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Led Zeppelin and Lord of The Rings - Rockers and Tolkien Fans

December 19, 2003
Submitted By Halbarad_Dunadan

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I'm sure many of you have noticed that some of Led Zeppelins songs have LOTR references. With such lines as "Gollum, the evil one" and "The Ringwraiths ride in black" its hard to deny that at least some of their songs were LOTR inspried.

But which ones? Many people point at Stairway To Heaven. With its references to "looking to the west" and such it seems a likely choice. However the band has denied any connection between Stairway to Heaven and LOTR.

Obviously the song "Ramble On" is very much LOTR inspired. With a little imagination its not hard to interpret it as Frodo's journey to Mordor. "Leaves are falling all around, its time I was on my way. But still I'm much obliged, such a pleasent stay" this seems to refer to Lothlorien. It doesn't take much to see that this is very much a LOTR song.

The Battle of Evermore is clearly a LOTR song. It includes references to the Nazgul among other things. Many believe this song to be about the battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Next on our list of possible Zeppelin LOTR songs is an obvious choice: Misty Mountain Hop. The very name seems to scream out Middle Earth. However upon closer examination, it seems that this song is most definately not about LOTR. Its rather about hippies, the 60's ect.

What else is there? Over the Hills and Far Away. The meaning of this song is rather unclear as to its meaning. However it can be interpreted as Sam speaking of travel and adventure. However, it's up to the reader to decide what they think of this one.

An interesting note is which of the band members were Tolkien fans. We know for a fact that Robert Plant was, he not only wrote the lyrics but named his dog Strider. Many people assume that Jimmy Page was as well. And with his interest in magic and mythology its not too hard to believe that. There is, however, no evidence that the other two members of the band were Tolkien fans.

So there you have it. I hope that I have been informative and not too long winded. For more information about Led Zeppelin I recommend www.led-zeppelin.com there you can read the lyrics and judge for yourself whether they were inspired by Middle Earth or not.

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... 20 Comments

  1. The only one I'd ever heard concerning LotR was Stairway to Heaven, and that's the one they say isn't? Hmm... but, not only do they mention 'look to the west,' they make a small reference to smoke rings, and... well, I guess the band knows best, but it goes to show you how little you really know.

    Comment by Ms_Gamgee_89 - December 20, 2003 @ 7:32 AM

  2. That's kinda cool! There's a song by The All-American Rejects that I think is a song about LOTR. It's called "Too Far Gone". The lyrics seem to talk about alot of the characters. It's a very beautiful song. Take a listen sometime!

    Comment by *Evenstar - December 20, 2003 @ 1:33 PM

  3. Interesting, but somewhat obvious, and certainly open for personal interpretation.

    I wish you'd explored more of this idea instead of simply giving us a "here's what we might know" overview, since all it proves is that we don't know very much at all (I'd have to ask the band members themselves for the whole truth, as you suggest).

    Comment by North - December 20, 2003 @ 8:15 PM

  4. Whats that stuff the elves produce - Lemlas or something? Give me some of that.

    Comment by shaldir - December 22, 2003 @ 7:00 PM

  5. went to dublin and found many lotr fans. i got 2 teenage kids, (13 and 16) both big maiden fans. got them to point depot, didnt want to go in with them, got many leather clad dudes who were able and willing to take them in, and look after them.We got talking about Tolkien. The 13 year old got stopped at the first gate, but we found a Gimli charachter who took him in on his shoulders.
    Me and hub went and had a good night in dublin. Kids had a somewhat ok night listening to IM!

    Comment by shaldir - December 22, 2003 @ 7:18 PM

  6. i know you've heard it all before, but i dont know how to do this! how do i reply to previous postings?

    Comment by shaldir - December 22, 2003 @ 7:39 PM


  7. hi

    Comment by bombadil12 - January 17, 2004 @ 7:52 PM

  8. I always thought the "Rain Song" on Houses of the Holy was inspired by the Eowyn/Faramir romance.

    The song compares different seasons to love and dispair and it always reminded me of Eowyn's winter passing and the sun shining on her.

    Comment by tangerine - January 22, 2004 @ 9:57 PM

  9. really? I was sure stairway to heaven was lotr related, especially the part where it says she thinks all that glitters is gold. Very much like the poem about Aragorn.:

    All that is gold does not glitter,
    not all those who wander are lost,
    the old that is strong does not wither,
    deep roots are not reached by the frost.

    On this topic, one of my dad's friends read lotr because he wanted to know what one of his favourite bands were talking about I commend Led Zeppelin for turning him to LOTR.

    Comment by tar_ancalime - March 19, 2004 @ 12:29 PM

  10. I've always thought the song "Friends" was LOTR inspired. just me though

    "I can't stop, keep on climbing, looking for what I knew."

    And the title of it just fits as that is how they were successful, through friendship and trust.

    Comment by oro - May 7, 2004 @ 9:56 AM

  11. Yes, I heard about Gollum and the Ringwraiths in their songs. My Dad said.

    Comment by IrishElf* - July 2, 2004 @ 12:31 PM

  12. read the lyrics of kashmir and try to move beyond the subtle meanings. u'll understand what im talking about

    Comment by gorgoroth - December 9, 2004 @ 9:09 AM

  13. I have to say i believe this song was in part written about the hobbitt. It seems to me the lyrics are about the dwarves visitng Bilbo before they set of on their journey. And yes it certainly is a hippy song as Plant was a very much a hippy character.

    Comment by Riggers - December 18, 2004 @ 2:54 AM

  14. i really think you're looking to hard. if you look at a lot of songs, you can relate them to the themes in LOTR, they're basic humanity themes.

    the songs that DO have LOTR references don't make the entire song about LOTR. The Battle of Evermore is not about pellenor feilds. In fact, they never wrote an entire song about LOTR.

    I can speak for myself in saying i reference LOTR in all kinds of things in my life, some are silly, and some are serious. but they're just references. Zep were fans of the books, so when they would dig in their 'big bag of inspriation' to write a song, LOTR showed up sometimes.

    They are also not the only musicians to ever reference the books, there's actually quite a few.

    i suggest everybody heading to the All Things Led Zep thread in music, lots of interesting stuff there, and it goes into deeper explaination of the songs in question.

    Comment by RohanCricket - February 3, 2005 @ 3:09 PM

  15. What about "No Quarter"?

    Comment by Tashia - November 10, 2009 @ 7:08 AM

  16. What about "No Quarter"?

    Comment by Tashia - November 10, 2009 @ 7:19 AM

  17. What about "No Quarter"?

    Comment by Tashia - November 10, 2009 @ 7:27 AM

  18. What about "No Quarter"?

    Comment by Tashia - November 10, 2009 @ 7:27 AM

  19. What about "No Quarter"?

    Comment by Tashia - November 10, 2009 @ 7:27 AM

  20. Immigrant Song is about invasion of orcs. Why don't you mention this?

    Comment by helmik - February 22, 2010 @ 9:27 AM

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