I See Your "Stairway to Heaven" and Raise You This Gem!
I've been done with "Stairway to Heaven" since 19(year inaudible due to hand over mouth in an effort not to give away one's age). I truly hate that song.
On Friday, a friend and I went to see Cheap Trick at the Greek. I was never a big fan. I had no teenage crushes on any of those guys and their music was nothing more than music to me. It was never part of the soundtrack to my teen years. (Neither was that damn "Stairway to Heaven".)
We were talking about music on the way to the concert. For some reason, people are always surprised to learn that I'm a serious Zeppelin fan. I'm always asked what my favorite Zeppelin song is. When I say "Ten Years Gone," I'm usually met with a blank stare or silence. This is not one of the songs that got consistent and irritatingly constant airplay over the years. This is, however, a true masterpiece. When my friend asked me to sing it to her in the hopes that she would recognize the song, I passed. For one, I can't sing. At all. Second, you have to really know Led Zeppelin to know this song.
If I never hear "Stairway to Heaven" again, I won't be upset in the least. I know which songs display the true genius of this band.
posted by Surfsister @ 22:03
8 comments
8 Comments:
That IS a pretty weird one to have as a favorite! I got impatient with it as a kid, ADD or something. Same with Kashmir, Achilles Last Stand etc.
My fav from that album is The Rover.
One of my favorite songs ever!!!I'd crank it but a kitten is sleeping on floor by speaker!
LZ dont mkae no junk!
Originally intended to be an instrumental piece, Jimmy Page used some 14 guitar tracks to overdub the harmony section.[1] Robert Plant later added lyrics, which are dedicated to an old girlfriend who, ten years earlier, had made him choose either her or his music. Plant explained this in an interview he gave in 1975:
Let me tell you a little story behind the song "Ten Years Gone" on our new album. I was working my ass off before joining Zeppelin. A lady I really dearly loved said, "Right. It's me or your fans." Not that I had fans, but I said, "I can't stop, I've got to keep going." She's quite content these days, I imagine. She's got a washing machine that works by itself and a little sports car. We wouldn't have anything to say anymore. I could probably relate to her, but she couldn't relate to me. I'd be smiling too much. Ten years gone, I'm afraid. Anyway, there's a gamble for you. In another interview, Plant credited Page with the song's intricate construction:
Jimmy is the man who is the music. He goes away to his house and works on it a lot and then brings it to the band in its skeletal state. Slowly everybody brings their personality into it. This new flower sort of grows out of it. "Ten Years Gone" was pain-stakingly pieced together from sections he'd written.[3]
Some have speculated that this song was a variation of the never-released Led Zeppelin track "Swan Song", the name they chose for their own record label.
Well,that is a shame Mary. SWTH is a great and seminal composition paving the way for many other similarly constructed songs such as Hotel California and of course the definitive Bohemian Rhapsody. SWTH is a wonderful teaching tool for student guitarists assistant them to learn about arpeggios, movable chords, bar chords, partial chords and hammers and snaps all in the one song. Then they get the opportunity to learn one of the all time great guitar solos, a tour de force in the use of the A minor pentatonic scale. Brilliant! I don't mind Ten Years After but didn't bother buying any of their records beyond Led Zeppelin IV!
"Dyer Maker" is my favorite LZ song! And Surf Sista, you KNOW I love Cheap Trick! :-D ----dancediva
I know you do!! That was readily apparent when Robin said, "I want you to want me!" That was all you needed to fly up and out of that seat!! That was a great concert though. Those dudes can still rock! Who knew?
As for "Stairway to Heaven," Ramsnake, it was one of those songs that I couldn't escape. It was the class song when I graduated from middle school. Then, I think it was the class song when I graduated from high school. Enough already!! By then, I was so sick of that song. And, yes, I even learned how to play it on the guitar at that time. Sick of it now!
I used to turn off all the lights and listen to this in the dark. Memories!!!
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