One of my favourite Zeppelin tunes.

Simple genius is the lyrics and one of The Angles of Avalon is filling in the lyrics.(Sandy Denny) Like Tolkien Robert Plant left their writings open for interpretation. I think the song is simply the never ending duel between day and night. Starts of with daylight fading and night taking over. The song then gives one lots to ponder. No wonder the LOTR fans, the Christians and Satanists and all else reads so much into it. That is why I call it genius, considering that it was coming from a early twenty year old Plant having already studied many subjects in life. The main subject I see thru the period of darkness in the song is war. The pain of war cannot exceed. The woe of aftermath. is as appropriate now as it was then as well as during the battles of the dark ages. So get along will ya ;) and just enjoy the music.

Music and poetry, like the Bible and Tolkien books, can all be understood in different ways. Trying to pin down one specific theory and say 'No! It means this!' is basically fundamentalism. Keep in mind also that the song was written SPONTANEOUSLY and also that Led Zeppelin almost always had DRUGS IN THEIR BLOOD STREAM... So chill out everyone and go with the sweet soothing spirit of the song.

This is how their own sound engineer Andy Johns described it: "The band was sitting next to the chimney in Headley, drinking tea, when Jimmy grabbed a mandolin and started playing. I gave him a microphone and stuck a Gibson echo on his mandolin. Jimmy had brought this stuff before and had asked me to take a look at it. Suddenly Robert started singing and this amazing track was born from nowhere."

Onelove x

I've wondered almost my entire adult life about this song. It sounds so cool and rocks. The women's beautiful voices in the intro are awe-inspiring. As for the meaning, I think Mattius82 was somewhat right in that it is about the end times in Christian prophecy. The Prince of Peace is obviously Jesus Christ and he embraced the spiritual gloom and walked the Night alone(the dark of Night). "The Night" or "The Dark of Night" is a literary reference to Eli Wiesel's Holocaust short book "Night" which, in turn, is about the dark Night of Nazi fascism(or State fascism-the current global order). That is part of the deep meaning of this song. The other part is a reference to the coming global market collapse talked about by Maitreya the world teacher and his advocate, Benjamin Creme. Everyone can access this information at www.shareintl.com I encourage you to not take my word for it and check out the info at this site. "The apples turn to brown and black" is an allegory meaning stocks. The stocks turn bad and worse and worse still until the bottom drops out of the world's markets on that mythical day talked about in this song. The Doors also reference this event in their legendary song "End of the Night".

(No.1 Oblivion) I realise this is going off subject for most of you but the video game "Oblivion" was meant to be played to the music of Zep and this song is so perfect that its funny. Even the artwork in the game seems to be in the style of Zep (ignoring there influences of course)

The chanteusse is Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention(Percy's Song,Tam Lin)who died of a brain tumor in 1978 on holiday with her parents.
She was the only female,the Ledpoof Zeppelinwankers ever allowed on any of their records rightly so.

Just throwing this out here Does anybody find a comparison with this song and the game Secret of Evermore? Also the girl singer sounds just like Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane.

The whole meaning of "GOOD MUSIC" is that you can take from it what you want it to mean. And with ALL Led Zeppelin music, this rings true.

The songs meant to RP what they meant and to all of us, they mean what they mean to us. :D :D

This is the final battle in LOTR! No doubt. So many other songs by Led are about LOTR, like "Ramble On". I also think that people should stop annoying us by thinking they were the first Led Zepellin fans EVA!!!

The song is seems to be clearly about LOTR ... from the first line to the end ...

"The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go." - Galadriel leaving for the Greyhavens

"The prince of peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone" - After leaving Loth Lorien, Frodo goes on alone with the evil ring

"The Dark Lord rides in force tonight" Sauron is always referred to as The Dark Lord and of course his minions are the dark riders

The many references to farming and rich earth are strong calls of a Hobbit's style of life

"Waiting for the Eastern glow" Tolkien often refers to the eastern sky as the indication of evil's hold on middle earth -- the sky to the east darkens as Sauron's power strengthens

" .. the night is long, beads of time pass slow, tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow" This is in reference to the battle at Helm's Deep when Gandalf tells them to look to the east at sunrise for his return

"drums that shake the castle wall" as the legions of orcs storm the White City they bring with them trolls pounding the cadence

"ring wraiths ride in black" are of course the black riders of Sauron

"Sing as you raise your bow" elves known for their song, Legolas known for his bow

"the magic runes are writ in gold, to bring the balance back" when the ring is cast into the fires of Mount Doom, the writings appear upon it and when it is consumed by the fires, balance is brought back to Middle Earth

I agree with what everyone else says a bit but I think it could possibly be about Egyptian mythology instead of LOTR. This is because to me it sounds like instead of saying "i can hear the horses' thunder" it sounds like Horus's thunder, and Horus was the egyptian god of many things including war, which is what the song is about. Just an idea.

I have read most of the comments and replies about the meaning of the song and its relationship with LOTR, and I agree. But as far as the meaning of the story itself, it is an allegory, and it can be interpeted any way you can think. I think that is the genious of Tolkien. Even though many think it is about WWII, it could be about anything. Back to the song I think it is great. Robert Plant and Sandy Denny's voice go great together. The version off of No Quarter was good too.

I could have sworn I posted this a few months ago, but I can't find it here. Oh well, here's what I think;

The Queen of Light took her bow,
And then she turned to go.
This refers to the great message of peace and morality. “Light” is used here to indicate the knowledge and wisdom of such a message.

The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom
And walked the night alone.
“The Prince of Peace” refers to the great philosophical teachers of the past who taught the power of morality and peace. Examples include Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Krishna,
Muhammad, Moses, etc. These philosophers taught the same great truths and gave the same core messages, but they have been forced to “embrace the gloom and walk the night alone,” meaning that their values have, for the most part, died with them. Their so-called followers corrupted their messages for their own ends, and the truths and meanings behind the teachings have largely gone into hiding (“night”).

Oh, dance in the dark of night.
Sing to the morning light.
This passage encourages the listener to embrace the core moral values shared by the philosophers. The commonness of the values among philosophical teachings has been undermined; organized religion has demanded dogmatic faith over true acts of morality. “Sing to the morning light” encourages the listener to let the importance of the lost morality return, thus ending the darkness.

The dark Lord rides in force tonight,
And time will tell us all.
Led Zeppelin members were known for their involvement with pagan ideals and the Occult. The “dark Lord” refers to the pagan deities and religious practices that have been demonized by Christianity as Satan or devil-worship. The most prominent examples are the worship of serpents in various cultures and the pagan worship of Baphomet. By the way, Aleister Crowley, a major influence on Led Zeppelin, has written in Magick (Book 4) that Satan does not exist and is merely a “false name invented” as a symbol of the deities of the Church’s rivals. This representation of Satan symbolizes the enemies of the Church’s corruption: the great philosophers (including Jesus, ironically). “Tonight” refers to the same “night” that is mentioned earlier in the song; the teachings of the great philosophers are still strong, though in hiding. For how long? Only “time will tell.”

Oh, throw down your plow and hoe.
Rest not to lock your homes.
This encourages the listener to reject the trappings, corruptions, and believe-or-burn ideologies of organized religion and to embrace the common morality taught by the great philosophers. This distinction is indicated by the contrast of “plow and hoe” with the singing and dancing mentioned earlier in the song. Finally, the passage indicates that with the approach of universal acceptance of morality over faith, the world will become much more peaceful and cohesive—hence the symbolic discouragement of locking your homes.

Side by side we wait the might
Of the darkest of them all.
“We” refers to the people who have, like Led Zeppelin members, realized the ills of organized religion and have embraced a-religious spirituality and morality (often as taught by the great philosophers). These people are waiting for the power of such a hidden and demonized idea (“darkest”) to be widely accepted by the world. Such “might” can create a society without the gargantuan flaws of religious zealotry but with an increased importance given to morality.

I hear the horses' thunder
Down in the valley below.
In both Celtic and in Greco-Roman mythology, the horse symbolizes war. The “valley below” probably indicates that the war is steadily approaching.

I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon,
Waiting for the eastern glow.
“The angels of Avalon” is a clear reference to the fallen angels of heaven, according to Celtic-Christian mythology. The most well-known fallen angel is Lucifer, whom (as Satan) many historians and Occult followers have shown to be a demonization of earlier mythological figures and representations. After all, the very term Satan merely means “adversary,” and the term was indeed used as an attack by the early Catholics to denounce paganism. The Church of Lucifer reveres Lucifer as a symbol of wisdom and shows that biblical references to Lucifer portray him as the embodiment of rationale against the early Church’s portrayal of an angry, sadistic, corrupt God. Many modern-day Luciferians respect Lucifer as an independent thinker against irrational, demanding, corrupt Church dogma. Such ideas were very popular in the 1960s and ‘70s. It should also be noted that in Celtic legend, the island of Avalon was well known for it apples, which symbolize wisdom and knowledge. This could be an attempt to underscore the reference to Lucifer, or it could simply be the source for the Christian correlation between angels of Avalon and fallen angels (this explanation, in turn, would probably also have been linked to Lucifer’s symbolic connections with wisdom).
“The eastern glow” obviously indicated dawn, which would symbolize the emergence and acceptance of the much-discussed morality over faith and the end of the “night” that is continuously referenced in the song.

The apples of the valley hold,
The seeds of happiness.
In both Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian mythology, apples represent wisdom and knowledge. The “valley” is the same valley that is referred to earlier in the song, and it still symbolizes what is not yet present but is approaching. By equating wisdom and knowledge with happiness, the song is glamorizing the wisdom and rationale that Lucifer personifies.



The ground is rich from tender care.
Repay, do not forget, no, no.
This is one of the more difficult passages to interpret, though I believe that the “ground” is the same ground in on which the “apples of the valley” grow. If we accept this as true, then the “tender care” would most likely refer to the honing and development of wisdom over time. The encouragement of reimbursement could mean that one must not take such immense knowledge and wisdom that the world has received for granted; rather, one must find his/her own way to contribute back by actually adhering to and enlarging the wisdom. In doing so, on must not forget or corrupt the true meanings and values.

Dance in the dark of night,
Sing to the morning light.
I have already given an analysis for this. The repetition is an accentuation.

The apples turn to brown and black.
The tyrant's face is red.
The knowledge and wisdom accumulated in the world by rational thinkers and the great philosophers have been corrupted and used for the purpose of furthering the power of organized religion. The wisdom rots, and demands on faith grow. The “tyrant” is the epitome of the propagators of organized religion; the “red” symbolizes anger, fervor, and strong emotion—the traits that religious zealots are notorious for. It is also interesting to note that a tyrant is someone who steals power, just as dogmatized religion not only diluted the wisdom of the great philosophers but also suppressed the enlightenment of individual thought.

Oh war is the common cry.
Pick up you swords and fly.
This is of course not a literal war, but both a war of the mind and an indication of the difficulties that the transition between night and day presents. As a war of the mind, it is the quest for realization of the truth and value in morality. As the transition between night and day, the passage expresses the challenges of the wait for the true morals of the great philosophers to take prevalence in the world over the corrupt, expansionist, demanding aims of organized religion.

The sky is filled with good and bad
That mortals never know.
This is rather self-explanatory. The battle between morality and faith is essentially a battle between good and bad. It is here that the song explains the significance of its title—the battle that seems to last an eternity begins.

Oh, well, the night is long,
The beads of time pass slow.
This passage simply indicates that the wait for the dawn has taken a very long time. It will drag on to what feels like “evermore.” Such a transition has been far from immediate and still continues to inch forward. The use of beads as a unit of time further emphasizes how gradually the transition must occur.

Tired eyes on the sunrise,
Waiting for the eastern glow.
This is an indication that those who believe in morality over faith still wait for the end of the “night”—the dawn of acceptance of the ultimate importance of morality.

The pain of war cannot exceed
The woe of aftermath.
Unfortunately, the difficulties of such a transition are not the most dangerous obstacles.
Fighting the war (waiting for the transition) is nothing compared to the actual struggle against religion.

The drums will shake the castle wall.
The ring wraiths ride in black.
Ride on.
There will be great damage against the status quo. “Ring wraiths” is an almost certain reference to the ring wraiths, or Nazgûl, of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (the Led Zeppelin members who wrote this song) were fans of the series and were known to often include references in the songs they wrote. This second line is sung with a somewhat sardonic tone. Plant sarcastically takes on the point of view religious zealots and mockingly demonizes the enemies of organized religion; he then ends his sarcasm and encourages them to “ride on.”

Oh, sing as you raise your bow, (Ride on)
Shoot straighter than before.
This is simply a further encouragement of the battle between morality and faith.

No comfort has the fire at night
That lights the face so cold.
This is one of the more cryptic passages, but the night’s fire may indicate the wisdom that has been hidden for so long. Such wisdom has little comfort in such a corrupt world, and its light reveals the terrible features of society.

Oh dance in the dark of night.
Sing to the morning light.
The third occurrence of this passage is used to further highlight the underlying encouragement of embracing the shared values of the great philosophers.

The magic runes are writ in gold
To bring the balance back.
Bring it back.
The magic runes are the messages given by the great philosophers, and the gold is the supreme wisdom of their teachings. Such teachings were given to create a harmonious society. The song urges a revival of such magic runes.


At last the sun is shining.
The clouds of blue roll by.
The battle will ultimately come to an end, and the wisdom that has been suppressed into the night will at last emerge into the daylight. What emerges is a new era of peace and the prevalence of morality over faith.

With flames from the dragon of darkness,
The sunlight blinds his eyes.
The “dragon” is a very insightful symbol to use. In Christian mythology, the dragon represents evil, the Devil, and Satan’s authority. However, in most pagan traditions, the dragon does not take the appearance of the medieval image of a winged, fearsome, fire-breathing dragon. On the contrary, dragons have always been serpents—a symbol of wisdom. Sound familiar? “The dragon of darkness” is a reference to wisdom—the great philosophers who have been abused and demonized by the aims of organized religion. “The sunlight blind his eyes” because the dragon has been in the night for what has seemed like “evermore.” The change will take a little bit of getting used to, for the dragon’s eyes must become accustomed to the sunlight. But as the do, the dragon shall begin its new dominance and usher in the new era of peace.

1 Reply

I would like to point out that, despite the use of imagery from Tolkien and the Arthurian cycles, it would be specious to state that the song is therefore about a particular sequence from Tolkien or elsewhere. (Locating sources does not explain the "meaning".) The song must be interpreted in its own terms as an organic whole and neither as allegory nor according to extraneous schemata, whether biblical or mythological, which are inevitably blind to incongruous elements of the song.
The main movement of the song describes a descent from light into darkness and finally a return to the light. The abundant reference to agriculture indicates that it is a question of the seasons changing from Summer, "the queen of light", to winter, the "tyrant" or "darklord". This personification of the seasons follows Celtic and Norse mythology which also presents the annual cycle as a battle between the forces of light and darkness "that mortals never know". The battle which forms the climax of the song is chiefly concerned with evoking images of pain and woe and the final victory over the "dragon of darkness" is, conspicuously, one without glory. In fact, the intense interweaving of light and dark in the final verse suggests that the dragon may be Ouroboros, the symbol of eternal return, who bites his own tail like the circle of time.
As a result of Robert Plant's skill in appropriating this multi-layered symbolism, any interpretation of the song faces the same difficulties as the interpretation of mythology itself. Only the most superficial reading can state that it is about a particular battle or about the evil of war in general. On a deeper level it is about seasonal change. But the seasonal change itself becomes a metaphor for other processes of transformation. Every mystery religion can be seen as a spiritual interpretation of this cycle, according to which the soul descends from a realm of light down to the darkness "in the valley below", and can rise again at death. The vast majority of religions have regarded this process as a cyclical one of reincarnation.
More importantly, in The Rain Song, Plant sings about the "seasons of emotion" that "rise and fall". This opens the possibility that the song is about a process of grief and consolation, or more generally, about the perilous fate of humans whose lives are encompassed by forces beyond their control, and about hope that lives on through the dark night.

just so everyone realizes LOTR is heavily based on the Bible. think about it. Prince of Peace is another name for Jesus. Frodo and Aragorn share common characteristics with Jesus. Frodo bears the burden of saving the world from Sauron (Jesus's crucifixtion). Aragorn is a great healer and the king. So before you all start arguing whether this is based on celtic mythology of WW2 you should realize that Tolkein was a very religious man similar to C.S. Lewis. As far as the song goes there are several references to LOTR as most of you have noticed. But I'm not celtic expert so I'm not gonna testify to that.

it breaks my heart that this could be related to a LOTR theme. i love this song so much

ill have to admit that its pretty amazing what you 'god people' will come up with. seems like you wanna label everything as a god reference. im fairly aggrivated by it. from most of the comments on here and from what Tolkien says, it seems that the allegory does not exist. but i honestly see how you could make it seem like it could be a biblical reference. on the other hand, i also can see how this is reference to the movie Kingpin. roll with me here:

"oh, dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light"
thats obviously a reference to their partying, for they seem to do that throughout the whole movie and also, this line is repeated a number of times in the song.

"the dark lord rides in force tonight, and time will tell us all."
this is a reference to Stanley lookin for Roy, Ish and Claudia

"the queen of light took her bow, then she turned to go"
of course, this is when Claudia leaves Stanley to go with Roy and Ish.

"the Prince of peace embraced the gloom to walk the night alone""throw down your plow and hoe, rest not to lock your doors"
this is Ish leaving his Amish community to go out amongst the evils of society.

now this proves the pure genius that Plant is. he wrote a song about a movie that wouldnt come out for 20 years.

anyways, ill stop right there, i think ive made my point. to be honest, i feel its fairly ridiculous to assume everything has to have some inner meaning or reference to some previous works of fantasy. i feel LOTR is a stand alone world in its own universe. LZ seemed to make numerous references to various charecters and situations throughout the LOTR universe. there is no 'god' reference, that ive noticed, in any LZ song. maybe its my atheism that allows me to see their music is just that.....music. lyrically, Plant was a mastermind, being able to work his words the way he had in this song is nearly beyond comprehension. i write music myself and while there are a few songs ive written that have a purpose to reference something, most of my songs are structured mainly to please your audible senses.

This is one of those rare songs (poetry) that rings true for each generation it encounters. Everyone will interpret it slightly different, depending on who they are, where they're from, and the time they live in.
Some of this might not be right, but here's my take:

The Queen of Light took her bow
And then she turned to go
(The Queen of Light refers to the Goddess of Light, Kuan Yin/Tara, or if you prefer Celtic: Caridwen. Caridwen is the Celtic Goddess Goddess of Light and Nature. She "took her bow" and "turned to go", meaning Light and Nature are coureously bowing and leaving.)

The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom
And walked the night alone
(The Prince of Peace refers to "the One". He's present at every major point in history, always in some different form. For Christians, he is Christ; for Native Americans, he is the Wanekia - present during their end at the time of Black Elk. And Now? Heh, heh - can't let you in on everything! He "embraced the gloom and walked the night alone". The End is always a dark time, and no one can fight it - not even "the One". Resist the dark and you resist the light that inevitable follows.)

Oh, dance in the dark of night
Sing to the morning light
(This is kind of a continuation of the previous two lines. It's an instruction for anyone caught in the "dark of night": dance! And when morning comes: sing!)

The dark Lord rides in force tonight
And time will tell us all
(This one seems obvious, but it's actually kinda tricky. Who is the dark Lord? It can either refer the Prince of Peace who embraced the gloom, or to the leader of the force of Darkness. Maybe, they're one and the same! My advice - don't be afraid of the dark, no matter who's leading it.)

Oh, throw down your plow and hoe
Rest not to lock your homes
(When the time comes - and it will - drop everything, go home and lock the doors! Better yet, head to the mountains - be safer there.)

Side by side we wait the might
Of the darkest of them all
(The "darkest of them all" abviously refers to the dark Lord mentioned earlier. It also means the darkest hour that comes before the dawn. The dark Lord's power is greatest at the darkest hour - good time to lock your door! Not that it'll do any good.)

I hear the horses' thunder
Down in the valley below
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon
Waiting for the eastern glow
(Hmm... not sure. Are they the dark Lord's war-horses, or just horses in general? Either way, I'm not down there. I'm up here, waiting for morning. You should too.)

The apples of the valley hold
The seeds of happiness
The ground is rich from tender care
Repay, do not forget, no, no
(Same valley as before. Valleys are generally rich places. But...)

The apples turn to brown and black
The tyrant's face is red
(Ooh.. f'n tyrant! Ruined all them good apples! Why is the tyrant's face red? Because it's communist china.)

Oh, war is the common cry
Pick up you swords and fly
(If you don't know anything about Red China, read up on it. Self-explanatory.)

The sky is filled with good and bad
That mortals never know
(There's more going on than any mortal realizes. It's more than just the "end of the age" spoken of in Revelation. This is bigger than all of us. Best to hunker down and wait it out.)

Oh, well, the night is long
The beads of time pass slow
Tired eyes on the sunrise
Waiting for the eastern glow
(Again, it takes forever for morning to come. Night is never fun. But don't fall asleep! You wouldn't wanna miss out on the sunrise!)

The pain of war cannot exceed
The woe of aftermath
The drums will shake the castle wall
The ring wraiths ride in black
(No matter how bad it gets, the worst is yet to come. More people die after the violence than during it.)

Sing as you raise your bow
Shoot straighter than before
(Hmm... For me, this is a reference to Black Elk and his bow. Wakan-tanka still needs to make good on his promise, and Black Elk never did get a chance to shoot his bow.)

No comfort has the fire at night
That lights the face so cold
(Our usual creature comforts are meaningless in a darkness so deep and a coldness so intense.)

The magic runes are writ in gold
To bring the balance back
Bring it back
(Ahh! Here we have it! The reason for the crisis and the solution to it! HOORAY! Yeah - it refers to Frodo's ring, but there's more to it than that. The world is out of balance and the "magic runes... writ in gold" bring the balance back.)

At last the sun is shining
The clouds of blue roll by
With flames from the dragon of darkness
The sunlight blinds his eyes
(At last! Morning comes and the sun is finally shining after thousands of years of darkness. The kali yuga is ended! The clouds are blew on by! Turns out, the dragon of darkness everybody was so afraid of turns out to be the necessary thing. Or at least, the flames from the dragon are. And what are the flames from the dark dragon? Hint: Corona!)

This is all wish-fulfillment. 'I lke LZ and LOTR so I'll prove the song's about LOTR'.

You have quotes from the author of the song saying what the source was and you're still disputing it!!

The song is based on old myths, LOTR is based, in part, on the same myths - that's the only connection.

If you don't know who Sandy Denny was then you're clearly too young to have an opinion!

I definetly think this song is about LOTR and any of you ignorant fools who think it isnt, well it is. Ring Wraiths, yeah, there were ring wraiths ridin' around at armageddon. Led Zeppelin is awesome, everyone needs to shut up!

"johnny1031" on page 2 dated 04-17-2004, could not have stated the truth more eloquently. They are the very thoughts I was forming in head as I was reading some of these comments.

I want to add some corrections:
The Battle of Pelennor Fields was not to decide the fate of Numenor. That fate was decided thousands of years in the past, and the Numenoreans did not fair well. I can only assume that this person meant Gondor, which would still be incorrect since it was for all of Middle-Earth.

The Gray Havens, which is actually Grey Havens, was not the Undying Lands where the elves went when they "Passed in to the West". It is where they left Middle-Earth on their way to the Undying Lands. It's also called Aman, or more specifically Valinor.

By the way 'johnny', if you ever get back around to reading this, I now the Rain Song and it is indeed akin to a rare gem that nobody but you has had the pleasure of experiencing.

!!!

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