Blogcritics Comments on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Comment by Anonymouse on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:56:43 EDT

Going To California is about a trip to the astral realms. essentially we are made up of love (I know from experience) when the ego is given up. the trip may have been drug induced, hence "jet plane". he's searching for his Soulmate/ TwinSoul/ queen "out there". she may or not be incarnated with him at this time. you're mind goes through a grey area, and you are in the Now moment from moment to moment... there's no thoughts of past or future hence "tommorrow could every follow today". If you have negative thoughts or earthly yearnings, you can fall out of or sink out of this state. "I'll meet you up there where the path"... the affinity chat line thread we're all essentially connected to. "ride a white mare" is Pegasus, the Lover's horse. "footsteps of dawn" or "dome" is the third eye awareness chakra. "born" is her being in the same place metaphysically speaking which she is not yet. while in your bubble or cell in the heart of hearts, you're leaning up against the greater and would like to surrender to it but can't quite and it's a little frustrating; "it's not as hard as it seems". yes, Robert is a metaphorical genius. Jimmy played much the same theme in "Tangerine". Kashmir was also about a consciousness trip.

Comment by johnny boggis on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:26:35 EST

music is music, it speaks to the soul. yes, some lyrics are.... let's say, odd. mozart suited the youth of his day, led zep the youth of theirs. the cure suited my youth.... "The stench of a love for a younger meat And the sound that it makes When it cuts in deep" yeah, that's certainly odd. but hey, maybe this thread will stay alive as long as music has! let's hear it for another 5 years of this thread!!! like music, it shall be eternal.

Comment by I Was There on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:17:10 EST

Any band that can come back together for a gig after so long (ok the drummer isn't the same but shares DNA), have their songs stand the test of time and TOTALLY blow all current bands away are Gods in my book. Totally immortal. Utterly without parallel. Anyone who was lucky enough to be there KNOWS.

Comment by bla bla rollo rollo on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:39:12 EDT

LZ rules!!

Comment by Cathy on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:16:50 EDT

Wow a five year old thread. Pretty cool. Guess Zeppelin inspire some kind of passion in people, which is the opposite of overrated... Ok, yes some of their lyrics are silly, they were written by a couple of 20 somethings, after all. But "Stairway to Heaven" is not in that category. Just becuase you don't get it, doesn't mean it doesn't have profound meaning. I'll gladly live in a world where the forests echo with laughter, spiritual truth is found in the wind (not at the mall), and heaven is found in music. Whoops, getting carried away with pretentiousness, no doubt... what I really wanted to say is, anyone who can seriously say Zeppelin never played a bar of straight rock ' n roll, that Bonzo had no subtlety, that Jones/Bonzo/Page couldn't swing like fuckin' crazy, or that The Riff Master has never grooved, has just not listened to any live Zeppelin. Plant wept to meet Elvis; Page picked up guitar because of Scotty Moore. You are mistaken if you believe their souls are not steeped in rock 'n roll. Get thee to a live album/DVD/bootleg, and rock on.

Comment by Ry Cooder on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:23:22 EDT

And who cares about the lyrics? The real soul of Led Zeppelin was Jimmy Page.

Comment by Seth Shepherd on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 13:27:00 EDT

Most of the poetry I read in high school was a little far fetched to begin with. As others have said, it's pretty much the meaning you put into it. Our English teacher in high school would talk about one line for an entire class period. I remember we analyzed a poem called The Red Wheelbarrow. We spent an entire class on it. It has excellent imagery, and I actually liked it, but we spent 50 minutes talking about hidden meanings. The poem is 16 words divided into 4 lines and it is absolutely amazing to some people. It's all a matter of your point of view I guess. That's why some people here can analyze every word of stairway and it makes perfect sense to them.

Comment by Seth Shepherd on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 13:16:28 EDT

Just wanted to say, I am only 20 years old, and i went through a rediculous Zeppelin phase pretty much all through high school. I understand what you are talking about. Those words used to give me the chills, but I just don't get that anymore. But I actually don't get that from any music anymore. I think it has something to with growing out of a phase. HOWEVER, what do you think about maybe Going To California? I swear that song amazes me to this day. And I don't smoke pot, and didn't when I was in highschool. I think there really is something there in at least some Zeppelin tunes. But I definately understand your point about some of their lyrics. But honestly, what lyrics to make any sense?

Comment by Joe on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:58:11 EDT

Dear Michele, You certainly have generated a lot of comments from your website. It also sounds like you had some great teenage years. When I was 16 I too thought rock lyrics had great meaning. Too bad we have to grow up. Another overrated song writer is Neal Young. A lot of lyrics are really lame, such as "A man needs a maid." Bottom Line: I love your website.

Comment by Damico on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:25:56 EDT

shut the fuck up already

Comment by Dr Dreadful on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 14:40:06 EDT

Has this thread really been going for five years? Crikey...! The lyrics of Led Zeppelin are poetry. Not necessarily good poetry, but so they are. Now as the discussion on the meaning of the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven" gets farther and farther fetched, let me point out that poetry does not have to "mean" anything. Or it can mean a million different things to a million different people. What matters is that it arouses a response in the listener, stirs an emotion, strikes a chord. I can appreciate "Stairway" (which is indeed, I can confirm from my own personal research, the greatest pop song ever recorded ;-) ) just for the way the words are put together, without having to worry about whether they make any sense or have any particular meaning. The phrases "a bustle in your hedgerow" and the almost-rhyme "springclean for the May Queen" are unusual and pleasant-sounding enough to conjure a mental picture and start whatever story you want to tell to yourself inside your head. "To be a rock and not to roll" plays skilfully with a well-known expression and hints at some perceptive insight that may or may not be there. The lyrics of classic 50s rock 'n' roll, though, are by and large not poetry. A boy loves a girl, or vice versa, and that's pretty much it. There's no hidden subtext, so a rock 'n' roll song gets stale after not too many listens, and it takes an extraordinarily talented musician - an Elvis Presley or a John Lennon - to inject anything extra into it. Plant, Page and the others were young and stoned and doubtless believed that they were writing something deep and meaningful. Maybe they were wrong. But they certainly knew how to work with words. Even if you disagree with that assessment it's hard to dispute that they were great musicians. A Led Zeppelin track listened to today sounds as fresh and inventive as the day it was written. Although they weren't a heavy metal band themselves, there's a case for arguing that they invented that genre, as their influence is obvious in the early sound of metal pioneers like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. As far as whether Led Zep were a rock band or a rock 'n' roll band, well, such labels are fluid. I've heard Britney Spears referred to as a "rock" star. These days, rock is usually understood to include a broad spectrum of popular music genres, including rock 'n' roll. Labels even come to denote something entirely different from their original meaning. R & B, for example, used to be a type of southern rock music, heavy on the blues. Now it is a sub-genre of soul.

Comment by JC Mosquito on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 14:40:05 EDT

Re: #14 (Norm) - David Byrne of Talking Heads once said lyrics are just a trick to get you to listen to music.

Comment by anonymouse on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 13:17:32 EDT

re: STH. one of many interpretations:) "bustle in your hedgerow" is a sort of humming or buzzing in your head. a higher frequency. (the "whispering wind"). not to be afraid of "don't be alarmed now". Light-workers and others pick up on this as a call or "tune/Piper" (pipe up to it) to be heeded as it signals higher consciousness or perception of the Oneness we all share, (apprehension of the big picture) "all is one and one are all". re: The May Queen...this might help: "Love is the sacrament of life; it sets Virtue where virtue was not; cleanses men Of all the vile pollutions of this world; It is the fire which purges 'gold' from dross, (spiritual alchemy). It is the 'spring' which in some wintry soil, Makes innocence to blossom like a rose."-- Oscar Wilde. Or how about: "And the Lady of the River gives Her lifeblood to one and all. As the wheel of the seasons turn, oh my Lady, I hear your call." And how about, "Hark, hark how the flower-bird Winds her wee horn! The swallow's glad shriek is heard All through the air; The stock-dove is murmuring Loud as she dare. Apollo's wing'd bugleman (Greek god of the West, Sun, and Reason) Cannot contain, But peals his loud trumpet-call Once and again." "GENTLY!—gently!—down!—down! From the starry courts on high, Gently step adown, down The ladder of the sky...Breathe them loud, the Queen descending, Yet a lowly welcome breathe, Like so many flowerets bending Zephyr's breezy foot beneath." (Greek god of the west wind). -- George Darley. The May Queen is also known as The Lady of the flowers, the maiden, goddess of spring, flower bride, faerie queen. "And the forests will echo with laughter.": "The common defect of all mystical systems...is that there has been no place for Laughter." -- A. Crowley. He also wrote a poem called "The May Queen" which I haven't read. "misgiven" and "two meanings" may refer to our ego-driven thoughts which are of little consequence in the great scheme of things. Better to be still and listen to the "whispering wind" which we've lost in our penchant for materialism. "to be a rock and not to roll" is a British term. Robert has said: "there's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold" ... she's going to get exactly what she wants ... "and when she get's there she knows if the stores are all closed" ... it's like she can have anything forever so long as she doesn't have to think about it." --RP. The short story could be: you can't buy your way into heaven. With credit to "dmdeleted", Z O F O is the Guardian Angel of White Magic. well, coffee break over...back to work!

Comment by bobby on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Mon, 4 Jun 2007 06:31:23 EDT

Rock's greatest band is dismissed because some of their lyrics were not profoundly deep enough for you. Do you not understand that most of the greatest rock and roll is hardly Shakespeare. Crap on Zeppelin all you like. This does not change the fact that their music is timeless, magnificent and enduring.Label them a band to leave with your adolescence if you like. You are ignoring the fact that millions of those kids are in their 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's and they still love, revere and recognize the genius of Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin in fact are the only band that command intense large scale loyalty among three generations of fans. This was the most gifted rock band ever assembled, and they created a unique legacy of brilliantly rich and varied music that more than stands up to anything before or since. Go listen to some Little Richard or Chuck Berry lyrics and then pontificate on the profound relevance and meaning of Tooty Fruity ect.

Comment by Nick on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Sun, 3 Jun 2007 18:56:10 EDT

Michele, the problem is that you assume 'silly' and 'profound' are mutually exclusive. Quite simply, Led Zeppelin's lyrics are both. The easiest song to see this in, I think, is Kashmir. Lyrics such as "I am a traveler of both time and space" and "I've been flyin', ain't no denyin'" certainly sound ridiculous, but they also help carry the idea of the narrator's peace and understanding achieved through travel. Some songs, though, obviously don't work into my theory. It's hard to find any deep message in 'The Battle of Evermore,' and 'The Immigrant Song' might just be a kickass song about vikings. But plenty of other bands (Flaming Lips, anyone?) end up sounding both silly and profound, and Led Zeppelin seems to fit in well with the description.

Comment by michele on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:59:32 EDT

Thanks for keeping the thread alive, Norm!

Comment by Normy on Valhalla, I am Coming!

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:52:22 EDT

1. I CAN dance to Black Dog 2. I found this website while doing a search on "Valhalla Led Zeppelin." I was listening to the song and I wondered if anybody had written any comments on the strange lyrics to "Immigrant Song." I guess I got my answer. 3. Lyrics are over-rated. That's why I don't enjoy country music much. Nearly every country song is trying to tell you a story. Just let me enjoy the music, will ya? I love Zeppelin, and many of the lyrics are interesting, inspiring and curious. But the reason I really enjoy and appreciate Zeppelin is because of the variety of musical styles they play. Furthermore, the lyrics of Immigrant Song (and most LZ songs) fit with the rhythm, tone and style of the song. 4. My comments above are true, but mostly I'm posting because I'd hate to see this thread die after just 4� short years.