as I said before you can take the wrong path in life which can lead you to heaven. This song is like poetry, one of the best songs ever written.
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