Led Zeppelin And Lord Of The Rings

Maybe some of you already know that Led Zeppelin were huge fans of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. If you listen to the lyrics to some certain song's of their's there are some obvious connections. First, let me clear some things up. I know that there is at least on genius that is thinking that the Lord of the Rings movies came out only a few years ago. In case you didn't know they were books written by the fantasy novelist J.R.R Tolkien in the 40's. If I recal correctly each of the members of the band has read the series at least once, the series conisist of four books. In order they are The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

I know that your already thinking that Led Zeppelin would never be caught seen reading these books. But they've influenced Robert Plant and Jimmy Page the most because they were fantasy. These books had a subliminal world far from reality where the possibilities were endless. There are also some underlying dark themes within them as well. Led Zeppelin were fascinated by these books so much they used references in some of there music. Some of their songs that contain lyrics of uncharted lands, mysterious beings, and enchanted places often derive from the books.

The most memorable song to be Lord of the Ring influenced is definately Ramble On. In some lyrics about three minutes into the song you can hear some direct references. "Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor I met a girl so fair, but Gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her," were the lines. Now let me explain for those not familiar with the books. A brief plot summary would be that this short, hairy footed creature that resembles a miniture human called a hobbit (Frodo) is sent to destroy a powerful ring crafted by an evil being named Sauron. So where does this little adventurer have to travel, an evil land of fire and brimstone called Mordor. Along the way our hero meets another hobbit named Gollum. Gollum fiends for ring that is going to be destroyed, the ring makes people lust for it's power and has slowely deformed Gollum into a wretched creature. So in these line Led Zeppelin makes their own story (since the girl so fair brings no metafors to mind) using elements (Gollum and Mordor) from the Lord of the Rings.

Some more proof just in this song is evident. The first lines in Ramble on states, "leaves are falling all around time I was on my way, thanks to you I'm much abliged for such a pleasant stay." Thanks to you I'm much abliged for such a pleasant stay are direct lines from when the hobbit leaves an elven habitat and continues his journey.

Of course there are other song containing these fantasy induced lyrics. Another one with a lot of straight foward evidence. One of these is the song the Battle Of Evermore from their untitled album (sometimes referred to as Led Zeppelin four). "The drum will shake the castle wall the wringwraths ride in black," were the lyrics which are approximately two minutes and fifty seconds into the song. Wringwraths are characters in the Lord of the Ring series. They are evil knights who ride on dragons, they are evident in the books during a large battle at a castle called Rivendell. I think this whole song is about this epic battle and the band changed the name. In the beginning of the song Page sings, "The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to gold, the prince of peace embraced the doom and walked the night alone." This doesn't necessarily mention a direct relationship to the books but I think I found a relation. The prince of peace is a metaphor for the prince (Aragon) that would restore order and peace back to the shattered lands. The queen of light was his love who he could't be with because she was an elf and would live forever and he would inevidably grow old and die. So the prince had to face the doom of killing off the evil lord and facing his battles feeling he had to face his evil fate alone.

Of course, this is a stretch, who knows what they really meant. They left it open for interpretation so you may have your own meaning for the song. Many other Led Zeppelin songs were claimed to be inspired by the Lord of the Rings such as Misty Mountain Hop and Celebration Day. I like to believe that Stairway To Heavan was inspired by more but one line caught my attention. "In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, and the voices of those who stand looking," are the words. In the first book the wizard Gandalf blows rings of smoke as the hobbit Bilbo tells him he is leaving for a far away land. While this is happening the hobbit's nephew, Frodo, watches behind the trees and this is the start of his adventure. In my thoughts I have seen... I believe this is their way of saying they want something more. They dream of fantasy and a different place, away from the world we live in. They long for something more, maybe adventure or just a place to get away from reality. Maybe I'm wrong but this is how I see it.

For those of you who skipped right to the end, I learned that you can be successful and write meaningful lyrics. But you can also write about your personal likes and fantasies in this case, Lord of the Rings. So next time you see a kid with one of those large fantasy novels think twice before you knock him over he could (most unlikely) be part of the next Led Zeppelin.

Whether you loved it or hated it I have done my part, plaese leave a comment.

Until then peace out.

Comments

[nitrogenium]

mmm interseting i didn't know this

[High_o]

i noticed that lyricin ramble on. i just thought they were either really huge nerds and all the stories of them partying really hard were made up by the record companies to sell the cool hard rocker image, and thye were trying to give suble hints in their lyrics,muchin hte same vein as the "paul is dead" conspiracy, or that they were running low on lyrics

[cokeisbetter]

^Don't knock Lord of the Rings. It's good stuff. And although there were a few errors (Wringwraiths aren't knights, for one), it was pretty good. I knew it all already, but hey. There're some that haven't.

[Thin-Lizzy]

Yeh i noticed this too, i think the link in songs like stairway is too tenuous too take for granted. This article is riddled with mistakes however, spelling is atrocious in places (you even spelt stairway to heaven wrong). There are also inaccuries in your lyics from the song the battle of evermore. And even your knowledge of the books is bad. Rivendell wasn't a castle, there was no big battle there.

[Thin-Lizzy]

inaccuracies*

[Cobalt Blue]

I knew about the reference in Ramble On and Battle of Evermore.. i noticed the one in the battle of evermore first i was just listening to it (this was probably a little after the first movie came out. and i had to rewind to confirm i heard 'wringwraiths'

i never thought about the Stairway connection.. but then again it's been years since ive read the hobbit (never got around to reading it a 2nd time.. the first few chapters are just so boring.) and I all but stopped listening to Stairway years ago. because it's over played.. and i was sick of 2 of my friends saying it was the greatest song of all time... i think it's good. but theres even a lot more Zep songs that are better

[ericgentz]

I had read something like this, but it had no evident proof of connections. This seems really interesting, I had seen the first movie a few times, never quite found a connection to the 'rings of smoke' or whatever. Its quite fascinating. Just another thing that Led Zeppelin proved is that creativity and imagination can take you places.

[Belgian Bastard]

Thin-Lizzy wrote:

Yeh i noticed this too, i think the link in songs like stairway is too tenuous too take for granted. This article is riddled with mistakes however, spelling is atrocious in places (you even spelt stairway to heaven wrong). There are also inaccuries in your lyics from the song the battle of evermore. And even your knowledge of the books is bad. Rivendell wasn't a castle, there was no big battle there.

He's talking about the books, NOT the films, which were loosely based on the book.

Besides, if I recall correctly, there was indeed a battle/siege at/in Rivenell, and I think I never read anything in the books about it not being a castle.

[samerika]

COOL Great books anyways

[Kalakala]

Okay, let's call a spade a spade...

I'm a hug Zep fan, have been since '69. I've been playing for 40 years and during the zenith of Zeppelin, they laid out the blueprints everyone's been trying to follow ever since. No one's come close to touching the bar where they set it.

But...

Sure, there's truth to what the author is saying, it's part of the Zeppelin "mystique", which is another facet of why we love the band so much. It's part of the mysterious, larger than life personna that they stamped forever into the history of rock n' roll.

But even by the admissions of both Page and Plant, Zeppelin was "just a blues band".

That being said, as much as any guitarist holds them in very high esteem, Zeppelin was notorious for ripping off other songwriters. Heck, Willie Dixon sued them and won! The first two Zeppelin albums literally drip with the blues.

It's what they did with the blues that set them so far apart. Y'know, it doesn't have to be 12 bars with 3 chords to fit the formula, although Zep did have one or two of those slow blues tunes. Anytime Bobby was playing a harmonica, you can bet it was the blues. How many of those can you think of? Quite a few.

So, the refernces to J.R.R. Tolkien was not only fodder provided by someone else for their music, but also added to the mystic which was as active an element as the actual musicianship at times.

All total, there aren't even 100 recorded Zeppelin songs. Look through the credits (although sometimes the actual writer didn;t get credit) and you'll see a large percentage that weren't written by anyone in the band.

[notoriousnumber]

^Hmm, massive pointless commment, but there you go.

Yeah, I already knew this stuff, but its pretty interesting.

[Abandoned67]

What about the song Mysty Mountain Hop, that is a direct direct refrence to lord of the rings. The Mysty Mountain in the book The Hobbit I beleive I read them all a long time ago.

[marvelboy_04]

dude, page didnt sing in battle of evermore. it was a folk singer named sandy denny.

[Der Bomber]

-I'm not sure if you've missed a few songs but you should have proofread your work.

[Kadaj]

Lot's of spelling mistakes and several things that never happened, there was never a siege at rivendell in Lord of the Rings series (possibly in the time period covered in the silmarrilion, but none in the Lord of the Rings series of books), and Ringwraiths don't ride dragons, the Dragons of the Lord of the Rings series are somewhere between Sauron and the Balrog in power. But nevermind, glad to see an interesting post, but make sure you proof read things a bit more.

[Guitarplaya27]

sweet!
i did not know this

[Shabalaba]

Well never new they wee nerds lol. Their music is still good though.

[Aaronjim]

Abandoned67 wrote:

What about the song Mysty Mountain Hop, that is a direct direct refrence to lord of the rings. The Mysty Mountain in the book The Hobbit I beleive I read them all a long time ago.

Misty Mountain Hop was a reference to a orgy that happened in Misty Mountain park in England.

All the great poets use allusions and symbolism in their poetry. Robert and Jimmy were no exception(even though they weren't great poets).

Sorry, I didn't bother to read the entire artilce once you spelled 'obliged' incorrectly.

[andrewb610]

i noticed the ramble on reference first and soon when i heard the battle of evermore from start to finish i saw that one and take a listen to the lyrics of Four Sticks, there are a lot of lines that reference it as well such as : "Craze, baby, the rainbow's end
Mmm, baby, it's just a den
For those who hide
Who hide their love to depths of life
And ruin dreams that we all knew so, babe"
this could be construde as a reference to gollums cave. another more direct reference in that song is "Ooh yeah, brave I endure
Ooh yeah, strong shields and lore
They can't hold the wrath of those who walk
An' the boots of those who march
Baby, through the roads of time so long ago"

[andrewb610]

another thing.....when Zep was writing some of these songs, Do you think they were always completely sober? i bet a couple of these songs they dont ever remember writing

[andrewb610]

^ it should say "they dont even remember writing*

[ChopsWithSticks]

In the beginning of the song Page sings, "The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to gold

marvelboy_04 wrote:

dude, page didnt sing in battle of evermore. it was a folk singer named sandy denny.

to my knowledge, page didnt sing in many zeppelin songs

I'm assuming both of you mean Robert Plant, but Robert Plant did sing in it, and it was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page...

Anyway... interesting topic... they make millions of references to LOTR in their songs

[Thomaslikespigs]

interesting. im going to have to learn to read...

[marvelboy_04]

ChopsWithSticks wrote:

In the beginning of the song Page sings, "The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to gold



marvelboy_04 wrote:

dude, page didnt sing in battle of evermore. it was a folk singer named sandy denny.



to my knowledge, page didnt sing in many zeppelin songs

I'm assuming both of you mean Robert Plant, but Robert Plant did sing in it, and it was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page...

Anyway... interesting topic... they make millions of references to LOTR in their songs

i was reffering to the writer. hew said page sings on this song.
it was actually robert plant AND sandy denny, exchanging verses, and live john paul jones would cosing it.believe me, i know my zeppelin.

[5thhorseman]

ChopsWithSticks wrote:

In the beginning of the song Page sings, "The queen of light took her bow and then she turned to gold


marvelboy_04 wrote:

dude, page didnt sing in battle of evermore. it was a folk singer named sandy denny.


to my knowledge, page didnt sing in many zeppelin songs

I'm assuming both of you mean Robert Plant, but Robert Plant did sing in it, and it was written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page...

Anyway... interesting topic... they make millions of references to LOTR in their songs

Correct mostly. Page only sang backup on Communication Breakdown and most of the lyrics to the later, more mystic songs were written by Robert Plant. (He had to mature as a writer first.)

[Led Head]

ok first off as stated before i believe, but Page never sang on The Battle Of Evermore, the line you stated that Page sang was sung by a sing named Sandy Denny, Page never sang on any Zeppelin track as a distinctive voice, although he did sing backing vocals on Communication Breakdown, and on Whole Lotta Love

[l)ragonForce]

Thats cool... Don't they mention Golum in one of their songs

[HotChowder]

Yeah man totally has too be true, with direct references to Gollum and Wringhwraths how can it not....i have read the trilogy myself and know what hes singing about its a great series a definite must read.

[ChordMonger]

this stuff is all obvious if your not a complete twit.
and whats the point of this article, really? sometimes musicians like to read and are thereby INFLUENCED by LITERATURE?!!!?
good sir, you must have struck and untapped vein of psychological GOLD! whats the next article going to be capt. obvious, that guitar players are influenced by music?

is there a breeze or did you just blow my mind.

[Tasman]

This isn't exactly useful information, but what the hell Zeppelin were greatYES

[Aaronjim]

5thhorseman wrote:
Correct mostly. Page only sang backup on Communication Breakdown and most of the lyrics to the later, more mystic songs were written by Robert Plant. (He had to mature as a writer first.)

Actually, he also sang in Whole Lotta Love. The part where it says "Wanna whole lotta love" (Live at least) as well as in Bron Yr Aur Stomp. Not lead singing, but he would provide back-up singing.

[Zach Chown]

Thank you for the post. I am a huge Zeppelin fan, constantly studying Jimmy Page and his compositions. This post has opened my mind. Thanks again.

[66something]

another amazing point..have you ever noticed the blind guardin song "the lord of the rings" makes refrence to LOTR too?!!...heavy!

[Uncle Wolfgang]

thing is tho, the lord of the rings was meant to be one book, divided into 3 parts. not 3 separate books.

[epiphonist13]

what about over the hills and far away? come on...

[psycadelicart]

Yea I realized this a while ago when I first heard the battle of evermore. Such a great band!

[Metallica708]

Kadaj wrote:

Lot's of spelling mistakes and several things that never happened, there was never a siege at rivendell in Lord of the Rings series (possibly in the time period covered in the silmarrilion, but none in the Lord of the Rings series of books), and Ringwraiths don't ride dragons, the Dragons of the Lord of the Rings series are somewhere between Sauron and the Balrog in power. But nevermind, glad to see an interesting post, but make sure you proof read things a bit more.

Oh the irony! :p:

[GuitarNinja12]

Thanks for the article captian obvious. ;P

Checked.

[Vandalx21]

There are other References in "Stairway to Heaven" such as the first line "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold". the line "all that glitters is gold" is taken directly from the book. Also about halfway through the song, Plant sings "There's a feeling I get when I look to the West" - pretty much throughout the entire book trilogy, the characters always equate the West with home (their homes lay in the western part if Middle Earth) thus equating it with good and equating the East (where Mordor is located) with Evil.

And the other one i spotted was the lyric "...And the Forests will Echo with Laughter" remember those walking,talking trees from "The Two Towers"? I rest my case.

[FloydWaters]

You seem to have called gollum(aka smeagle) a hobbit, though in the book and even the movies mentioned that he was of a similar, butstill different race(I dont have the books righ now or even the will to find the exact spot that says what is is, but yeah if your going to write on where to extremely popular peices of media (i couldnt think of anything else to call them and still have them grouped in a single catagory) unless your facts stright, like the books with you and some kind of officail zeppelin lyrics your going to be flamed excessivly

[cunning_stunt]

FloydWaters wrote:

You seem to have called gollum(aka smeagle) a hobbit, though in the book and even the movies mentioned that he was of a similar, butstill different race(I dont have the books righ now or even the will to find the exact spot that says what is is, but yeah if your going to write on where to extremely popular peices of media (i couldnt think of anything else to call them and still have them grouped in a single catagory) unless your facts stright, like the books with you and some kind of officail zeppelin lyrics your going to be flamed excessivly

Technically gollum, (or smeagol as he was known before the ring came to him) is or was a hobbit, hes a Stoorish hobbit, who were basically bigger and more manly (cos they could grow facial hair) then the type the other hobbits in the movie were, they also liked to fish or sumthing i cant remember its been a while since ive read the books myself.

[Bunson666]

"the series conisist of four books. In order they are The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King."

The Hobbit is not part of the Lord of the Rings, it is a stand alone book, that is considered by some to be a prequel, and LOTR is actually six books, two per "book" and none of them were supposed to have titles. Tolkien actually wanted to release them as one book, but the publisher didn't like that idea.

[Kadaj]

Metallica708 wrote:

Oh the irony! :p:

Pssh, one out of many, comments aren't as important as articles :P.

[rhcpfan27]

cunning_stunt wrote:


Technically gollum, (or smeagol as he was known before the ring came to him) is or was a hobbit, hes a Stoorish hobbit, who were basically bigger and more manly (cos they could grow facial hair) then the type the other hobbits in the movie were, they also liked to fish or sumthing i cant remember its been a while since ive read the books myself.

you are quite learned in the way of hobbits

[Yoface]

Oh also Misty mountain hop was named after the Misty mountains where bilbo fought Golem for the Ring.

[GurthanG+--]

The battle of evermore refers to the battle of Pelennor Field. The "castle wall" refers to Minas Tirith, or perhaps Osgiliath. And why do so many people insist on using the spelling "wringwraiths"? Because they wear "wrings"? Douchebags.

[RockerPseudonym]

I like both Zep and The Trilogy...but...don't we have anything better to thread about? No?

[whats in a name]

Absolutely Smeagle was a hobbit, a Stoorish Hobbit as stated by Cunning Stunt's comment above. (A Gollum is also a creature not exclusive to LOTR. They look and act exactly as the character in the series does. I'm not sure if that 'race' persay,(a Gollum) was created in the character Smeagle's image, or Smeagle is created as a Gollum.) Smeagle was the Hobbit's actual name. The previous owner, Isildur, was killed by orcs and was lost and forgotten in the river Anduin. Smeagol got the ring, when his cousin/friend Deagol finds the ring in the river. Smeagle kills him in order to get the ring. Smeagle posessed the ring for centuries, (in a lake in the center of the Misty Mountains, controlled by dwarves), during that time, the ring wilted his figure from a hobbit, to a Gollum-like being, now actually calling himself Gollum.

In 'The Hobbit', Bilbo, Frodo's 'uncle', goes on a journey with Gandalf and a few Dwarves. When lost in some mines, Bilbo finds the ring and Smeagle/Gollum accuses him of stealing it. In order for Smeagle not to kill and eat him, Bilbo cons Smeagle with a riddle competition. He escapes with the ring and has it for somewhere around one hundred years. It starts to change him as well, as shown in the movie when Bilbo freaks out (they're in Rivendell) at the sight of the ring, now carried by Frodo.

Also, the ringwraiths didn't ride dragons (at leased basically). The 'people' that are generally called ring-wraiths are Nazgûl aka the Black Riders. The Nazgûl were once nine kings of Men. They were given nine rings of power by Sauron and were corrupted. They were then doomed to become wraiths and still serve Sauron. To be a wraith, being a Nazgul wasn't necessary. When Frodo is stabbed by the Witch-King of Angmar at Weathertop, he nearly turns into a wraith. The Nazgûl's winged creatures are called the 'Fell Beasts', and are pretty much dragons, but arn't exactly. Dragons are actually in the 'The Hobbit', when one is encountered in the Lonely Mountain, gaurding riches. It is provoked and then attacks a neighboring village etc.

BTW, theres no reason to talk about minute details about the Lord of the Rings in an article about Led Zeppelin's lyrics

[Cecil Gonzales]

Some people have far too much time on their hands. Get out and meet real people!

[Mc Van Goober]

good article. i knew about all the other songs with references to lord of the rings, but the only one i didnt know was stairway but that only makes sense it has some kid of relationship.

[webbtje]

Cecil Gonzales wrote:

Some people have far too much time on their hands. Get out and meet real people!

He could learn the difference between your and you're too.

[liamduzrocks]

ChordMonger wrote:

this stuff is all obvious if your not a complete twit.
and whats the point of this article, really? sometimes musicians like to read and are thereby INFLUENCED by LITERATURE?!!!?
good sir, you must have struck and untapped vein of psychological GOLD! whats the next article going to be capt. obvious, that guitar players are influenced by music?

is there a breeze or did you just blow my mind.

dude hes jus pointin somethin out
obviously some ppl didnt really notice it without thinkin about it
n the point is its pretty interestin
ok i didnt bother readin all of it but ive noticed most of that stuff before n i think it is pretty cool that zeppelin like to use referrences to their favorite books in their lyrics
ppl like you that think biggin ureself up n havin a go at other ppl over the internet are probably some computor geek sittin at home playin rue strat copy tryin to seem hard in front of strangers
if you didnt like the article you didnt have to say so in such a way

[XzX_Patrick_XzX]

amon amarth got their name from a J.R.R. Tolkien book, i dunno which but in the book amon amarth is the name of a mountain

[Gino]

I knew the lyrics in the song and stuff. love LOTR a lot, have read it many times. i also love Led Zeppelin. But dude. did you just get in an argument with yourself?

[kefka2589]

I've always thought it to be true that Zeppelin drew some influence from LOTR. Maybe not a lot of songs but The Battle of Evermore is a for sure. It specifically says the ring wraiths ride in black, and talks about the eastern glow. In LOTR Gandalf said to look to the east on the 5th morning. So, I think those are both direct refrences. But as for the drgon and stuff. As far as i know in LOTR dragons where supposed to be more powerful than the balrogs other than Gathmog himself. And in all the LOTR based books such as lost tales the Silmarillion and such I've never even heard of a dragon appearing. So, I think some of the song lyrics just took inspiration from LOTR.

[Paradise Lost]

Good and all apart from the fact the books were fantastically fu[b]cking shit[/b].

I read them.

What a waste.

The most boring book I have ever read, and I have read a lot.

[fake_username]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Sorry about all the spelling errors, I sent the first one in without spell checking and then picked up from where I saved and fixed all the errors. I still don't know why they denied the correct one and posted the one with all the errors. I actually didn't know they posted it on here until today, it's been waiting for over six months.

I just thought of sharing this because I thought it was interesting. It's always cool to know some of your favorite band's inspiration and all the members of Led Zeppelin are self admitted LOTR fans.

[FMDC]

Misty Mountain Hop is about Bron Yr Aur, which was a cottage on the seaside that Robert Plant used to stay in sometimes. The band went there to record Led Zeppelin III. You're wrong. Shuddup

[thundernolan]

The ringwrathes never attack rivendall on dragons.
The Nazgul (ringwrathes on wing beast which are not dragons and are older than any one can rember) never attack Rivendall and their is no huge battle there.

[Nybb]

In case you didn't know they were books written by the fantasy novelist J.R.R Tolkien in the 40's. If I recal correctly each of the members of the band has read the series at least once, the series conisist of four books. In order they are The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

In case you didn't know, the Lord of the Rings consisted of SIX books published in THREE volumes, and they were all published in the mid 50's. The Hobbit was NOT a part, in fact it was written a long time before and meant to be its own story. LotR was merely a sequel.

I'm not even going to bother correcting all the other things you got wrong in this article (let alone your grammar). Instead, I'll get straight to the point and ask, what was the purpose of this? Most of what you said was obvious to people who've read the book, and anyone who hasn't read the book likely won't care.

Checked

[Smithd]

The books may have been published in the 50's but that doesnt mean thats when they were written. He wrote the books while he was an active service member during one of the world wars. Both of which came before 1950.

[ZEppelin1969]

good points i noticed the ones in battle of evermore...led zeppelin is so cool they can make LoTR rock n roll!

[Choclo]

Actually, I think in the line "There's I feeling I get, when I look to the west, and my spirit is crying for leaving" The west means the undying lands elves went to when they got tired of life in middle earth or feared death. Frodo goes there with Bilbo and Gandalf at the end of the last book.

[ledzep101]

This artical is pretty damn itresting

[LANKY LOVE]

dont know if someone has said this but the famous spread in the middle of the booklet the comes with the cd is aparently galdof standing on the top, and someone pointed out golum climbing up the rocks once

[-heartbreaker-]

isnt the thing holding the lamp on the top of the mountain called....umm FUCK! i remember seeing it on one of those cards that gypsies use to read your fortune....cant remember the name of the card though...

"he could (most unlikely) be part of the next Led Zeppelin. "
haha.

[ChordMonger]

dude hes jus pointin somethin out
obviously some ppl didnt really notice it without thinkin about it
n the point is its pretty interestin
ok i didnt bother readin all of it but ive noticed most of that stuff before n i think it is pretty cool that zeppelin like to use referrences to their favorite books in their lyrics
ppl like you that think biggin ureself up n havin a go at other ppl over the internet are probably some computor geek sittin at home playin rue strat copy tryin to seem hard in front of strangers
if you didnt like the article you didnt have to say so in such a way

im not 'having a go' at anyone, lad. im imploring the author to perhaps write more stimulating material. this could just have easily been a thread.
im not a computer geek by any stretch of imagination, i wouldnt have a strat copy anyway because i play bass, and im lost as to why you need to finalize your arguement by trying to insult me, especially because an insult (towards the author) was the catalyst of your indignation.
learn to spell, get a life.

[CobenBlack]

i just thought it was funny that u mentioned sumthin about geniuses thinking it only came out a few years ago, then shoot yourself in the foot and talk about how theres four books in the trilogy. the hobbit itsn't part of the trilogy, it just uses the same world, and some familiar characters, and happened to be the same writer.

[hadesdaman]

Yes, and a stoor is not a kind of hobbit, it is a race very similar to hobbits, they're of common descent I believe (much in the same way as men and monkeys). This is in the Appendixes to the LOTR books.

The article was quite good, though could have done with a few bits of further research before making some basic mistakes. But all the same very enjoyable.

[geetarmuzikplyr]

never thought about stairway like that... but i've always known there's a connection in ramble on and the battle for evermore... wasn't there a RUSH song that had something to do with LOTR? i just heard that somewhere at school... idk!

[Bloodandfire]

Just read the Wikipedia...

[psyks]

you think led zep likes LOTR? try blind guardian

here:http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=pe6GS3qxr5M&ai
d=-mrdj24PKvC

and here:http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=Flna8PSFnOE&ai
d=-mrdj24PKvC

the second being a lovely story based on the events in the silmarillion, the "prequel" to LOTR, explaining the creation of middle earth etc. it's a tricky one to read, because by the third chapter you have names like; melkor; feanor; and eru jumping out at you, and the average reader will wonder whether these are names of people or places lol

good book

[Bazilisck311]

A largely meaningless article written perhaps for empathy of a disgruntled author who may have been discriminated due to a particular taste or hobby.

[SWLABR]

whats this guy thinking, saying that most people think Zep would never be caught dead reading a book? Thats the dumbest thing Ive ever heard a person say. Sorry if not all of us did our book reports by watching the movie instead and then later boasted to our friends that we've never finished reading a single book! Maybe if he read on once in a while his spelling wouldn't be quite so atrocious.

[!normajean!]

LOTR is awesome! Led is awesome!


i rest my case

[Set-Abominae]

LOTR is an excellent set of books. The movies were ok, but they had to cut so much of the back story, I'm amazed the films were actually understandable. And yeah, Zep isn't the only band to use LOTR as inspiration. Look at Blind Guardian. They have an album titled "Nightfall In Middle-Earth", and it's dedicated to JRR Tolkien. Although technically that album is based on The Silmarillion (sorry for the spelling, can't remember the correct way).

[Steph Bets]

OKAY you talentless muppet, it's METAPHOR.
Go back to school.

[free beer]

hey man,
good article, pretty interesting. i agree with most of your claims except i dunno bout the stairway to heaven one, but besides that u did a pretty kool job

[neoamir]

interesting... though sounds a bit strange

[fas11030]

ive always noticed this in battle of the evermore.

[fake_username]

SWLABR :
whats this guy thinking, saying that most people think Zep would never be caught dead reading a book? Thats the dumbest thing Ive ever heard a person say. Sorry if not all of us did our book reports by watching the movie instead and then later boasted to our friends that we've never finished reading a single book! Maybe if he read on once in a while his spelling wouldn't be quite so atrocious.
POSTED: 04/25/2007 - 02:55 pm / quote |

You really misinterpreted that section of the article. If you reread the section it clearly states THESE books not A book. Of course to develop into a sensible songwriter it is necessary to read, I indicated it would be unexpected to find out that they read LOTR not that they read in general. Very hypocritical statement.


Thanks everyone for the comments. Sorry again about all the spelling mistakes, I accidentally sent this one in without spell checking and resent a clean version in immediately so I'm still wondering why they picked this one.

[karmasabitch2]

Okay, bunch of things here. I noticed someone said that the Ringwraiths did not ride dragons. That is not true, but they were referred to as the Nazul in the book, I can't remember if they were in the movie.
Other things: Zep did write about Lord of The Rings a good bit, but not everything they did can be interpreted into Lord of The Rings. I'm sure they stayed a bit from their comfort zone now and then.
Some of you are stretching it too far, but many of the references are correct.

[Atreideslegend]

besides the fact that most of the infromation you have is wrong (you are obviously neither an expert on led zeppelin or lord of the rings, hell have you even read the silmarillion?) but your grammer and spelling is so bad i actually had to stop reading after three paragraphs, please do not write another article!

[rifftnstrings]

Decent article, but please use spellcheck in the future.

[kkrapper]

Although this isn't news to me at all, I still find it fascinating to think about both LOTR and Zeppelin fused into song. I didn't realize this was even a mystery to some...start listening closer people!

[bigbunny]

WAIT! lord of the rings isnt cool?!?!??! ahhh... ****.
*takes off elf ears and sets the sword down*

[_zac_]

in all the excitement of comparing how much you know about Led Zeppelin, or Lord of the Rings for that matter, most of you seem to have strayed from the topic.

anyway interesting article, some of it was a little obvious, but still good.

[gyzer_8970]

kewl but sooo darn random!!!

[TokaiRocker2000]

i'd just like to say that i think its cool that this site has two things that I love: Hard Rock and Th lord of the rings trilogy

[TokaiRocker2000]

o yeah and they aint dragins there fell beasts

[blurrybird]

Another possibility is that stairway to heaven is a riddle much like the riddle in the hobbit. "with a word she can get what she came for" I always wondered what that "word" was? Just going of memory I think there is a line in the song that says if you listen very hard the /tune/ will come to you at last. I think that means the word is litrally said somewhere in the song. another line in the song is "cause you know sometimes words have two meanings" and this word has two meanings one meaning could do with a sound or /tune/. Probably other clues to but i will skip to "when all are one and one is all" (reminds me of a circle or a wedding vow where two become one) And best clue to me is "to be a rock and not to roll" like a diamond(rock) ring(round or a circle could be another meaning to ring but this ring does not roll). and the lady who shines white light That we ALL know, I think of a bride. interesting to me that in the hobbit the answer to the riddle was a ring, and somewhere i heard Plant was is an interview and when asked about stairway he replied something to the affect of not wanting to talk about that wedding

[Johnny Thrash]

Yeah I Know!!! It's crazy how much all their songs are influenced by lord of the rings!!! If you watch their "movie" The Song Remains The Same you'll see scenes with robert plant pretty much dressed up like that dude arragorn!!! its trippy and a great movie!! i suggest to all led fans to go out and but it!!! In Conclusion i would like to say Hats Off!! to jimmy page for giving us sum of the best guitar riffs ever made!! L8er Dudes

[Atreideslegend]

blurrybird wrote:

Another possibility is that stairway to heaven is a riddle much like the riddle in the hobbit. "with a word she can get what she came for" I always wondered what that "word" was? Just going of memory I think there is a line in the song that says if you listen very hard the /tune/ will come to you at last. I think that means the word is litrally said somewhere in the song. another line in the song is "cause you know sometimes words have two meanings" and this word has two meanings one meaning could do with a sound or /tune/. Probably other clues to but i will skip to "when all are one and one is all" (reminds me of a circle or a wedding vow where two become one) And best clue to me is "to be a rock and not to roll" like a diamond(rock) ring(round or a circle could be another meaning to ring but this ring does not roll). and the lady who shines white light That we ALL know, I think of a bride. interesting to me that in the hobbit the answer to the riddle was a ring, and somewhere i heard Plant was is an interview and when asked about stairway he replied something to the affect of not wanting to talk about that wedding

wow very clever man! I've never looked at it that way before but i can see exactly where ure coming from! Awesome'd.

[ordinary_story]

LOTR FTW . LOTR rules the world....

[Pittman]

I noticed this a long time ago ,nice job summing it up though.

[Carswell98]

as great of a song as stairway is , plant claimed to have written it in 15 minutes, i like to believe a deep meaning to it but come on, its probably nonsensical jibberish written by a stoned rocker
not to knock zeppelin in any way i just doubt its interpreted meaning

[blurrybird]

The last of my post didn't take. So here is what I meant: Robert Plant has refered to Stairway as a "bloody wedding song." and thanks Atreideslegend Im glad others could see what i was trying to say.

[Frankie Sparks]

LoTR ROCKS!!!!!And its aragorn, not aragon.

[falken]

you guys need to stop arguing about such worthless topics, some of you are even insulting others use of grammer/spelling. WHO CARES!!!

[live2rock500]

i thought it was interesting. thanks for actually put time into discovering some music history.

[jaggerbush320]

I think it's very clear that Robert Plant was the singer of Led Zeppelin, not Jimmy Page, it's in the booklet with every one of their CDs. And I thought it was known by all Zeppelin fans that Robert Plant liked LOTR. I have only seen the cartoon version of the hobbit, and part of fellowship of the ring, and I know who gollum is. Carswell 98, it probably took 15 minutes for heaven and hell to clash and mix and triumphant battle music to play as the angels and demons to battle. For all hell to break loose, etc etc etc. If you know what I mean. BTW nobody talks shit about Stairway. A couple weeks ago someone told this kid to play it(and on a crappy epiphone SG no less, with heavy distortion) and the kid says screw Stairway To Heaven, my Stairway Senses went off, I was pissed, I was ready to kick his ass, and I would have too, but it was at a church camp. Needless to say, I love Stairway To Heaven. Sorry for getting off topic though.

[bs_kope]

falken is a ****in idiot!HAAha
I like this article. It's interesting...

[HopePoisoned]

while it's true about Led Zeppelin making many allusions to LOTR, this article sucks

[ChrisHecox]

sheez i never noticed this shiz, haha crazy

[kerrang]

Lots of comments... i didnt read them but im guessin they all say 'learn to spell' or "you have WAY too much time on your hands" if they do...ditto i guess. Its a good point man, and the hell of it is, you're right. Just try to make it less of a target to UG bullies

[Earthshine]

Behold! A fountain of silver light pours forth from Telperion, the elder of the Two Trees wrought in the Deeps of Time by Yavanna Kementari in the land of Valinor, in the Blessed Realm of Aman, in the sweet cheeks of Yo Momma.

Why this emulous discourse of over-critical false dilemmas? Sharing trivia and quodlibets is great and everything, but from whence does the impetuous desire to prove your mind come? Must you be so bombastically confident that you have to know, that you are in possession of and are therefore in control of the way things really are? We can't all be causticly insipid pedagogues, ChordMonger.

In lieu of eristic ramblings, Thank You All for your pandimensionallly interpenetrating components of the Universal-Soul. I shall now write something meaningful, like a song about the Divine Mortality of Beren and Luthien, je ne sais quoi.

[warlockking]

Those books are classic, it doesn't suprise me that jimmy paige read the book, he was deep into magic and fantasy stuff.

[eddie/randy_101]

Has this guy even read the books? Anyone who had would have known that half of what he told us about the story line was not true. Ringwraiths are corrupted Kings of old who were turned into wraiths that ride black horses or fell beasts that kind of look like dragons. And the battle was not at Rivendell it was at Minas Tirith. To those of you that criticize my corrections of which i only made a few i will be damned before i let such a great work of art be desecrated by mere ignorance. As far as Led Zepplin reading the books I was not surprised, great and beautiful tales they are. Wouldn't be surprised if they read some of the other Middle-earth books.

[jbartonxx]

Bro, You can't call people stupid for not reading the books, then spell it wrong. It's "The Fellowship of the Ring" Not "Rings".
Justin
[e-mail]

[BassTech]

So Zep were influenced by LOTR, what's next? The next "big band" (if another comes close to Zep's popularity) writing about Harry Potter?

[Bonnytonboy]

Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp makes a reference to Stryder aka Aragorn on the live performance on How the west was won right at the end. Not sure how much that counts but thought I'd just say.