Robert Plant Makes Surprising Admission on ‘Stairway to Heaven’
Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant is opening up about the classic rock band’s biggest hit, “Stairway to Heaven.” – Author: Cat Badra, Photo by Ken Settle
Led Zeppelin have plenty of hits, but their defining song is really “Stairway to Heaven.” The song was released on November 8, 1971, on the band’s untitled fourth studio album, “Led Zeppelin IV,” and was written by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant.
So many people discovered Zeppelin through that song. Sure, the band has so many more great tracks in their catalog, but chances are, almost anyone would say “Stairway to Heaven” is their biggest moment in time.
Now, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant is making a surprising admission about that popular hit.
Robert Plant Makes Interesting Comment
Speaking with Dan Rather and AXS TV on Friday, April 4, Plant gave his thoughts on the song. In the interview’s description it states that Plant tells Rather “about how ‘Stairway to Heaven’ belonged in a certain time period for him and how ‘Kashmir’ is one of his favorite songs to play. He also talks about how he wrote ‘All Of My Love’ after the tragic death of his son, Karac.”
So, what does Plant think of “Stairway to Heaven?”
“It belongs to a particular time,” he says. “If I had been involved in the instrumentation, I would feel that it’s a magnificent piece of music which has its own character and personality. My contribution was to write lyrics and to sing a song about fate and something very British, almost abstract.”
So, Plant is a big fan of the music in the song but less so that lyrics? He also discussed about how making music for years and gaining skills and wisdom in that area make him look back at that song and realize how young and undeveloped he was at the time.
“Coming out of the mind of a 23-year-old guy,” he says. “It landed in the years and the era of 23-year-old guys. As time goes on, you might find that another period of your life has more substance. So, as much as I like it, I’m not wedded to that whole deal now.”
So, he does admit that he likes the song, but he’s “not wedded” to it.
A Timeless Piece of Music
Whether or not Plant loves “Stairway to Heaven,” it’s a timeless song. In a review of the track from Rolling Stone Australia, the publication calls the song the “cornerstone of ‘Led Zeppelin IV.'”
“The acoustic intro sounds positively Elizabethan, thanks to John Paul Jones’ recorder solo and Robert Plant’s fanciful lyrics, which were partly inspired by Lewis Spence’s historical tome Magic Arts in Celtic Britain,” they note. “Over eight minutes, the song morphs into a furious Jimmy Page solo that storms heaven’s gate.”
Rolling Stone Australia adds, “Page said the song ‘crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed us at our best. It was a milestone. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time. We did it with ‘Stairway.'”
The outlet also named the song No. 61 in their tally of the greatest songs of all time.
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