The song that divides opinion in Led Zeppelin: “It’s got everything”
Creative and personal disputes among bandmates are nothing new. However, every now and then, a moment comes along that almost becomes so mammoth that it settles all debate. Take, for example, songs like Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Stairway To Heaven’, a creation of such monumental success that it should be exalted from any criticism — or at least that’s what bassist John Paul Jones thought, even if Robert Plant has a different perspective on the track.
It remains a somewhat wild consideration that the creator of ‘Stairway’ is in the slim minority who hold ill feelings towards the track. For Plant, the song makes him wince in embarrassment as he no longer recollects the person who wrote the lyrics. While the words are deliberately left field and, in truth, make little sense, that’s what makes them so incredibly alluring.
“It’s just kind of a Led Zeppelin sampler, isn’t it?” Jones said during an interview on Swedish television in 2003. “It has everything we do in it somewhere. It starts off quietly with the acoustic instruments and then goes into a mellow-ish, almost jazzy vibe, with keyboard,” he said. “And then the rock and roll starts, with solos.”
“It’s got everything, really. I think it’s good,” the bassist added. “Then there’s the whole mystical lyrics. No one’s quite sure what they mean — Robert included.”
For decades, Plant has discussed how ‘Stairway’ is a track that he can no longer relate to, but last year he did admit he can still admire it, even if only from afar. In the past, he even brutally disregarded it as a “wedding song”.
While sitting down with UCR as part of their ‘Nights’ radio show, Plant commented: “The construction of the song, the actual musical construction, is very good. It’s one of those moments that really can stand without a vocal and, in fact, it will stand again without a vocal, I’m sure, because it’s a fine piece of music.
He added, “Lyrically, now, I can’t relate to it, because it was so long ago. I would have no intention ever to write along those abstract lines any more.”
In response to Plant’s criticism, Jones said: “I don’t why [he doesn’t like it]. Maybe he knows what the lyrics mean. Maybe he doesn’t like the lyrics. You’re right, he doesn’t like it. But I disagree with him. I think it’s good.”
But if you were hoping for a deciding nod form the song;s chief creator, Jimmy Page, then you might have to wait a while. “The idea of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was to have a piece of music which would just keep on unfolding into more layers and moods,” he explained, clearly noting that the track i smeant to find certain grooves for certain listeners. “The overlay of the composition would accelerate as it went through, on every level – every emotional level and every musical level. And so it just keeping opening up as it continues through its passage.”
“We’d been working solidly right up to that point,” Page told Uncut magazine back in 2009. “Even recordings were done on the road… So we took our guitars down there and played a few bits and pieces. This wonderful countryside, panoramic views and having the guitars … it was just an automatic thing to be playing. And we started writing.”
Considering the reverence with which Page has found hismelf continually talking about the song, and even the fact he is willing to do so, chances are we can assume Page is a fan of the track.
Perhaps for Plant, he feels like ‘Stairway’ is like taking an unwanted trip down memory lane and staring at a version of himself that he would rather not have to remember. He’s an entirely different person in comparison to the naive, brazen soul who wrote the song back in the early ’70s. While many of us have embarrassing memories from our youth, fortunately for us, it wasn’t documented on a classic track like ‘Stairway’, which continues to be an unavoidable fixture in Plant’s life despite how much he loathes everything he brought to the song.
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