I clearly had “Stairway to Heaven” on my mind yesterday, and I still do today. I think the song is absolutely amazing, and I think it’s unfortunate that so many people regard it as played-out or cliched. I’d be willing to bet that a staggering number of young people have heard someone disparage “Stairway to Heaven” more times than they have actually heard the song. In fact, I think that insisting that “Stairway to Heaven” is a cliche is itself far more of a cliche than the song is.
Anyway, I think the song is powerful, mystical, and magnificent. My dad always talked about how he thought certain songs seemed to tap into some kind of cosmic energy or some power source out there, implying God or Heaven or something like that. I think he might be right. There’s something about the way this song is put together, the words, the phrasing, the musical arrangement, the instruments, the guitar solo, the crescendo and decrescendo, something about the architecture of this song that makes me think of occult architecture, of buildings and statues built specifically to channel otherworldly supernatural power through symbolism. Somehow this song is like that.
I’m not even sure what all of the words mean, and I’m not even convinced that if you broke them down and analyzed them like you would a piece of literature that they would come out the other end seeming very profound at all. It’s like the pieces of this song are combined in such a way that the song itself–not specifically the words to the song or their meaning–works like a magic spell. But a spell meant to do what? Something is being invoked here, but what is it? If this song is a key, what door does it open?
What is this taste of infinity that rolls around on my tongue every time I hear this song?
Sailing to Byzantium 
There are certain songs that work for me as, essentially, musical mandalas; perhaps that’s your relationship to this one.
Have you seen The Men Who Stare At Goats?
Not yet… I presume there’s a connection? 🙂
George Clooney’s character claims to use classic rock, specifically Boston, to focus his psychic abilities.
I always like to say that if you have to sing about God to sing about God, you’re not doing it right. No offense to anyone who really likes overtly religious or spiritual music, but I think the best experiences come when you’re just sitting around doing nothing and a song comes on that you think is just “another song” and, somehow, connects with you in a way you never thought possible. Songs that can awaken the divine in us without being obvious about it are much more powerful to me than songs that really try to do this and often fail.
I had one of those moments recently… it is a great thing.
Nothing wrong with overtly spiritual music either, of course (I love listening to kirtans, for instance)… but I also have a weakness for the serendipitous discovery. In fact, a lot of the tracks that I have compiled for various Gods over on Neos Alexandria fall under that definition.
Didn’t Robert Plant say that he channeled the lyrics? at least the beginning.
In the recent documentary “It Might Get Loud” , Jimmy Page said that he designed the song to be like an orgasm. . .
Its always amazing to me to feel the power of 3-8 minutes of rock music, like a potent pill of emotion and energy.
“Stairway” certainly left an impression on me when I first heard it.
I’m not sure about channeling, but by most accounts the lyrics came to him quickly and suddenly out of the blue one night while sitting around with Jimmy Page. And the music came to Jimmy on a different occasion in a similarly sudden way: he just sort of sat down and started playing it.
Funny comic: http://xkcd.com/339/