ok, i just read through the 3 pages of posts, and don't feel as though enough's been said. a lot of it was bickering, and not really worth reading. so here you go, the ZepHead's explaination. A little sappy, a little serious, a little lighthearted.
This song is about Love and Life, and more.
The first part is about finding that girl you just can't stop thinking about. When you think about her, your thoughts just drift away. "Over the hills and far away," so to speak. The words and sound of this part just make you think of being with that girl, on a beautiful day, not a care in the world. To relate to another Zep song, Achilles Last Stand: "Oh to sail away, to sandy lands and other days. Oh to touch the dream, hides inside is never seen." This is a common theme of escaping our mundane lives.
Before the next two lines, the sound changes, and it's not all fluffy anymore. The lines talk about broken relationships, and when the cycle of "tears of loves lost in the days gone by" (if you've heard Thank You, which is incredible) will end. Roads are an archetype in many forms of art for wonder, the unknown, and journeys(often through life).
After wondering about Love, the next logical progression of though would be Life in general. As someone said, there's a lot of stuff that we don't understand. "Many" things we don't know. Many people don't even stop to think about life; they just keep on trucking through this life we live.
And when you try to comprehend "many," it "only leaves you guessing." "Guessing about a thing." What are we doing? Where are we going? Why can't I stop thinking about her?
Now that's my main interpretation, but there's a couple more things:
"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings
I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold."
Ok, firstly, yeah, that gold's pot. I think the live versions pretty much nail that down. That doesn't mean the whole song's about drugs though. Secondly, these two lines together basically mean, "ya know, I can't make much out of this life thing, but i do know that some dreams do come true. That's worth livin' for." and the gold is something that this particular person needs to keep going. Maybe even to help him go "over the hills and far away" for a little while.
As for Tolkien's poem, yes, there is a poem called "Over Old Hills and Far Away," but i just looked it up, and am pretty sure it isn't about Aragorn/Arwen. I'm pretty sure it's name is what Zep took, unless it's a coincidence and they didn't even notice the connection. Bear in mind, multiple Zep songs had titles that didn't appear in the lyrics, or sometimes weren't related at all (e.g. Black Dog).
And Anti-lotr people need to chill; just because someone mentions a connection doesn't mean the whole song's about lotr, and doesn't mean the person that made the connection is a fanboy jumping all over everything. Note to lotr fans: don't start looking for connections in every song, because that is kinda stupid/annoying, and if anything, you shouldn't do it b/c it makes the ppl that hate you right.
I think that about sums it up. Please tell me what u think of my interpretation, praise or rage.
ok, i just read through the 3 pages of posts, and don't feel as though enough's been said. a lot of it was bickering, and not really worth reading. so here you go, the ZepHead's explaination. A little sappy, a little serious, a little lighthearted.
This song is about Love and Life, and more.
The first part is about finding that girl you just can't stop thinking about. When you think about her, your thoughts just drift away. "Over the hills and far away," so to speak. The words and sound of this part just make you think of being with that girl, on a beautiful day, not a care in the world. To relate to another Zep song, Achilles Last Stand: "Oh to sail away, to sandy lands and other days. Oh to touch the dream, hides inside is never seen." This is a common theme of escaping our mundane lives.
Before the next two lines, the sound changes, and it's not all fluffy anymore. The lines talk about broken relationships, and when the cycle of "tears of loves lost in the days gone by" (if you've heard Thank You, which is incredible) will end. Roads are an archetype in many forms of art for wonder, the unknown, and journeys(often through life).
After wondering about Love, the next logical progression of though would be Life in general. As someone said, there's a lot of stuff that we don't understand. "Many" things we don't know. Many people don't even stop to think about life; they just keep on trucking through this life we live.
And when you try to comprehend "many," it "only leaves you guessing." "Guessing about a thing." What are we doing? Where are we going? Why can't I stop thinking about her?
Now that's my main interpretation, but there's a couple more things: "Many dreams come true and some have silver linings I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold." Ok, firstly, yeah, that gold's pot. I think the live versions pretty much nail that down. That doesn't mean the whole song's about drugs though. Secondly, these two lines together basically mean, "ya know, I can't make much out of this life thing, but i do know that some dreams do come true. That's worth livin' for." and the gold is something that this particular person needs to keep going. Maybe even to help him go "over the hills and far away" for a little while.
As for Tolkien's poem, yes, there is a poem called "Over Old Hills and Far Away," but i just looked it up, and am pretty sure it isn't about Aragorn/Arwen. I'm pretty sure it's name is what Zep took, unless it's a coincidence and they didn't even notice the connection. Bear in mind, multiple Zep songs had titles that didn't appear in the lyrics, or sometimes weren't related at all (e.g. Black Dog).
And Anti-lotr people need to chill; just because someone mentions a connection doesn't mean the whole song's about lotr, and doesn't mean the person that made the connection is a fanboy jumping all over everything. Note to lotr fans: don't start looking for connections in every song, because that is kinda stupid/annoying, and if anything, you shouldn't do it b/c it makes the ppl that hate you right.
I think that about sums it up. Please tell me what u think of my interpretation, praise or rage.