Ok I looked it up. The other voice on the song is Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention, her band played a few shows with Zeppelin and Plant liked her voice.

When it's played live John Paul Jones sings the womans part.

just to prove its LOTR, look at the line: "the ringwraiths ride in black" evidently this is about the last battle in the trillogy because the wringwraith's dont fight in any other battle except that.

to prove it's LOTR, look at this line:

"The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, Ride on."

the ring wraiths only fight in the last battle of the third book, the drums are the assault on gondor's capital (i forgot the name)

Hello, new here. stumbled on this site looking for lyrics to this song. I was thinking the line was "No comfort heirs defy the night but light the face of holes" Good line for some other song though!

This song(to me) is one of the best songs of all time. It' beautifully written and played and very pleasing to listen to but spiritually and intelectually challenging. The title refers to the ongoing battle btwn G & E not the end battle. There is only one "Prince of Peace" and it ain't Frodo. "..embraced the gloom.." is when He accepted the cup the Father had given Him that no other could ".. and walked the night alone." I would hesitate to assign the depths of this work to any one source. I think many sources from many ages were called upon to paint the mental picture this song calls up.
The lines that Sandy Denny(Dennis?) sing are an answer to the main lyrics. "Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light" is repeated many times as encouragement to those engauged in battle. To dance in the dark of night takes faith. That's where we are right now, in the dark of night. Sing to the morning light is another ref. to Jesus. He is the "Bright and morning star" NOT lucifer. He is the dragon. (Reguardless of what he or others call him)
More later.

The line is:
"No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold."
Not:
"No comfort heirs defy the night but light the face of holes"

;P

Sure ...i just love J.R.R.T ... BUT WHY ... in every song a bunch of people try to see that the lyrics are kinda resembling the Lord of the Rings ...

I think that Plant was replicating the same technique that Tolkien does. Tolkien's story is based on languages. He draws concepts, characters and names from Norse and Celtic myths. There is a reason the Dwarves names all sound the same. Led Zeppelin's song does the same thing. It pulls from several mythologies to discuss the ultimate battle of good and evil. Plant obviously considers Tolkien's story on par with other mythologies that explain good and evil.

Yo, Ar3s; I know.That's why I said I was thinking that was the lyric and that it would be a good line for some other song. No biggie, misunderstanding. In the lyrics shown above the second refrain of "Oh, Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light" is incorrect. If you listen to the song she actually says "Oh dance in the dark of night, LISTEN to the morning light". Since light makes no sound what might she be refering to? Think about this one "The Queen of light took her bow...." To be "The Queen of light took her BOUGH..."

I read the lord of the rings and i think this song is about helms deep or at least part of it.
"Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, Rest not to lock your homes.
Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all.
I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley blow,
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow."
I think this is referring to the part where all the people of rohan left there homes to go to helms deep then they waited there for the orcs to come. I think the angles of Avalon is the army that showed up with gandalf to fight off the orcs. They waited for the sun to rise in the east because that was when Gandalf would return.
"The tyrant's face is red."
That referes to sauron being pissed because the orcs lost.

I read the lord of the rings and I think this song or part of it is about Helms Deep.

"Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, Rest not to lock your homes.

Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all.

I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley blow,
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow."

I think this is refering to when the people of rohan left there homes to seek refuge in Helms Deep. Then they waited side by side on the wall for the orcs from Isengard to come. The angels of Avalon is the army that showed up with gandalf to fight of the orcs. They were waiting for the eastern glow because at sunrise of that day was when Gandalf would return.

"The tyrant's face is red."
This refers to sauron being pissed because they lost the battle.

Zeppelinfan87 has a good spin on it!

love the song...favorite of all time...wonderfull twist and i suppose it was written to tease the listeners' minds and to take its meaning however one desires...

This song has quite a few more Tolkien referances then I have seen mentioned. Starting from the begining.

"Queen of Light took her bow, And then she turned to go"
"The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone. "

Could mean a variety of things. 1)Glaradriel and Frodo, which a very good explaination was given above. Gladdy refusing the ring and passing into the west, and Frodo being the savior or peace who embraces the worst gloom imaginable by carrying the ring and entering mordor.

2) Queen of Light could be Arwen and The Prince of Peace is Aragorn. Aragorn embraces the the gloom and walks the paths of the dead, which is one of the key points in the book and the turning point in the battle on plennor fields.

3) Queen of light is Eowyn, this is my personal theory. As shown below, I believe most of this song is in the time frame of the Battle on Plennor Fields, Eowyn takes her bow from aragorn and then turns back to Edoras, then Aragorn goes to embrace the gloom. The only real problem with that theory is, "why is Eowyn the Queen of Light". All I have to say is, you kill the witch king, and you earn that title.

"Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light. "
"The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all. "
"Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, Rest not to lock your homes. "

The people of Gondor know well and good that the greatest army of Mordor in 2 thousand years is approaching to end all thier lives, little hope remains. Dont lock your doors, its useless, the army of mordor is coming. Day is now night as Sauron pollutes the sky and shrouds the sun and the hope of man. They sing for morning.

"Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all. "

They stand on the castles walls in dread, waiting for the final battle, the last stand. They stand with friends from afar who come cause they know that if Gondor Falls on this night, all hope ends for everyone.

"I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley blow,
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow. "


The men hear the coming of Theoden and the Army of Rohan. Finally coming to the aid of Gondor. Hope at last has come. They await for the "eastern glow" which is the sunrise. In Tolkiens writings the sunrise is such a key element. Fingolfin rides out of the ragged ice unlooked for and drives his host to the gates of Agnband on the first sunrise of middleearth. In numerous songs it is sang about, and Helms deep the sunrise was "ever the hope of man". That is a key element in this song, the men are so sure they will lose, with the wraiths circling above, oh how they wish for the sunlight. The "angels of avalon" part I imagine has a special meaning for plant. I like to think that they are the saviors, or a new hope in battle, which Rohan was for a short time.

"The apples of the valley hold, The seeds of happiness, "

Oh nature is so nice, the trees and plants of the valley. They hold happiness for men, that is all they want to keep.

"The ground is rich from tender care, Repay, do not forget, no, no. "
"Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light."

The men of gondor tended to the land. They created thier own paradise. FIGHT FOR IT, repay those who would wish domination and the end to nature and green grass. Dont forget what your fighting for, NO NO NO.

"DANCE" Dance is Fight! Fight to the darkest of nights, with no hope in sight. Sing, HOPE for the morning light, for victory, for one last chance to feel the sun against your skin.

"The apples turn to brown and black, The tyrant's face is red. "

They are ruining the land. They will destory all Gondor has made. Sauron is angry and wants to end it now and here. He is coming for the men of gondor.

(Tyrants face is red could be the sideplot with Denethor, or could mean Saurons shame when his army loses, or his witch-king dies. Its hard to say which because if this is to be sequantial with the battle, the witchking dying wouldnt work "perfectly", but who ever said it would)

"Oh the war is common cry, Pick up you swords and fly. "
"The sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know. "


War must be, fight with your swords and bows, everyone, even the children (as shown in book). Thier is much to this battle that the average folk doesnt know about, but they fight for thier country.

"Oh, well, the night is long the beads of time pass slow, "
"Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow. "

Again, the sunrise. The battles lasts oh so long, will daylight ever come (remember no daylight for days at this point). All they see is death and destruction, the night gets blackers as time passes on, its so slow. They are waiting the sunrise, no rest to those defending thier homes against a enemy who would devour all.

"The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath, "
"The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, Ride on. "

Even after the war is over, you still have the count the dead, you still have your scars, your country is all on fire, everything you works for is gone. What is worse then having the fight a war? Fighting one, then winning to find everything you fought for in ruin.

The enemy beats thier drums, the devils of the enemy are at hand. No "chance" that ringwraiths are mentioned in the same POWERFUL line as "The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath".

Ride on though, continue to fight! Ride on.

"Sing as you raise your bow, shoot straighter than before. "
"No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold"

Give yourself hope, sing as you fight better then you ever have. Keep fighting, though thier is no comfort when you are watching the fires of your country.

Watching your home burn, pick yourself up, fight harder then before. (Brilliant, i'm sorry to say zepp haters)

Oh dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light.
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back. Bring it back.


Fight in the dark of night, fight for the sunrise.

Magic runes.... many different things this could be. Gandalf? Perhaps Merry with his anciet sword parked with runes which helped slayed the king of the wraiths.. quite possible. Frodo and the ring, always a possibility. I tend to go with Merry, cause when the witchking dies, sunlight begins to shine again, and the balance is brought back. Hopelessness, is now now so, the men of gondor have a chance. Right from the book, thier hearts are lifted when the witch-king dies.

"At last the sun is shining, The clouds of blue roll by,
With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes"

Need I explain?

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This song related to christ? I'm not so sure bout that, I will admit sometimes us TOlkien fans take a few leaps with zepps music, but this song just mirrors the feeling of the chapter so much. The mood, the direct word-to-word relations. Hard for me to believe this is anything BUT directly taken from Tolkien. Remember, these guys dont wanna come out with a song titled "Battle of Plennor Fields" then sing 20 lines from the book, they have to be sorta cryptic. Just like in Ramble on, when they mix a girl into the mix. Just to keep the rock N roll edge.

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and aircav, tolkien would be rolling in his grave if he ever saw this you say this:

":the entire LOTR trilogy is an allegory to christianity and a christian's life, "

Its true that Tolkien used a lot of themes from mythologies that happened to form christianity later in thier civilizations. But in very few ways could it be said that the books mimic christian life. And its even a further stretch to say that Tolkien wrote them with that purpose in mind. Read any of his letters and that will become painfullly obvious.

This song is definitely about the lord of the Rings trilogy because of the reference to the Ring Wraiths. However, i had stumbled uypon this site looking for song lyrics and was surprised by the amount of people who take things so seriously. It's just a song. Only people who write the songs know what they mean. And Lord of the rings took a lot from everything, including WWII and celtic mythology.

Anyone who regards Tolkien's Lord of the Rings as allegerical is wrong. In the introduction to the book tolkien says that his books are not allegerical. If you don't believe me then read the introduction. Lord of the Rings is timeless classic due to the fact that it is not allegerical and can not be reflected in any time of society.

I don't think this is a Christian metaphor. It's clearly about LOTR; specifically, the Battle of Pellanor Fields. Unless it's plagiaristic, there is no other story which includes Ringwraiths in its subject matter.

One line of the song that's confusing to me is "I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow". Since Avalon is Arthurian, not a product of Tolkien, I wonder what was meant by the line. Still, this is a Tolkienist song, and one of my favourite Led Zep songs ever.

If another person says the elves or frodo live at the gray havens they need to read the books again

If another person says the elves or frodo live at the gray havens they need to read the books again

Um, 'Wiggles', I'm pretty sure Tokien wouldn't be "rolling in his grave" to think LOTR was based on Christianity. While, yes, Tolkien admitted himself that he hated allegory, it is OBVIOUS that LOTR and all of Tolkien's work was written from a Biblical worldview. Tolkien was a Christian, plain and simple, this is fact. And you can see it leap from the page and screen when you read/watch the story take place, in the same way a Tolkien fan would obviously notice it's influence on much of Zeppelin's music. It may not be directly arcehtypal, but it's obviously from that mindset. That's a mistake I think a lot of Tolkien fans make when deciphering Zeppelin songs. Not necessarily this one, which is more direct, but many Zeppelin songs are picked apart as if they directly coalesce with a certain event from the story, but really, it's more likely to be just a nice reference to the story to add to the mood. And it works wonderfully. This also pertains to Tolkien. While it may not be an archetypal retelling of the Bible, it has OBVIOUS Christian roots throughout it's entirety, in it's worldview, and I think Tolkien would be more likely to toss in his grave if he heard what you said, rather than what you were responding to.

Sing as you raise your bow, shoot straighter than before.

This sounds to me like Legolas. "Singing" his praise of his bow (as in counting his kills), and his need to shoot straighter than before to help compensate for the fact they are outnumbered. Just something to add.

Hi, could you guys list Zeppelin songs that refer to Lord of the Rings? I have listened to Zeppelin for a long time though I never knew about the association to the book. I am usually listening to Pink Floyd, but I always liked Zeppelin. Thanks in advance.

I'm not a Zeppelin expert, but the only two I can think of off the top of my head are The Battle of Evermore and Ramble On. These are the only ones that blatantly refer to the series (ring wraiths, Gollum, Mordor), at least that I can think of, there may be more. But many Zeppelin songs clearly have that influence, such as Stairway to Heaven, No Quarter, Going to California, and many others. Plant's lyrical style is very Tolkienesque, so it's hard to discern which ones are inspired by the books and which ones aren't. Either way, Plant is a lyrical genius, as is Tolkien. Ones that I would think have that sort of lyrical feel are Kashmir, Immigrant Song, The Rain Song, That's the Way, etc. If you like Tolkien's work, you should like Plant's as well, so it's good to just get into Zeppelin period, and you'll see those similarities in your own way.

Thanks for the info Johnny1031

Now this song sounds to my like Helm's Deep. The angels of Avalon being the Riders of Rohan, led by Gandalf to force the uruk-hai into retreat. If you havent read the books DO SO. If you're going by the movies, the only damn elf there was at Helm's Deep was Legolas. The Lorien elves were fighting at Dol Guldor(sp) at this time.

This song could be based on Revelation but it is not. We all know Plant is a huge LOTR fan and this is what the whole song is about. Mattius82 you make a good point but that is not what this is about.