This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
It was an April morning when they told us we should go
As I turn to you, you smiled at me
How could we say no?
Oh, the fun to have
To live the dreams we always had
Oh, the songs to sing
When we at last return again
Slipping off a glancing kiss
To those who claim they know
Below the streets that steam and hiss
The devil's in his hole
Oh, to sail away
To sandy lands and other days
Oh, to touch the dream
Hides inside and never seen, yeah
Into the sun, the south, the north
At last the birds have flown
The shackles of commitment fell
In pieces on the ground
Oh, to ride the wind
To tread the air above the din
Oh, to laugh aloud
Dancing as we fought the crowds, yeah
To seek the man whose pointing hand
The giant step unfolds
With guidance from the curving path
That churns up into stone
If one bell should ring
In celebration for a king
So fast the heart should beat
As proud the head with heavy feet, yeah
Days went by when you and I
Bathed in eternal summer's glow
As far away and distant
Our mutual child did grow
Oh the sweet refrain
Soothes the soul and calms the pain
Oh Albion remains
Sleeping now to rise again
Wandering and wandering
What place to rest the search?
The mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
For the mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
From the earth
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
For the mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
As I turn to you, you smiled at me
How could we say no?
Oh, the fun to have
To live the dreams we always had
Oh, the songs to sing
When we at last return again
Slipping off a glancing kiss
To those who claim they know
Below the streets that steam and hiss
The devil's in his hole
Oh, to sail away
To sandy lands and other days
Oh, to touch the dream
Hides inside and never seen, yeah
Into the sun, the south, the north
At last the birds have flown
The shackles of commitment fell
In pieces on the ground
Oh, to ride the wind
To tread the air above the din
Oh, to laugh aloud
Dancing as we fought the crowds, yeah
To seek the man whose pointing hand
The giant step unfolds
With guidance from the curving path
That churns up into stone
If one bell should ring
In celebration for a king
So fast the heart should beat
As proud the head with heavy feet, yeah
Days went by when you and I
Bathed in eternal summer's glow
As far away and distant
Our mutual child did grow
Oh the sweet refrain
Soothes the soul and calms the pain
Oh Albion remains
Sleeping now to rise again
Wandering and wandering
What place to rest the search?
The mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
For the mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
From the earth
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh
For the mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Lyrics submitted by kevin, edited by Fredzep, Mellow_Harsher
Achilles Last Stand Lyrics as written by James Patrick Page Robert Anthony Plant
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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I listen to this song when I run. Starting slow with that dreamy beginning I feel the anticipation of a good run. Then Bonzo hits that drum shooting me out of a cannon. A team of horses run beside me in time to the galloping drum. Time changes carry me across ever changing terrain. I'm on a trip through lands I'll probably never see. When I get tired and want to give up, that cymbal crash in the middle is a hand on my back pushing me forward and faster. Back to the dreamy end just like the beginning...I feel like I could run forever. This song is not a song, it's an experience. Who gives a shit what it means...it's how it makes me feel. It helped me to keep running when I wanted to give up on the whole thing.
@stefmon69 I enjoyed reading your experience. Bongo’s incredible energy would be good for running. I am just now really listening to this song,, and ai have to play it over and over,,.
@stefmon69 Hello, I came across your comment while researching Led Zeppelin and was wondering if you'd allow me to quote this or part of it in a music analysis book I'm working on as an example of how feeling and meaning in a song are related. It really describes how I hear Zeppelin, too. Please drop me a word at major[number seven][at]mail[dot]com if this would be okay. Thank you!
This song is not about mythology or anything like that. At least not in a entirely. This song is about Robert Plant and his wife Mauren's trip to Morocco in , if memory serves me, 1975. It was spring, hence the mention of April at the beginning, there was no tour scheduled or rather ''no commitment'' so they decided to go on vacation. They had always wanted to go there and they finally had the chance, hence ''to live the dreams we always had". And Atlas is a the tall mountain in Morrocco, and just plain tall period, somewhere around 5,000 meters I believe. So came the lyric ''The mighty arms of Atlas, Hold the heavens from the earth''. I guess he did it make it a little mythological with his metaphors. And of course, the lyric ''I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way'' refers to sight seeing and general touring the Moroccan landscape. It was orginally nicknamed The Wheelchair Song by the band. Well there is Achilles Last Stand explained.
@johnpauljones86 This is the most cogent comment I've read so far. And, my God, what a great song!
the solos in this song fucking shred over any other of theirs
Still, 35 years later, every time I hear this song and Page goes into that solo, every hair on my body stands up and I get the chills!
i hear that the first time this song was played back to Plant (who was in a wheelchair following a car accident that crushed his heel) after he had done the vocals Plant fell out of his wheelchair he was so impressed with it. Given that he had a broken heel and his superb vocal performance on this song, the title may be more applicable than one might at first realize.
I love the travelling forward motion in this song- it makes me want to go on an adventure. Definitely a staple song of summer road trips.
THE definitive Led Zeppelin song; all four musicians were at their very best here. Epic. Just epic.
This is my favourite Led Zeppelin song!!!! (quietly - OK, equal fave with Dazed and Confused and Stairway to Heaven)
Bonzo's drumming is so great!
Oh the sweet refrain, Soothes the soul and calms the pain Oh Albion remains, sleeping now to rise again
just thought id add that Albion is the old, poetic name for england. shakespeare uses it in King Lear.
@motorcycledrivebyer Lyrics copyright Flames Of Albion Music Inc. Not sure who owns the publishing company, but interesting....
roadrunners a fucktard, why is it that he relates everything to sataism or witchcraft.