Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the
English rock group
Led Zeppelin released in
1971 on their
fourth studio album,
-
Led Zeppelin IV. It is considered to be one of the greatest rock songs of all time
and is considered to be the most played song on
FM radio stations in the
United States,
despite never being released as a single. It did, however, appear as a promotional disc in the United States, on an
Australian acoustic EP, and in the
1990s as a 20th anniversary promo issue.
The song was written during the sessions for
Led Zeppelin III at
Bron-Yr-Aur,
Wales, but it was completed at
Headley Grange,
Hampshire, and finally recorded at Island Studios,
London, in December
1970. Jimmy Page originally wrote it as an instrumental; only after he had written the song did Robert Plant add lyrics.
The song was first played live at
Belfast's
Ulster Hall on
March 5,
1971 and it was performed at every subsequent
Led Zeppelin concert from
1975 to
1980. "Stairway" was also played at
Live Aid in
1985 and the 40th anniversary celebration of
Atlantic Records in
1988, and by
Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.
"Stairway to Heaven" is one of the biggest-selling
sheet music publications in rock history. Since 1971, it has sold more than 1.2 million copies.
"Stairway to Heaven" continues to top radio lists of the greatest rock songs, as well as topping a recent
Guitar World poll. Some radio stations that have listed the song as #1 include WNOR (Norfolk),
WEBN (Cincinnati), WGRX (Baltimore), WFXF (Indianapolis), KLSK (Albuquerque), WMYG (Pittsburgh),
KLSX (Los Angeles),
Virgin Radio (London),
KRTH (Los Angeles),
KGON (Portland),
KSAN (San Francisco Bay Area),
KGB (San Diego),
WNCX (Cleveland) and
WZLX (Boston).
It is not entirely clear whether the song was inspired by a
movie title. The original reference to a stairway to heaven comes from the Bible's description of Jacob's Ladder:
Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the Earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Another possible source for the title was from a castle that
Page had recently bought. The castle was in Lelawcge-an-bryn,
Wales which at one time
Plant had called "heaven." During the spring of
1971, while Plant was writing the lyrics to the song, Page was undergoing the building of a stairwell from the ground to a second story deck. When the staircase was completed it would be a "stairway to Heaven."
The lyrics, written by Led Zeppelin vocalist
Robert Plant next to an evening log fire, were inspired by his search for
spiritual perfection. A key influence was the book
Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by
Lewis Spence, which Plant had recently read; it contained references to
May Queens, pipers, and "bustling hedgerows."
The many cryptic references in the song have inspired various proposals on possible allusions within Stairway to Heaven. One line, "In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees", could be a reference to
William Wordsworth's poem
Tintern Abbey: "...and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!" And the lines "There's a feeling I get when I look to the west / And my spirit is crying for leaving" may be a reference to the Elves in the works of
J. R. R. Tolkien, specifically to departure of the
Elves from
Middle-Earth for the immortal land in the west.
The song is a multi-movement suite. A quiet introduction featuring
acoustic guitar and a
recorder
Critics of rock and roll songs (and of Led Zeppelin in particular) have alleged
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In 1982, a consumer protection committee of the
California State Assembly held a hearing on the song. Several "experts" claimed that "Stairway to Heaven," when played backward, contains a similar message
:
The controversy originated from a prominent Baptist, who, in 1982, preached on the radio that "Stairway to Heaven" contained subliminal backward messages.
This theory was later primarily advanced by
Michael Mills,
Jacob Aranza, and
Jeff Godwin, who offered detailed analyses of the hidden meanings of both the "backwards" and actual lyrics.
Led Zeppelin has for the most part ignored such claims; for years the only comment came from
Swan Song Records which issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards".
Robert Plant expressed frustration with the accusations in an interview: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway To Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."
* The opening chord progression in "Stairway to Heaven" is similar to that of the
1968 instrumental "
Taurus" by the group
Spirit. The group opened for
Spirit on a 1968 tour. While nobody in the group has ever cited influence from the track, the band was known to cover the
Spirit song
Fresh Garbage during their early days, and Jimmy Page has said that his use of a
theremin was inspired by seeing
Randy California use one. It is also quite similar to a very slowed-down version of the opening to the Irish traditional song "
The Irish Rover".
* The
1946 film
A Matter of Life and Death was released in the USA under the title
Stairway to Heaven.
*The tendency for many aspiring guitar players to learn to play the introduction to the song was spoofed in the
1992 Mike Myers movie
Wayne's World, when a "No
Stairway to Heaven" regulation is enforced at a music store visited by the title character. When the movie was later released on home video, the producers were unable to reach a licensing agreement with music publishers, so the intro was replaced with the ending riff of
We Will Rock You, making the joke incomprehensible. Plant himself referenced the scene's "No
Stairway? Denied!" line during a concert appearance with Page in
1995.
* This was likewise spoofed in
Terry Pratchett's
Soul Music, where the guitar store owner, after taking advantage of the new guitar craze, tells his assistant to hire a troll and pull the head off of anyone who tries to play "Pathway to Paradise".
*In the early 1990s, each episode of the Australian chat show
The Money or the Gun featured a different group performing a cover version of "Stairway to Heaven," usually idiosyncratic. From a diverse range that included
Dread Zeppelin,
Kate Ceberano, and the
Doug Anthony All Stars, the best remembered is
Rolf Harris's version (complete with
didgeridoo and
wobble board), which reached the Top 10 on the UK singles charts. Harris is said to have received death threats from fans of the song for his version of this iconic rock anthem.
*A compilation album,
Stairways to Heaven, was put out on the Atlantic label, featuring versions of the song by
The Australian Doors Show,
The Beatnix,
John Paul Young, Kate Ceberano,
Leonard Teale,
Sandra Hahn and
Michael Turkic (
Grand Opera),
The Ministry of Fun,
Neil Pepper,
Pardon Me Boys,
Robyne Dunn,
The Rock Lobsters,
Rolf Harris,
Vegimite Reggae and others.
*A novelty song featuring the music and arrangement of the song combined with the lyrics to the "Theme from
Gilligan's Island" (which has a similar chord progression) was recorded by the
San Francisco band
Little Roger and the Goosebumps and often featured on the
Dr. Demento radio program. Singer Plant has described this as his favorite cover version of the song.
*Also popular on Dr. Demento's program was likely one of many parodies incorporating
7-Eleven, "7-Eleven" by Led Slurpee, a one-time-only pseudonym of the duo Icemark composed of Rob "Iceman" Izenberg and former
KZZP disk jockey
Mark Jonathan Davis[
1].
*In 1991 an
Albuquerque, New Mexico radio station kicked off its
Classic Rock format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight.
*
Site dedicated to "Stairway to Heaven" with both studio and live lyrics and guitar tabs*
"Stairway to Heaven" lyricsThe Straight Dope:
What's the story behind Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven?"*
NPR Fresh Air audio interview with Robert Plant, who comments on various covers of the song, the lyrics and writing it.
*
Web page offering "bustle in your hedgerow" clip backwards *
Supposed Stairway To Heaven Entire Backwards "Lyrics"*101
cover versions of “Stairway to Heaven”
*
Sold on Song, "Stairway To Heaven" at
BBC Radio 2 
