♪ (hard rock music) ♪
- "There is a lady who is sure all that glitters is gold,
and she's buying the stairway to heaven."
I wonder what this could be.
- (laughing) Come on!
I chose the perfect day to wear this shirt.
- Is this Stairway to Heaven?
- This is obviously Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.
This is probably one of the most iconic songs of the '70s.
- This song is so hard to analyze.
It's just a really abstract song.
- I really don't know who this is.
She's trying to consume her way to-- I am supposing-- happiness.
- She wants to go to heaven, but she's buying it,
which isn't the right thing to do.
- If I bought a lot of diamond earrings and Tiffany necklaces
and bracelets, I'm going to feel in heaven because I have
all these materialistic things that I like.
- "When she gets there, she knows if the stores are all closed,
with a word, she can get what she came for."
- Ooh, this is all metaphorical and-- (tittering).
- Either she's very stubborn and she can get whatever she wants,
or she's so beautiful everybody will open up their stores for her.
- She has some sort of authority over everyone,
or she might think she's better than everyone.
- "There's a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure
'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings."
- She's denying what is on the wall.
So like truth, she's denying truth.
- In this case, she should listen to the sign on the wall
because she knows it's right.
- Since she is this person who thinks she's better than everyone else,
that there's a different meaning for her.
- "In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings.
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Oh, it makes me wonder. Oh, it makes me wonder."
- The songbird would be singing the truth
and what the person's thinking.
- Now that they're by the brook and they get to think,
they get to actually meditate on life itself.
- Nature is very different from the materialistic world
that this woman is from.
- Sometimes we have good intentions, but they can be misgiven
as to like-- and then it turns out bad.
- She may think she's being good, but clearly she's just doing this
just to get into heaven, for nothing else,
so it's for a selfish purpose.
- "There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
and my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts, I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
and the voices of those who stand looking."
- God, this song-- I don't even know what it's talking about.
Because at first he was talking about a girl.
Now he's talking about himself.
- When you look to the west, it's almost like sort of nearing death
or dying, and which is why his spirit is crying for leaving,
like going to heaven.
- The rings of smoke imply something negative
that is passing through the trees and the trees represent
something like life.
- He's hearing the voices of people who are just watching
rather than taking action to help.
- "And its whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,
then the piper will lead us to reason."
- "And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
and the forests will echo with laughter."
I know this by heart. I don't even have to read it.
- There's definitely a theme of nature that's very big.
- I think what he is saying is there's more to this world
than what we see, our reality.
He definitely believes in an afterlife
and that this afterlife is so much more heavenly
than what we're witnessing today.
- You got to be the piper.
Like, you have to do something in order to push forward,
and for those who can make it through the consequences,
their lives will be better.
- "Yes, there are two paths you can go by,
but in the long run, there's still time to change to the road you're on."
- So this is showing that you can go down the path of good
and understanding and moral right, or you can go down, you know,
the bad path.
- The two paths are either a negative path or a positive path.
You can go through the negative one but you can change
your negative thoughts into positive thoughts.
- Regardless whether or not you feel like you're corrupted,
like whether or not you feel like this is the road
I am damned to be on, it says that, no, that's not true.
You have free will. You can change.
- It's not too late to repent for your sins
and accept God so you can go to the path to heaven,
or it could be like a negative way and you could switch over
to the path to hell.
- "And it makes me wonder.
Your head is humming and it won't go.
In case you don't know, the piper's calling you to join him."
- Ooh, this one's hard.
Um, they're wondering what will come next for the person dying.
- Death wants you.
That's why I imagine the piper's calling you to join him.
- Wherever you're going, in heaven or hell,
they're asking you to come with them.
- "Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
and did you know your stairway lies on the whispering wind."
- This wind is always going to be there,
but it's whether you decide to listen to it."
- I think she's indecisive in her mind
and the wind around her is just telling her different things to do
and she's still unsure.
- How does something lie on the whispering wind?
It's a fleeting thing.
It's going to be open for a little amount of time
and she has to take that opportunity.
- It says the whispering wind, so I guess that means
you really have to pay attention for it.
If she maybe just settled down, listened and understood everything
that's going on around her, she would figure out
the right path to go.
- "And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our soul,
there walks a lady we all know, who shines white light
and wants to show how everything still turns to gold."
- Your shadow is like how long you've been on this earth.
- I imagine a person standing.
As the sun passes over them, their shadow gets longer and longer.
- Shadows taller than your soul?
That means, like, you're coming to the end now.
Like, you're getting ready to die.
- It's using the lady from the beginning as an example.
She preaches that everything still turns to gold.
- Okay, now this is making her sound hopeful.
I was so mad at the lady in the beginning,
and now I kind of like her.
- In the first line, I considered that her materialistic things
weren't going to make her happy,
but now gold is still coming back-- but gold still can mean something good.
- "And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all, to be a rock and not to roll."
- ♪ And she's buying the stairway to heaven ♪
(laughing)
- If you pay attention, you will find your path.
- To be a rock and not to roll.
You always have to be grounded in yourself
and know that your morals will ground you no matter what you do.
- He's saying if she's buying the stairway to heaven,
that means she's working her way up to heaven.
- Money isn't how you buy the stairway to heaven.
It's a credit based thing, like merit.
- The path is going to be hard,
but you'll eventually find the answer.
Then you'll, I guess, buy your way to your heaven.
- (FBE) What do you think this song was about?
- I don't think that Stairway to Heaven is an actual literal stairway to heaven.
I think it's the key to success.
- You have to just live your life to the best of your ability
and that's how you get to heaven.
- The author is describing how the person goes on this journey
and finds that everything's going to be alright
when they reach heaven.
- (FBE) Do you know the song's title and artist?
- Bruh, not even-- bruh, not even.
- It's called Stairway to Heaven.
I know that. I just don't know the band's name.
- Eh, Stairway to Heaven... is that The Beatles?
- Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin.
- Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.
This honestly is the only song I know by Led Zeppelin.
- (FBE) It's called Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.
- Oh, I'm so [bleep], man.
- Oh my gosh, my dad is going to be so disappointed.
- Oh!
Yikes, that's really sad I did not know that. (laughing)
- (FBE) There are many different interpretations of this song.
The writer, Robert Plant, confirmed that the beginning of the song
is about a rich woman who can't buy her way into heaven.
However, in an interview in 2012, Plant said he is still trying
to figure out what he was saying in these lyrics.
- You know, that's art.
The artist doesn't have to give it meaning.
It's the audience who interprets it.
- Kurt Cobain said it with his songs.
He's like "People are looking into this too much."
He's like "I don't even know what they're about.
I just needed lyrics."
- Sometimes artists, they'll just kind of like say something
and they don't even really know what it is
and everyone has their own interpretations.
- This is really complex.
Plus, in the '70s, they're all doing psychedelics,
so... understandable.
- Every time I kind of change my interpretation,
I was never able to just be like, yep, this is what this song means.
For me, it's such a beautiful song and it's great that everyone
can have their own interpretation of it.
- Thanks for watching us break down Stairway to Heaven
on the React channel.
- New shows every week. Be sure to subscribe.
- Bye, everyone!
- Hey, guys, I'm Katie, a React channel producer.
Thank you so much for watching this episode of Lyric Breakdown.
I need ideas for the next episode, so if you would please
leave some suggestions in the comments, that would be great.
Thank you.