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"Stairway to Heaven" is a famous and influential song by British rock group Led Zeppelin. It is one of the most frequently covered songs, having been performed by dozens of other artists.
One of the most requested songs on U.S. FM radio stations, "Stairway to Heaven", from Led Zeppelin's fourth album, was never released officially as a single. It did however appear as a promo disc in the United States, on an Australian acoustic EP and in the 1990s as a 20th anniversary promo issue. The song had its beginnings during the sessions for Led Zeppelin III at Bron-Yr-Aur, Wales, but was completed at Headley Grange, Hampshire, and finally recorded at Island Studios, London, in December 1970. It is not entirely clear whether a movie title (see below) was an inspiration for the song or the source of the song title.
The song was first played live at Belfast's Ulster Hall on March 5, 1971; it was performed at every Led Zeppelin concert thereafter, usually as part of a final encore from 1975 to 1980. "Stairway" was also played at Live Aid in 1985 and the fortieth anniversary celebration of Atlantic Records in 1988, and by Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.
"Stairway to Heaven" is one of the biggest-selling sheet music publications in rock history. Since 1971, "Stairway to Heaven" has sold more than 1.2 million copies.
Lyrics
The lyrics, written by Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant next to an evening log fire, were inspired by his search for spiritual perfection. A seminal influence was the book Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis Spence, which Plant had recently read and contained references to May Queens, pipers, and bustling hedgerows.
Music
Musically, the song takes the form of a multi-movement suite, with a quiet introduction featuring acoustic guitar and recorder gradually giving way to a slow electric middle section and finally a crashing hard rock final section. This form would influence many other rock artists, notably Queen, who would use a similar structure for their opus "Bohemian Rhapsody". The guitar part opens with an Am-Fmaj7 chord progression with a chromatic descending bassline A-G#-G-F#-F. John Paul Jones contributed wooden bass recorders in the opening section and Hohner electric piano in the middle section. The extended Jimmy Page guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1958 Fender Telecaster plugged into a Supro amplifier. Three different solos were recorded with Page deciding to keep the one which he felt best suited the theme of the song. The other guitar parts were played using a Harmony acoustic guitar and Fender Electric XII (12-string), both can be heard on the left and right recording channels respectively. For later live versions Page switched to using a double-necked 6/12 1968 Gibson EDS-1275 which was custom built by Roger Griffin of Gibson's West Coast Custom Shop.
Trivia
- Neil Sedaka had a Top 10 hit with a completely different "Stairway To Heaven" in 1960. The song is seldom heard on oldies radio due to the confusion with the Led Zeppelin song of the same name, but it remains the only song by that title to make the singles charts.
- The riff in Stairway to Heaven is suspiciously similar to that of the 1968 instrumental "Taurus" by the group Spirit who the Led Zeppelin backed up on a tour that year.
- Critics of rock and roll songs (and of Led Zeppelin in particular) have occasionally alleged that a backward message is recorded into "Stairway to Heaven." If the song is played backwards, then supposedly the words "here's to my sweet Satan...there is no other path for it makes me sad in power of Satan" can be heard. Various Christian fundamentalists have interpreted different lyrics from the backmasked portion, which most agree to be the lines beginning with "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow...". The theory was advanced by Michael Myers, Jacob Aranza, and Jeff Godwin among others. Led Zeppelin have always ignored such claims, the only comment coming from Swan Song Records which issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction - forwards". Demonstration of backwards lyrics (http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/stairway.php)
- Procol Harum's 1968 song "Skip Softly, My Moonbeams", from the album Shine On Brightly, coincidentally includes a lyrical reference to "your stairs up to Heaven" (which "lead straight down to Hell").
- The tendency for all aspiring guitar players to learn to play the introduction to the song was spoofed in the 1992 Mike Myers movie Wayne's World when a "No Stairway to Heaven" regulation is enforced at a music store visited by the title character.
- In the early 1990s, each episode of the Australian chat show The Money or the Gun ended with a different group performing an idiosyncratic cover version of "Stairway to Heaven". From a diverse range that included an Elvis impersonator, Kate Ceberano, and the Doug Anthony Allstars, the best remembered is Rolf Harris's version (complete with didgeridoo and wobble board), which reached the Top 10 on the UK singles charts. Harris is said to have received death threats from fans of the song for his version of this iconic rock anthem. A compilation album, Stairways to Heaven, was put out on the Atlantic label, featuring versions of the song by The Australian Doors Show, The Beatnix, John Paul Young, Kate Ceberano, Leonard Teale, Michael Turkic, The Ministry Of Fun, Neil Pepper, Pardon Me Boys, Robyne Dunn, The Rock Lobsters, Rolf Harris, Sandra Hahn, Vegimite Reggae and others.
- Other notable cover versions include a widely-panned version by Far Corporation, and Dread Zeppelin's reggae/Elvis-inspired(?) version.
- A novelty song featuring the music and arrangement of the song combined with the lyrics to the Theme from Gilligan's Island (which has a similar chord progression) was recorded by the San Francisco band Little Roger and the Goosebumps and often featured on the Dr. Demento radio program. Singer Plant has described this as his favorite cover version of the song.
- The Butthole Surfers, in an act of parody and/or tribute, released an album in 1988 called "Hairway to Steven".
David Niven film
Stairway to Heaven was also a US alternative title for the 1946 British movie A Matter of Life and Death, deriving from the film's most prominent special effect: a broad marble escalator linking Heaven and Earth.
False Jimi Hendrix version
One version of the song circulating on the Internet is a supposed "reggae remix" by Jimi Hendrix. In fact, he died a year before the song was released. Even if he were alive, it is unlikely that he would have made such a track. The actual song that is generally circulated around is a cover of "Stairway to Heaven" by Frank Zappa at one of his last live shows.
Korean TV series
Stairway to Heaven was also the English title of a Korean television drama called Chunguk ui Gyehdan.
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