Stairway to Heaven
November 8, 1971
Stairway to Heaven [' stɛəwei tu ' hevn ] (English for, Stairway to Heaven ') is a song by British rock band Led Zeppelin.
History
The piece is a rock ballad with a length of eight minutes began in December 1970 and premiered in March 1971. For the first time on record, it appeared on 8 November 1971. Though originally only released as part of the album Led Zeppelin IV, and not as a single, it quickly became one of the most famous songs of recent music history, which inspired many artists to cover versions. In the 2004 made by the music magazine Rolling Stone list of the 500 best songs of all time the song is ranked 31
Contrary to the announcements, the song never perform again after it was played (without John Bonham ) in 1988 on the birthday celebration of Atlantic Records, the band decided it at a revival concert on 10 December 2007 at London's O2 Arena, in which the band by Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham, was supported to take again into the program. The concert was dedicated to the late Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records.
Musical details
The opening chords of the song remember the song Taurus the band Spirit, with the Led Zeppelin played concerts together on their first U.S. tour.
The song starts very quietly with an acoustic guitar and a recorder Arrangement ( synthesized at live concerts by keyboard, which is played by John Paul Jones), results in an increase in the middle part and culminates in one of the most famous guitar solos of Jimmy Page, the still follows a brief vocal part.
In the middle of Jones plays on an electric piano Hohner.
The guitar solo was played on a 1958 Fender Telecaster on a Supro amplifier. A total of three solos were recorded, from which Page then picked out the most appropriate.
The acoustic parts in the beginning were played on a guitar manufacturer Harmony, from bar 41 is added a Fender Electric XII 12 - string guitar, which can be heard on each of the left and right channels. Page used a Gibson EDS In later appearances -1275 " Doubleneck " - a guitar with two necks -, the upper neck was strung 12-string. The EDS -1275 is custom made by Roger Griffin from the Gibson Custom Shop 's West Coast. The song begins in measure 17.
Up to 40 clock the guitar chords are played almost invariably broken, switch to clock 108 clock 41 each 9 bars mainly broken and 8 bars painted ( beaten ) chords from, after 109 clock only follow battered guitar chords, the solo and finally, a reef with finale. Unusually for that time rock songs is the fact that the drums until very late - after about four minutes clock 82 - begins.
Text
The text of the song was written by singer Robert Plant at a camp fire, according to the memoirs of the Road Manager but at a fire in a mountain cabin in Wales. He is heavily influenced by his quest for spiritual perfection. Even books that had read Plant, converged, especially Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis Spence. It contains references to May Queens, pipers and bustling hedgerows. As Plant was asked who was the mystical woman who is mentioned at the beginning of the song, he replied: " Julie Conlon ". According to an interview from 1998, according to the text should be understood as a cynical aside ( " aside" ) to a woman who called for everything, but showed no willingness to return anything. The meaning of the original is hard to understand because of its imagery, the associative formation and the hidden allusions to less well-known literary passages. Correspondingly difficult to make translation experiments.
Special
Critics of the band was accused to have accommodated using the Backmasking process a satanic message in the recording that is heard when one plays the piece backwards. It circulated several versions of the alleged wording of this message. Among other things, The Return of the Dark Knight is alluded to in Frank Miller's Batman comic published in 1986. Robert Plant brought in interviews expressed that such techniques would not represent his idea of making music.
Since 2 November 2007, transposed to C minor cycles 8-16 resound daily at 12:04 clock the newly inaugurated carillon in the tower of the Fürth City Hall.
The U.S. music magazine Guitar World voted Pages solo from Stairway to Heaven 2009 at best guitar solo of all time.
For sensation Dolly Parton worried in 2002 when they this - published piece on their country bluegrass album Halos & Horns - unusual for them. Parton admitted to have entered with the inclusion of Stairway to Heaven " holy ground ", and that some fans would most like to stake. The music magazine Music Express could not do much with Parton's interpretation. However, the country star did hear the song sample before publication Jimmy Page. This made a positive statement and admitted that he Parton's idea to beautify the end of the piece with a gospel choir, well liked, and he himself had already had the idea to do this.
The comedian - rock band Tenacious D indicates in her song Tribute ( to the best song in the World), that it could be at Stairway to Heaven to the best song in the world by a in tribute various hidden quotes and in the final can incorporate the distinctive beginning of Stairway to Heaven similar chord.
In spring 2010, was Idol on the internet called to boycott the winning song in this mission and, instead, among other things, Stairway to Heaven to purchase as a download in advance of the finale to the TV casting show Germany. As a result, the title reached No. 1 on the German short MP3 download charts as well as number 15 in the German charts.
Trivia
- In the movie Wayne's World hanging in a guitar shop a sign that says No Stairway to Heaven; the protagonist, who plays the opening riff in the store is promptly interrupted. Such procedures (which include expulsion or other penalties included ) to have been in some British music houses of the seventies practice.
- The American alternative rock band Butthole Surfers satirized the title of the song with the name of their 1988 album released Hairway to Steven.