| Led Zeppelin – Kashmir Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Definitely inspired by an acid trip. "The storm that leaves no trace" and "traveller through time and space" would be recognized by anyone who has tripped, and don't really describe coke or pot. Same for "not a word could I relate, the story was quite clear": people typically find deep insights on acid which are beyond the ability of words to describe. "I've been flying" and "wasted land" are pretty straightforward. Other than that, it's really just a hodge-podge of mystical stuff, probably tossed in to follow the successful formula of Stairway to Heaven and to complement the hypnotic, foreign sound of the riff. Shangri-la is the mythical place, situated in the Himalayas, where wise elders lived forever. It would really be stretching things to read anything deep into this. Led Zeppelin aren't known for well thought out or profound lyrics. The main message seems to be that he wants to get back to that state and wants the listener to go there too. It's an invitation to trip, but not to Africa. The desert imagery is inspired by travels through northern Africa as others have said. I have listened to this song high and what struck me was that the repetition of the riff really did sound like some kind of spell. I had to shut it off because it creeped me out a little bit, even though I love this song. Could have just been me getting paranoid. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Kashmir Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| city...too funny | |
| Led Zeppelin – Four Sticks Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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He's fighting an urge he thinks isn't right, but seems to be a deep part of his nature. (He uses symbols like rivers and owls and pines.) Also, the sounds of wind through the pines at night and owls are really lonesome kinds of sounds if you've ever heard them. He's looking to fill the sense of loneliness. HE wants to go someplace where there are others that have the same pull-- the rainbow's end, where everything is supposed to be rosy. But he's saying it's not what it seems or what one might hope for: when you get there it's just other people drowning their love. It's an empty place. He knows it but still can't resist the pull. So, my theory is that it's about an urge to do drugs or have casual sex outside his marriage/relationship. It's hard to tell which, but I'd say it 's sex since he's trying to explain to his wife and justifying it by saying the rivers are running dry in the relationship. I believe Robert Plant is bisexual and that's why so many of his lyrics are about needing to go away, ramble, etc., even though he's with someone he loves deeply. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Native Americans, Mexicans in what is now Texas and the Southwest | |
| Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think Bite Me means that it's an analogy for America. America's history of conquest and plundering is being compared to the Vikings. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Celebration Day Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I love roadrunners comments. I'm reading along, reading along, and all of a sudden, "Pact with Satan". Always brings a smile. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"There's a lady who's sure 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" Robert Plant is the lady. Just look at his glittery, girly stage costumes and hand mannerisms and tell me you don't see a drag queen. He is the may queen. Long hair was in then, but that hair is a lady's hair. It's like he's got some connection with the mother from "Carrie". It should be "Hairway to Heaven". Okay, back to lyrics: Robert Plant was into drugs, and later lyrics showed he was into sex with male trannie prostitutes or "queens" (Royal Orleans, Sick Again). So it's partly a tale of early addiction, looking for happiness in drugs, meaningless sex, and material things. The middle of the song is mystical, hobbitry mumbo jumbo and can be ignored entirely. Gandalf's smoke rings, laughing trees, the western elf land, etc. Means nothing. Just Robert getting lost in the fantasy hobbit world and not coming to grips with being a closeted gay guy surrounded by adoring heavy metal fag haters. The end of the song is a dream for tomorrow when he'll be able to love who he wants and not try to find happiness on the side getting all bonged out and coked up with his tranny whores. Everyone will finally accept each other for who they are. So, in the end it is a message of hope. Too bad he had to hit rock bottom before getting off drugs. And too bad he still hasn't come out. His wife stood by him through all his shit, though, so there must be a great deal of loyalty there. He could just do a lot for others though by finally saying the truth. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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ooh, mummyfan touched some weird nerve there, huh? I thought the same thing, but half of the lyrics are mumbo jumbo. What does come through is a hope for the future where Robert Plant can come out with all the other glittery drag queens and May queens and get off his coke/prostitute habits and hold hands with the world and sing Stairway to Heaven. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Sorry for my sarcastic comment about twelve year olds. I see you two really are young. That's cool. Just keep doing your thing and enjoying good music. You've got better taste than most kids your age. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Are you twelve??? Not there's there's anything wrong with that, it just seems like an adolescent thing to say. Kind of funny. No one needs to prove they are a "true fan". Stairway to Heaven is a great song, it's just that it's been eclipsed by its own greatness. Black Mountain Side? Are you sure you're not just trying to prove what a "true fan" you are by finding the most obscure piece from their collection? | |
| Led Zeppelin – Going to California Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I agree with most that this about trying to find the perfect woman. The singer is a dreamer who is overwhelmed by a "mountain of dreams". "Trying to find a woman whose never been born" is pretty cynical. I think it's because not a lot of women are born with dicks. This theme comes up over and over through Plant's lyrics. See "All of my Love". He wants a woman, but needs a man. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Going to California Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Lycra, I'm not sure they would sing a sad song about astral travel. It starts from a romantic break-up, remember? | |
| Led Zeppelin – What Is and What Should Never Be Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think there's a connection between this song and "That's the Way". "That's the way it ought to be" and "what is and what should never be". Both have a theme of something that is forbidden or frowned upon by society. I tend to go with the idea that this is a gay song even though there's nothing more to that then the "should never be", forbidden love thing. But when you put it together with "That's the Way", which is definitely sung buy a guy to a guy, it fits. Also, there's the suggestion that one day things may be different: "Where what's to be they say will be". I have this idea that Robert Plant idealized relationships with women as something good or what he should aim for, but that inside he was gay. I guess that's from his mannerisms (gay) as people have noticed, but more importantly from his lyrics. It's in "All of my love" (his is the force that lies within), "Going to California"(trying to find a woman that never was born), "Royal Orleans" (sex with queens or trannies), "Sick again" (sex with "L.A. queens"). There's a lot more. "Goin to California" especially has a fatalistic, tragic sense that trying to make it with a woman can never work out, but he's going to keep trying anyway to get "where the path lays straight and high". |
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| Led Zeppelin – That's the Way Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It's not about a black boy. Do black boys let their "hair hang down"? Is that even possible? Is being black a new "game you found to play"? It's about a boy whose color doesn't matter one way or the other. But it's a boy that is being ostracized because people figured out he was gay. "Boy next door" is an interesting choice of words because it implies young love, as in "in love with the boy next door". This is a tender love song, possibly the only one they ever did besides "All my Love" and "I'm going to Crawl". The heartfelt vocals are what set this apart from every other Led Zeppelin song, and it's because Robert Plant is singing straight from his heart. And he's not singing about mystical things, or the seasons of love, or the world of hobbitry, or the environmental movement, he's singing what he knows. He's asking the boy, why can't you just play along and do what society demands, since being true to yourself only brings you so much sadness? Why can't you go without love? Is it worth the tears and rejection? The last lyric shows frustration with people for being so closed minded ("when all your ears have turned away") and also shows what Robert Plant truly believes. "Is that the way it ought to stay?" Open your mind up to this interpretation and, if you love this song already, it will become so much more beautiful because it's such a rare example of Plant opening and sharing his life with his audience. |
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| Led Zeppelin – That's the Way Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Dang, you are really trying hard there....meaning no disrespect. People did sing about gays then, as in this song. It just had to be disguised a little. If you think about this possibility, and what it must be like for someone back then to try to find love and self-love, and to bravely sing about it, this song becomes 100 times more meaningful and beautiful. |
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| Led Zeppelin – That's the Way Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Yeah, the metaphors work better when you see it's about a gay boy. (Sorry I'm commenting on everyone's comments.) "I can't believe what people saying" doesn't mean he's surprised his friend is black, it means he found at his friend is gay and also, not being allowed to have a normal boyfriend/relationship, the friend is kind of stuck looking for sex "on the darker side of town". | |
| Led Zeppelin – That's the Way Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| You are really, really stretching to make this a straight song when it's a love song song between boys. It's "boy next door". And he's questioning an injustice, "Is that the way it ought to stay?" | |
| Led Zeppelin – That's the Way Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Yeah, that's what I hear in these lyrics, too. "That's the way" means boys boink girls, boys don't fall in love with boys. "Boy next door" or "girl next door" always has a romantic connotation, as in "I'm in love with the boy next door". Okay, so Robert had long hair and was a flower child/hippy. So is he the "boy next door"? I think he's both. He's the gay kid rejected by society and he's also playing the game by society's rules, trying to fit in. Plant's best lyrics are when he's singing about something real to him, not hobbits and wizards. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Nobody's Fault but Mine Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It's pretty clear Plant borrowed directly from Nina Simone's version. So I think it's possible he saying "log TO LIGHT" or, later, "kick that log to light" or "bong to light" instead of "tonight". Whatever it is, bong or log, I think he just means he's gonna kick his his way back into the light no matter what. This song is amazing. I think Zeppelin has caught flack for borrowing from black artists because they're bringing the music or lyrics to a younger, mostly white audience that might have no idea where the music came from. They don't give enough credit to the blues artists. They could have added something to liner notes, or included photos of the black artists in their album art collages or something. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Nobody's Fault but Mine Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The lyrics seem closer to Nina Simone's 1969 version. Part of them I've copied here: "Sister she taught me to roll My sister she taught me to roll I roll along the line Nobody's fault but mine Nobody's fault but mine Nobody's fault but mine I'll raise my soul to the light Nobody's fault but mine Take it on, take it on I got a monkey on my back I gotta monkey on my back, back, back I'll raise my soul to the light Nobody's fault but mine - yeah Nobody's fault but mine Nobody's fault but mine I'll raise my soul to the light Nobody's fault but mine Whoo! Naw. Nobody's fault but mine Nobody's fault but mine I'll raise my soul to the light Nobody's fault but mine Nobody's fault but mine Nobody's fault but mine Tryin' raise my soul to the light Nobody's fault but mine Oh!" |
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| Led Zeppelin – Hots on for Nowhere Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I just noticed that what he really sings "friends that would give me 'fluck aa'". He switched the letters around. It's an anagram. I wonder he used anagrams in other songs. That might explain "high hell hailla ball" or whatever that is. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Hots on for Nowhere Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Okay, you asked for scrutinizing! It's already been established this is about drugs- cocaine in particular. Go listen to "For your Life" if you have doubts this is what Plant was doing at the time. When someone's addicted, the only relationship they have is with the drug. That's what the "hots" are for. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Royal Orleans Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I've thought before "Sick again" was about transexuals or drag queens since it referred to "L.A. queens", but wasn't entirely sure. Not that queens doesn't mean the same thing everywhere, but I thought maybe he just meant the queens or top echelon of the groupies. Now I see trannies being called queens in this song, too, so it's pretty obvious. They like chicks with dicks, at least Plant and Jones. No biggie, lots of people do I guess. Not my cup of tea. Not into "kissing whiskers". | |
| Led Zeppelin – Royal Orleans Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It sounds to me like he's saying there was no mistake. He couldn't make it any plainer. "'Stephanie' ended up in my room." I like that her nickname is "whiskers". Shows she wasn't too polished. "Kissed the whiskers left and right": He kissed ALL the whiskers. She wasn't even shaved too well down there. Plant is saying he prefers them to be a little more convincing, he doesn't want his to sound like "Barry White." So the drag queens were probably black, too. He really paints quite a picture. It cracks me up how fans are in total denial about the stuff these guys got into. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Sick Again Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Sounds like groupies or even street whores-- "painted ladies". Personally, I think Robert Plant is bi so "L.A. queens" might be about gay guys or trannies. Other than that, the only thing certain is they're young and he's mocking them, and all the while he's banging them: "Oh, baby, I couldn't count the times the fun of comin', oh the pain in leavin', Baby, dry those silver eyes " "Do you know my name, do I look the same"-- it sounds like that's the groupie talking and he's mocking their desperation. Zep is kind of gross, huh? I love their music but that all sounds so sleazy and pitiful... |
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| Led Zeppelin – The Rover Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Seems to be about two or three different things at once: the singer's personal journey, the band, and the progressive struggle in general. The first lines are about drugs for sure. Pot and acid at the beginning. He says he "always knew what it was for". He probably felt okay about pot because it was mind-expanding or good for musical creativity. Later there's a "new plague" or "new flag" on the land. This is where it's hard to tell if it's about something personal still or something political, like the progressive movements from the 60's losing steam and dissolving in the entertainment and drug culture. I think it's possibly about heroin addiction-- the lover lying on the dark side of the globe. This could be someone he knows directly, like Page or someone else, or even his muse. Back to the personal, he wonders about all the riches and fame-- "earthly plunder"-- and if in the end anything will be left. "See the candle burning low" points to knowing that the band is stretching themselves to thin and running out of steam. "Just join hands" seems to back at the more global or social level-- people could solve the world's problems if they were united. "Carouselambra" seems to be a later answer to this song. It also blends the bands journey with the social challenges of the day. |
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| Led Zeppelin – The Ocean Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I hear an "s" sound just before the word people interpret as "ball". Try listening for the "s". It's there. And actually, the "b" in ball sounds like an "f". The last word sounds like fall or full. He repeats "full" again. I think the last phrase in that lyric "hell is full". The first three words do sound like "the hell high" or "the hell ah" "for the hell... ah hell it's full"? "for the hell..high hell is full?" Those sound like gibberish, too. It sounds like "hell ha hell is full" on this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbSugn0dB4c If the ocean is the fans then I think the lyrics reflect a poor opinion of the fans. They sound demanding. "play for free. play for me. play a whole lot more" Maybe not their fans in particular. Maybe rock fans. And if "hell" is what he thinks of the concert they have to play.... It also sounds like he regrets a lack of carefreeness or happiness that used to accompany his singing. He used to sing in the sunshine and laugh and drink. (or maybe that's what his life is like now?) Now he's got to rush off to some other concert. I don't know about the three year old girl. it could be his daughter as everybody says or it could also be the fans again. Three years since their first album or three years old being a kind of sarcastic comment toward the fans. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Candy Store Rock Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I love Robert plant. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Candy Store Rock Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Sounds like he's got his mouth full of rooster meat. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Trampled Under Foot Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| uhhh, "heavy metal underneath the hood", "let me pump your gas", "come to me for service"??? Doesn't sound like he's servicing a chick to me. LOL he's so funny getting all these stoner kids to sing along to this | |
| Led Zeppelin – All My Love Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Shit, I know I'm going to catch flack for this: It's not about his son. People don't have to make a choice about loving a dead child and loving their spouse. If that's what the song is about then it's saying he has no more love for the child, only love for his wife. He would be saying his child is some inconsequential feather. Unlikely. This song is about someone who strayed from his marriage. That is so obvious. "Fall out of love", "cloak of delight" make it clear that this person was involved in passing affairs. Why does everyone avoid this obvious meaning even though every line points to a deep remorse over a sexual affair? It's because Robert is also singing about a "he". "He is a feather in the wind". The affair was with a "he", wasn't it? It wasn't a deep affair. Just a passing fancy, like a feather that blew along by chance, not design. The singer is letting his wife know that she is a permanent love, the one thread that has held everything together. No one to see that Robert Plant is kind of gayish or bi or whatever. Even though it's so obvious. I was so disappointed when I saw concert photos/footage of him because he is just so flamboyantly feminine and flaming. Like a flower child Liberace. Not that it's bad that he's gay. I'm gay. But I really wanted Robert Plant to be totally straight. or at least a butch kind of gay. But people will still insist, "No, he's married, blah blah blah." I've known LOTS of gay guys that were married. People just don't WANT robert Plant to be gay because they love his singing and idolized him as a teen and he validated their stoner masculinity, and if it turns he's gay, what does that mean? What does it mean that you idolized him so much? Looking more closely at the lyrics, I would even say that his sexuality goes more toward the gay side. "His is the force that lies within". This is saying that there's some deep essence that the boyfriend stirs up within Robert. "All the warmth we can find" for the wife sounds kind of platonic, huh? I think I'd rather stir up the "force" within someone than be the warm fire. BTW, most of the time Robert Plants lyrics were probably so silly and cartoonish and poor because he really couldn't sing about what he was thinking. This was one song that seemed a little real and not happening in Viking hobbit fairy land. See "Candy Store Rock" for his take on giving head. You'll like it. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Carouselambra Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is pretty cool discovering their lyrics. I am chuckling at all the Zep lyrics I misheard as a teen. "In the Evening" had to be the top as far as lyrics I totally botched. I agree with "Fool". There are definitely political overtones in this one, but maybe more than Vietnam. Seems to me to be about the overall hippie vision for transforming society dying. And there's some blame placed toward someone, probably people who had become too fat and comfortable to put their necks on the line ("too smug to lift a hand"). Sorry, I don't see anything about groupies or hotels. Plant used some pretty salty innuendo for songs about sex and I just don't see it at all. There is a hopeful message to the lyrics-- Plant is singing about waking from some sleep and he's also suggesting there is a seed being protected, as if the vision might some day be revived. I could see this also being allegorical about their own rise and fall, indirectly. The 60's movements languished, Zep was cast aside for punk, disco, new wave, etc. You could see how they might have seen themselves as victim to larger forces. |
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| Neil Young – Words (Between The Lines Of Age) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I know it's dumb to assume songs are about drugs, but this one might have a couple references. "Something to plant in the lawn" meaning "grass" and "junkman" referring to junk or heroin. I don't think it's about drugs at all but perhaps informed by a deep reflectiveness that goes along with some drug states. This was part of the times, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch, especially since people in that time period generally started looking for drug references in nonsensical lyrics. That conjecture aside, the lyrics are definitely about a type of isolation, about not ever really knowing others. "Someone and someone" suggests everyone is a "no one", that people are kind of faceless and nameless, going through dull motions: looking, turning, sitting, waiting. Also, the idea of "thinking your mind was my own" seems to be about losing track of who one is inside and needing to connect with someone on the deepest possible level. "Windows" come up twice. To me, this is about being the observer, sitting back and watching others going through mundane, repetitive motions in their lives, but always from behind glass. It's his job to sing about what he sees and to speak with some depth, but also he's saying that the meanings can never be fully communicated, just briefly glimpsed between the lines. There is a surreal, illogical quality that invites multiple meanings. The impossibility of making a coherent story out of this is really exactly what the lyrics are about. He starts like he's going to tell you a story, but the story goes missing. By the end it has an uneasy, surreal fairy tale quality. The King is an archetypal image, but even the king veers off into nonsensical rhymes. I don't think this song is about a hopeless loneliness; it starts from that but it's also about the power of words and song to reach across the gaps and "shine the stars" of our being. I think this song is meant to be deep and existential. "Lines of age" refers the weight of the years we feel from the loneliness, as if time itself has etched deep lines into our soul's landscape. |
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