Stairway to Heaven
Encyclopedia
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock
band Led Zeppelin
, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page
and vocalist Robert Plant
for the band's untitled fourth studio album (usually referred to as Led Zeppelin IV
). The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which increase in tempo and volume as the song progresses. The song begins as a slow acoustic-based folk
song accompanied by recorders before electric instrumentation is introduced. The final section is a high-tempo hard rock
section highlighted by an intricate guitar solo by Page.
The song, often considered one of the greatest rock songs of all-time, was voted #3 in 2000 by VH1
on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs, and was placed at number 31 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
". It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been officially released as a single there. In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership
release, "Stairway to Heaven" hit #37 on the UK Singles Chart.
' new Basing Street Studios in London. The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV
at Headley Grange
, Hampshire
, in 1971. Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo
.
The song originated in 1970 when Jimmy Page
and Robert Plant
were spending time at Bron-Yr-Aur
, a remote cottage in Wales, following Led Zeppelin's fifth American concert tour
. According to Page, he wrote the music "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night". Page always kept a cassette recorder
around, and the idea for "Stairway" came together from bits of taped music:
Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones
recalled this presentation of the song to him following its genesis at Bron-Yr-Aur:
In an interview he gave in 1977, Page elaborated:
The first attempts at lyrics, written by Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then". Jimmy Page was strumming the chords and Robert Plant had a pencil and paper. Plant later said that suddenly,
The lyrics of the song reflected Plant's current reading. The singer had been poring through the works of the British antiquarian Lewis Spence
, and later cited Spence's Magic Arts in Celtic Britain as one of the sources for the lyrics to the song.
In November 1970, Page dropped a hint of the new song's existence to a music journalist in London:
Page stated that the song "speeds up like an adrenaline flow". He explained:
The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV
in November 1971. The band's record label, Atlantic Records
was keen to issue this track as a single, but the band's manager Peter Grant refused requests to do so in both 1972 and 1973. The upshot of that decision was that record buyers began to invest in the fourth album as if it were a single. In the US, Atlantic issued "Stairway to Heaven" as a 7" promotional single in 1972.
s in a Renaissance music
style (ending at 2:15) and gradually moving into a slow electric middle section (2:16–5:33), then a long guitar solo (5:34–6:44), before the faster hard rock
final section (6:45 to 7:45), ending with a short epilogue in the same style as the introduction.
Written in the key of A minor, the song opens with an arpeggiated, finger-picked guitar chord progression with a chromatic
descending bassline A-G#-G-F#-F-E. John Paul Jones contributed overdubbed wooden bass recorder
s in the opening section (he used a Mellotron
and, later, a Yamaha CP70B Grand Piano and Yamaha GX1
to synthesize this arrangement in live performances) and a Hohner
Electra-Piano electric piano
in the middle section.
The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended Jimmy Page guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1959 Fender Telecaster
(an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds) plugged into a Supro amplifier
, although in an interview he gave to Guitar World
magazine, Page also claimed, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember". Three different improvised solos were recorded, with Page agonizing about deciding which to keep. Page later revealed, "I did have the first phrase worked out, and then there was the link phrase. I did check them out before hand before the tape ran." The other guitar parts were played using a Harmony Sovereign H1260 acoustic guitar and a Rickenbacker guitar (a 12-string guitar that was plugged directly to the soundboard); these can be heard on the left and right recording channels respectively. For live versions, Page switched to a Heritage Cherry Gibson EDS-1275
6/12 Doubleneck
guitar. The final progression is a i-VII-VI (natural minor) progression (Am-G-F), a mainstay of rock music.
Sound engineer Andy Johns
recalls the circumstances surrounding the recording of Page's famous solo:
According to Page, "Stairway to Heaven"
s, bear a close resemblance to the 1968 instrumental "Taurus
" by the group Spirit
. Zeppelin opened for Spirit in an early American tour, leaving little doubt that Led Zeppelin had heard the Spirit song before "Stairway to Heaven" was written. In the liner notes to the 1996 reissue of Spirit's debut album, songwriter Randy California
writes:
's Ulster Hall
on 5 March 1971. Bassist John Paul Jones
recalls that the crowd was unimpressed: "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew". However, Page stated about an early performance at the LA Forum
, before the record had even come out, that:
The world radio premiere of "Stairway to Heaven" was recorded at the Paris Cinema
on 1 April 1971, in front of a live studio audience, and broadcast three days later on the BBC
. The song was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert
, only being omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical issues. The band's final performance of the song was in Berlin on 7 July 1980, which was also their last concert for 27 years; the version was also one of the longest, lasting almost fifteen minutes.
When playing the song live, the band would often extend it to over ten minutes, with Page playing an extended guitar solo and Plant adding a number of lyrical ad-libs, such as "Does anybody remember laughter?",
"Does anybody remember forests?" (As seen on the live performance in Seattle 1977), "wait a minute!" and "I hope so". For performing this song live, Page used a Gibson EDS-1275
double neck guitar
so he would not have to pause when switching from a six to a twelve string guitar
.
By 1975, the song had a regular place as the finale of every Led Zeppelin concert. However, after their concert tour of the United States
in 1977, Plant began to tire of "Stairway to Heaven": "There's only so many times you can sing it and mean it ... It just became sanctimonious."
The song was played again by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the Live Aid
concert in 1985; at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
concert in 1988, with Jason Bonham
on drums; and by Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.
By the late 1980s, Plant made his negative impression of the song clear in interviews. In 1988, he stated:
However, by the mid-1990s Plant's views had apparently softened. The first few bars were played alone during Page and Plant
tours in lieu of the final notes of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
", and in November 1994 Page and Plant performed an acoustic version of the song at a Tokyo news station for Japanese television. "Stairway to Heaven" was also performed at Led Zeppelin's reunion show
at the O2 Arena
, London on 10 December 2007.
Plant cites the most unusual performance of the song ever as being that performed at Live Aid: "...with two drummers while Duran Duran
cried at the side of the stage - there was something quite surreal about that."
Footage of the song being played live is preserved on the band's concert film The Song Remains the Same
, featuring a performance from Madison Square Garden
in 1973, and on the Led Zeppelin DVD, featuring a performance from Earls Court Arena
in 1975. Official audio versions are also available on The Song Remains the Same's accompanying soundtrack
, on Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (a performance from London's Paris Theatre
in 1971) and on How the West Was Won (a performance from the Long Beach Arena in 1972). There are also hundreds of audio versions which can be found on unofficial Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings
.
, although the song was released in 1971, it took until 1973 before the song's popularity ascended to truly "anthemic" status. As Page himself recalled, "I knew it was good, but I didn't know it was going to be almost like an anthem ... But I knew it was the gem of the album, sure."
"Stairway to Heaven" continues to top radio lists of the greatest rock songs, as well as topping a 2006 Guitar World
readers poll of greatest guitar solos. On the 20th anniversary of the original release of the song, it was announced via U.S. radio sources that the song had logged up an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays - back to back, that would run for 44 years solid. As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times. In 1990 a St Petersburg, Florida station kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight. It is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music
in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly. In total, over one million copies have been sold.
The song's length precluded its release in full form as a single
. Despite pressure from Atlantic Records
the band would not authorize the editing of the song for single release, making "Stairway to Heaven" one of the most well-known and popular rock songs never to have been released as a single. It did, however, appear on two promotional discs in the United States, one of them featuring the 7:55 track on each side, and the other as a 7" 33 record produced for jukebox operators with "Stairway..." on one side and both "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" on the other. Other "single" appearances were on an Australian EP, and in 1991 as and added bonus with a 20th anniversary promo book.
The group's recording of this song also appeared as the sole Led Zeppelin track in the 1977 Atlantic Records 2-LP promotional sampler album, We've Got Your Music, marking the first time that Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" made its official debut appearance in an American-released various artists compilation collection.
On the 20th Anniversary of the song's release, Esquire
magazine featured an article on the song's success and lasting influence. Karen Karbo
wrote:
In 2004, Rolling Stone
magazine put it at number 31 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
". An article from the 29 January 2009 Guitar World
magazine rated Jimmy Page's guitar solo at number one in the publication's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in Rock and Roll History. In 2010, New York City
based classic rock
radio station Q104.3
ranked "Stairway to Heaven" no. 1 on their 10th Anniversary list of "Top 1,043 Songs of All Time".
Erik Davis
, a social historian and cultural critic
, commented on the song's massive success, subsequent backlash and enduring legendary status:
Page has himself commented on the song's legacy:
's didgeridoo
-and-wobble board
interpretation reached number seven in the UK charts
in 1993. Rolf Harris
's version was one of 26 different versions of the song that were performed live by guest stars on the early 1990s Australian chat show The Money or the Gun
- each being a unique version of the song in the usually idiosyncratic style of performance of each guest star. A video and CD album were released featuring 25 and 22 of the performances, respectively.
Dolly Parton
released a stripped down acoustic cover of the song in 2002; Plant spoke highly of Parton's version, noting that he was pleasantly surprised with how her version turned out.
In 1977, Little Roger and the Goosebumps
recorded a parody of the song in which the words to the theme song of the television show Gilligan's Island were sung in place of the original lyrics. Within five weeks, Led Zeppelin's lawyers threatened to sue them and demanded that any remaining copies of the recording be destroyed. However, during a 2005 interview on National Public Radio, Plant referred to the tune as his favourite cover of "Stairway to Heaven."
The sketch comedy series SCTV
had an elaborate spoof of the song with its spoof album Stairways to Heaven. In the mock album, advertised in the style of K-tel
, various snippets of cover versions are featured, supposedly from artists ranging from Slim Whitman
to the faux-50s group "The Five Neat Guys," as well as the original version (albeit advertised to be a sound-alike
sung by Rich Little
). This sketch, due to rights issues, was not released on the DVDs for the show.
The London Symphony Orchestra recorded a version of "Stairway to Heaven" as part of their Classic Rock series in 1980, the venue being EMI Studio One, Abbey Road, London. It has also been arranged and recorded by the Hampton String Quartet
on their early album, What if Mozart Wrote "Born to be Wild."
A version by Far Corporation
was released in 1985 and reached number 8 in the UK singles chart.
Frank Zappa
created an arrangement
of the song as one of the centrepieces of his 1988 tour. The arrangement, as heard on the album The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
, features the horn section of Zappa's band playing Jimmy Page's guitar solo.
Justin Hayward
of the Moody Blues, with producer-arranger Mike Batt
, released Classic Blue
, an album of pop standards written by other composers, set to orchestration
arranged by Batt, in 1989. Classic Blue included a cover version of "Stairway to Heaven."
Australian physicist
and composer
Joe Wolfe composed a set of variations
on "Stairway to Heaven." This work, The Stairway Suite, is composed for orchestra
, big band
, chorus
, and SATB
. Each variation is in the style
of a famous composer
: Franz Schubert
, Gustav Holst
, Glenn Miller
, Gustav Mahler
, Georges Bizet
, and Ludwig van Beethoven
. For example, the Schubert inspired variation is based on the Unfinished Symphony
, and the Beethoven inspired variation includes vocal soloists and chorus and resembles Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
. Wolfe posted the full score of this piece on the Internet.
Dread Zeppelin
released a version on their album 5,000,000
. In their traditional style, this version figures reggae
style with an Elvis impersonator
on vocals.
In the movie Wayne's World
, Wayne (played by Mike Myers
) takes a guitar and plays several notes of the song in the original theatrical release. In the video release and subsequent airings, however, the notes are changed to a generic guitar riff due to licensing restrictions. In the scene, Wayne is almost immediately stopped by a store employee who points to a "No Stairway" sign, referencing the fact that so many people have attempted the song on guitar while at music stores, employees became sick of hearing it and banned patrons from playing "Stairway," threatening them with fines or removal.
In 2007, Rodrigo y Gabriela
covered this song in the album Rhythms del Mundo Classics
by the Buena Vista Social Club
.
In 2010, Mary J. Blige
released a version on her album Stronger with Each Tear featuring Travis Barker
on drums, Steve Vai
and Orianthi
on guitar, Randy Jackson
on bass and Geffen Records chair Ron Fair on piano. Blige performed the song on American Idol
with Barker, Vai, Orianthi, and Jackson; the recording was released via download for charity.
hosted by Paul Crouch
, it was alleged that hidden messages were contained in many popular rock songs through a technique called backward masking
. One example of such hidden messages that was prominently cited was in "Stairway to Heaven." The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now...") when played backwards, was purported to contain the Satanic references "Here's to my sweet Satan
" and "I sing because I live with Satan."
Following the claims made in the television program, California
assemblyman Phil Wyman
proposed a state law that would require warning labels on records containing backward masking. In April 1982, the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly
held a hearing on backward masking in popular music, during which "Stairway to Heaven" was played backwards. During the hearing, William Yarroll, a self-described "neuroscientific researcher," claimed that backward messages could be deciphered by the human brain.
Various versions of the alleged message exist. One such interpretation reads:
The band itself has for the most part ignored such claims; in response to the allegations, Swan Song Records
issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards." Led Zeppelin audio engineer Eddie Kramer
called the allegations "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they want to spend so much studio time doing something so dumb?" Robert Plant
expressed frustration with the accusations in a 1983 interview in Musician magazine: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."
(*) designates unordered lists.
1972 7" promo (US: Atlantic PR 175 [picture sleeve])
1972 7" promo (US: Atlantic PR-269)
1972 7" promo (South Africa: Atlantic Teal)
1978 12" single (Brazil: WEA 6WP.2003)
1990 7" promo (UK: Atlantic LZ3)
1991 20th Anniversary promo (US: Atlantic PRCD 4424-2, Japan: Warner Pioneer PRCD 4424-2)
Note: The official UK Singles Chart
incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
and vocalist Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
for the band's untitled fourth studio album (usually referred to as Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin IV
The fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on 8 November 1971. No title is printed on the album, so it is generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, following the naming standard used by the band's first three studio albums...
). The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which increase in tempo and volume as the song progresses. The song begins as a slow acoustic-based folk
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
song accompanied by recorders before electric instrumentation is introduced. The final section is a high-tempo hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
section highlighted by an intricate guitar solo by Page.
The song, often considered one of the greatest rock songs of all-time, was voted #3 in 2000 by VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs, and was placed at number 31 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
". It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been officially released as a single there. In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership
Mothership (album)
Mothership is a compilation album by English rock group Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records and Rhino Entertainment on 12 November 2007 in the United Kingdom, and 13 November 2007 in the United States. It was released on the same day that Led Zeppelin's entire catalog became available in...
release, "Stairway to Heaven" hit #37 on the UK Singles Chart.
Writing and recording
The recording of "Stairway to Heaven" started in December 1970 at Island RecordsIsland Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
' new Basing Street Studios in London. The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin IV
The fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on 8 November 1971. No title is printed on the album, so it is generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, following the naming standard used by the band's first three studio albums...
at Headley Grange
Headley Grange
Headley Grange is a former poorhouse in Headley, East Hampshire, England, UK. It is best known as a recording and rehearsal venue in the 1960s and 1970s for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, Peter Frampton, the Pretty Things, Ian Dury and Clover.-Early history:Built...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, in 1971. Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
.
The song originated in 1970 when Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
and Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
were spending time at Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur
Bron-Yr-Aur , sometimes misspelled as Bron-Y-Aur, is an 18th century cottage in South Snowdonia, Wales, best known for its association with the English rock band Led Zeppelin....
, a remote cottage in Wales, following Led Zeppelin's fifth American concert tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour Spring 1970
Led Zeppelin's Spring 1970 North American Tour was the fifth concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour commenced on March 21 and concluded on April 18, 1970...
. According to Page, he wrote the music "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night". Page always kept a cassette recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
around, and the idea for "Stairway" came together from bits of taped music:
I had these pieces, these guitar pieces, that I wanted to put together. I had a whole idea of a piece of music that I really wanted to try and present to everybody and try and come to terms with. Bit difficult really, because it started on acoustic, and as you know it goes through to the electric parts. But we had various run-throughs [at Headley Grange] where I was playing the acoustic guitar and jumping up and picking up the electric guitar. Robert was sitting in the corner, or rather leaning against the wall, and as I was routining the rest of the band with this idea and this piece, he was just writing. And all of a sudden he got up and started singing, along with another run-through, and he must have had 80% of the words there ... I had these sections, and I knew what order they were going to go in, but it was just a matter of getting everybody to feel comfortable with each gear shift that was going to be coming.
Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
recalled this presentation of the song to him following its genesis at Bron-Yr-Aur:
Page and Plant would come back from the Welsh mountains with the guitar intro and verse. I literally heard it in front of a roaring fire in a country manor house! I picked up a bass recorder and played a run-down riff which gave us an intro, then I moved into a piano for the next section, dubbing on the guitars.
In an interview he gave in 1977, Page elaborated:
I do have the original tape that was running at the time we ran down "Stairway To Heaven" completely with the band. I'd worked it all out already the night before with John Paul Jones, written down the changes and things. All this time we were all living in a house and keeping pretty regular hours together, so the next day we started running it down. There was only one place where there was a slight rerun. For some unknown reason BonzoJohn BonhamJohn Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
couldn't get the timing right on the twelve-string part before the solo. Other than that it flowed very quickly.
The first attempts at lyrics, written by Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then". Jimmy Page was strumming the chords and Robert Plant had a pencil and paper. Plant later said that suddenly,
My hand was writing out the words, 'There's a lady is sure , all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven'. I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat." Plant's own explanation of the lyrics was that it "was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with that cynical sweep of the hand ... and it softened up after that.
The lyrics of the song reflected Plant's current reading. The singer had been poring through the works of the British antiquarian Lewis Spence
Lewis Spence
James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence was a Scottish journalist, whose efforts as a compiler of Scottish folklore have proved more durable than his efforts as a poet and occult scholar....
, and later cited Spence's Magic Arts in Celtic Britain as one of the sources for the lyrics to the song.
In November 1970, Page dropped a hint of the new song's existence to a music journalist in London:
It's an idea for a really long track.... You know how "Dazed and Confused" and songs like that were broken into sections? Well, we want to try something new with the organ and acoustic guitar building up and building up, and then the electric part starts.... It might be a fifteen-minute track.
Page stated that the song "speeds up like an adrenaline flow". He explained:
Going back to those studio days for me and John Paul Jones, the one thing you didn't do was speed up, because if you sped up you wouldn't be seen again. Everything had to be right on the meter all the way through. And I really wanted to write something which did speed up, and took the emotion and the adrenaline with it, and would reach a sort of crescendo. And that was the idea of it. That's why it was a bit tricky to get together in stages.
The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin IV
The fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on 8 November 1971. No title is printed on the album, so it is generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, following the naming standard used by the band's first three studio albums...
in November 1971. The band's record label, Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
was keen to issue this track as a single, but the band's manager Peter Grant refused requests to do so in both 1972 and 1973. The upshot of that decision was that record buyers began to invest in the fourth album as if it were a single. In the US, Atlantic issued "Stairway to Heaven" as a 7" promotional single in 1972.
Composition
The song consists of several distinct sections, beginning with a quiet introduction on a finger picked six string guitar and four recorderRecorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
s in a Renaissance music
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
style (ending at 2:15) and gradually moving into a slow electric middle section (2:16–5:33), then a long guitar solo (5:34–6:44), before the faster hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
final section (6:45 to 7:45), ending with a short epilogue in the same style as the introduction.
Written in the key of A minor, the song opens with an arpeggiated, finger-picked guitar chord progression with a chromatic
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
descending bassline A-G#-G-F#-F-E. John Paul Jones contributed overdubbed wooden bass recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
s in the opening section (he used a Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
and, later, a Yamaha CP70B Grand Piano and Yamaha GX1
Yamaha GX1
The Yamaha GX-1, first released as Electone GX-707 It's rumored that when Yamaha realized the model number shared the designation of Boeing 707 aircraft, they changed it to GX-1. Note the basic design of GX-1 followed the released in 1970., is an analog polyphonic synthesizer developed by Yamaha...
to synthesize this arrangement in live performances) and a Hohner
Hohner
Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a company specialising in the manufacture of musical instruments. Founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner , Hohner is identified especially with harmonicas and accordions. The Hohner company has invented and produced many different styles, and most of the...
Electra-Piano electric piano
Electric piano
An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
in the middle section.
The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended Jimmy Page guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1959 Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
(an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds) plugged into a Supro amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
, although in an interview he gave to Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
magazine, Page also claimed, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember". Three different improvised solos were recorded, with Page agonizing about deciding which to keep. Page later revealed, "I did have the first phrase worked out, and then there was the link phrase. I did check them out before hand before the tape ran." The other guitar parts were played using a Harmony Sovereign H1260 acoustic guitar and a Rickenbacker guitar (a 12-string guitar that was plugged directly to the soundboard); these can be heard on the left and right recording channels respectively. For live versions, Page switched to a Heritage Cherry Gibson EDS-1275
Gibson EDS-1275
The Gibson EDS-1275 is a doubleneck Gibson electric guitar introduced in 1963 and still in production. Popularized by both rock and jazz musicians such as Jimmy Page and John McLaughlin, it was called "the coolest guitar in rock."-History:...
6/12 Doubleneck
Double neck guitar
A multi-neck guitar is a guitar that has multiple fingerboard necks. They exist in both electric and acoustic versions. Although multi-neck guitars are quite common today, they are not by any means a modern invention...
guitar. The final progression is a i-VII-VI (natural minor) progression (Am-G-F), a mainstay of rock music.
Sound engineer Andy Johns
Andy Johns
Andy Johns is an engineer and producer who worked on well-known rock albums such as Led Zeppelin's IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced....
recalls the circumstances surrounding the recording of Page's famous solo:
I remember Jimmy had a little bit of trouble with the solo on "Stairway to Heaven"... [H]e hadn't completely figured it out. Nowadays you sometimes spend a whole day doing one thing. Back then, we never did that. We never spent a very long time recording anything. I remember sitting in the control room with Jimmy, he's standing there next to me and he'd done quite a few passes and it wasn't going anywhere. I could see he was getting a bit paranoid and so I was getting paranoid. I turned around and said "You're making me paranoid!" And he said, "No, you're making me paranoid!" It was a silly circle of paranoia. Then bang! On the next take or two he ripped it out.
According to Page, "Stairway to Heaven"
...crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed the band at its best... as a band, as a unit. Not talking about solos or anything, it had everything there. We were careful never to release it as a single. It was a milestone for us. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time and I guess we did it with "Stairway". [Pete] TownshendPete TownshendPeter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
probably thought that he got it with TommyTommy (rock opera)Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
. I don't know whether I have the ability to come up with more. I have to do a lot of hard work before I can get anywhere near those stages of consistent, total brilliance.
Personnel
- Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all.... - Jimmy PageJimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s - John Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones (musician)John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
– recorderRecorderThe recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - John BonhamJohn BonhamJohn Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Taurus
Over the years, a number of people have put forth the opinion that the song's introduction, and opening guitar arpeggioArpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s, bear a close resemblance to the 1968 instrumental "Taurus
Taurus (song)
"Taurus" is a rock instrumental by American rock band Spirit, originally released on their self-titled debut album in 1968. The track, composed by guitarist/singer Randy California, was recorded in November 1967. It has been suggested that Jimmy Page borrowed the descending guitar figure from...
" by the group Spirit
Spirit (band)
Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California.- The original lineup :...
. Zeppelin opened for Spirit in an early American tour, leaving little doubt that Led Zeppelin had heard the Spirit song before "Stairway to Heaven" was written. In the liner notes to the 1996 reissue of Spirit's debut album, songwriter Randy California
Randy California
Randy California was a guitarist, singer and songwriter and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967.-Biography:...
writes:
People always ask me why "Stairway to Heaven" sounds exactly like "Taurus", which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played "Fresh Garbage" in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tourLed Zeppelin North American Tour 1968/1969Led Zeppelin's 1968/1969 tour of North America was the first concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour commenced on December 26, 1968 and concluded on February 15, 1969.-Overview:...
.
Live performances
The inaugural public performance of the song took place at BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
's Ulster Hall
Ulster Hall
The Ulster Hall is a concert hall and grade B1 listed building in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated on Bedford Street in Belfast city centre, the hall hosts concerts, classical recitals, craft fairs and political party conferences...
on 5 March 1971. Bassist John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
recalls that the crowd was unimpressed: "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew". However, Page stated about an early performance at the LA Forum
The Forum (Inglewood, California)
The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
, before the record had even come out, that:
I'm not saying the whole audience gave us a standing ovation - but there was this sizable standing ovation there. And I thought, 'This is incredible because no one's heard this number yet. This is the first time hearing it!' It obviously touched them, so I knew there was something with that one.
The world radio premiere of "Stairway to Heaven" was recorded at the Paris Cinema
Paris Theatre
The Paris Theatre was a former cinema located in Lower Regent Street, London, which was converted into a theatre by the BBC for radio broadcasts...
on 1 April 1971, in front of a live studio audience, and broadcast three days later on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. The song was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert
Led Zeppelin concerts
From September 1968 through the summer of 1980, English rock group Led Zeppelin were one of the world's most popular live music attractions, performing hundreds of sold-out concerts around the world.-History:...
, only being omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical issues. The band's final performance of the song was in Berlin on 7 July 1980, which was also their last concert for 27 years; the version was also one of the longest, lasting almost fifteen minutes.
When playing the song live, the band would often extend it to over ten minutes, with Page playing an extended guitar solo and Plant adding a number of lyrical ad-libs, such as "Does anybody remember laughter?",
"Does anybody remember forests?" (As seen on the live performance in Seattle 1977), "wait a minute!" and "I hope so". For performing this song live, Page used a Gibson EDS-1275
Gibson EDS-1275
The Gibson EDS-1275 is a doubleneck Gibson electric guitar introduced in 1963 and still in production. Popularized by both rock and jazz musicians such as Jimmy Page and John McLaughlin, it was called "the coolest guitar in rock."-History:...
double neck guitar
Double neck guitar
A multi-neck guitar is a guitar that has multiple fingerboard necks. They exist in both electric and acoustic versions. Although multi-neck guitars are quite common today, they are not by any means a modern invention...
so he would not have to pause when switching from a six to a twelve string guitar
Twelve string guitar
The twelve-string guitar is an acoustic or electric guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses, which produces a richer, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar...
.
By 1975, the song had a regular place as the finale of every Led Zeppelin concert. However, after their concert tour of the United States
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1977
Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American Tour was the eleventh and final concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into three legs, with performances commencing on 1 April and concluding on 24 July 1977...
in 1977, Plant began to tire of "Stairway to Heaven": "There's only so many times you can sing it and mean it ... It just became sanctimonious."
The song was played again by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
concert in 1985; at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary
On 14 May 1988 the Atlantic Records label held its 40th Anniversary Celebration by staging a non-stop concert lasting almost 13 hours at Madison Square Garden, New York. The event was dubbed "It's Only Rock And Roll"....
concert in 1988, with Jason Bonham
Jason Bonham
Jason John Bonham is an English drummer. Jason's parents are Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and his wife Pat Phillips. After his father's death in 1980, he has played with Led Zeppelin on different occasions, including the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in London in...
on drums; and by Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.
By the late 1980s, Plant made his negative impression of the song clear in interviews. In 1988, he stated:
I'd break out in hives if I had to sing ("Stairway to Heaven") in every show. I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don't know. It's just not for me. I sang it at the Atlantic Records show because I'm an old softie and it was my way of saying thank you to Atlantic because I've been with them for 20 years. But no more of "Stairway to Heaven" for me.
However, by the mid-1990s Plant's views had apparently softened. The first few bars were played alone during Page and Plant
Page and Plant
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both formerly of English hard rock band Led Zeppelin, recorded and toured in the mid-1990s under the title Page and Plant. The pair re-united in 1994 and, after recording a highly successful first album, they embarked on a world tour. They then recorded a second album,...
tours in lieu of the final notes of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a folk song written by Anne Bredon in the late 1950s. It was recorded by Joan Baez and released on her 1962 album Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1, and also by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, who included it on their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin...
", and in November 1994 Page and Plant performed an acoustic version of the song at a Tokyo news station for Japanese television. "Stairway to Heaven" was also performed at Led Zeppelin's reunion show
Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert
The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegün at The O2 in London on December 10, 2007. The headline act was the English rock band, Led Zeppelin, who performed their first full-length concert since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980,...
at the O2 Arena
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...
, London on 10 December 2007.
Plant cites the most unusual performance of the song ever as being that performed at Live Aid: "...with two drummers while Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
cried at the side of the stage - there was something quite surreal about that."
Footage of the song being played live is preserved on the band's concert film The Song Remains the Same
The Song Remains the Same (film)
The Song Remains the Same is a concert film by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The recording of the film took place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City, during the band's 1973 concert tour of the United States. The film premiered on 20 October 1976, at...
, featuring a performance from Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in 1973, and on the Led Zeppelin DVD, featuring a performance from Earls Court Arena
Earls Court Exhibition Centre
The Earls Court Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre, conference and event venue located in west London, United Kingdom in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . It is the largest exhibition venue in central London. It is served by two underground stations, Earl's Court and West...
in 1975. Official audio versions are also available on The Song Remains the Same's accompanying soundtrack
The Song Remains the Same (album)
Upon its initial release in 1976, the album received some poor reviews, with some critics considering it to be over-produced and lumbering. Indeed, the band's members themselves have since expressed a lack of fondness for the recording...
, on Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (a performance from London's Paris Theatre
Paris Theatre
The Paris Theatre was a former cinema located in Lower Regent Street, London, which was converted into a theatre by the BBC for radio broadcasts...
in 1971) and on How the West Was Won (a performance from the Long Beach Arena in 1972). There are also hundreds of audio versions which can be found on unofficial Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings
Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings
The Led Zeppelin bootleg recordings are a collection of audio and video recordings of musical performances by English rock band Led Zeppelin which were never officially released by the band, or under other legal authority. The recordings consist of both live concert performances and outtakes from...
.
Success and legacy
"Stairway to Heaven" is often rated among the greatest rock songs of all time. According to music journalist Stephen DavisStephen Davis (music journalist)
Stephen Davis is an American music journalist and historian.Davis was born in New York City and attended Boston University. He began his career writing for the Boston Phoenix in 1970...
, although the song was released in 1971, it took until 1973 before the song's popularity ascended to truly "anthemic" status. As Page himself recalled, "I knew it was good, but I didn't know it was going to be almost like an anthem ... But I knew it was the gem of the album, sure."
"Stairway to Heaven" continues to top radio lists of the greatest rock songs, as well as topping a 2006 Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
readers poll of greatest guitar solos. On the 20th anniversary of the original release of the song, it was announced via U.S. radio sources that the song had logged up an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays - back to back, that would run for 44 years solid. As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times. In 1990 a St Petersburg, Florida station kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight. It is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly. In total, over one million copies have been sold.
The song's length precluded its release in full form as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. Despite pressure from Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
the band would not authorize the editing of the song for single release, making "Stairway to Heaven" one of the most well-known and popular rock songs never to have been released as a single. It did, however, appear on two promotional discs in the United States, one of them featuring the 7:55 track on each side, and the other as a 7" 33 record produced for jukebox operators with "Stairway..." on one side and both "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" on the other. Other "single" appearances were on an Australian EP, and in 1991 as and added bonus with a 20th anniversary promo book.
The group's recording of this song also appeared as the sole Led Zeppelin track in the 1977 Atlantic Records 2-LP promotional sampler album, We've Got Your Music, marking the first time that Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" made its official debut appearance in an American-released various artists compilation collection.
On the 20th Anniversary of the song's release, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine featured an article on the song's success and lasting influence. Karen Karbo
Karen Karbo
Karen Karbo is an award-winning American author.Born in Detroit, she is the author of three adult novels: Trespassers Welcome Here, The Diamond Lane, and Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me, all of which were named New York Times Notable Books...
wrote:
It's doubtful that anyone knew it would become the most popular rock song of all time. After all, it's eight minutes long and was never released as a single. Even "Hey JudeHey Jude"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song widely accepted as being written to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce—although this explanation is not...
" was shorter, was a 45, and enjoyed the benefits of comprehensible words and a sing-along chorus. But "Hey Jude" isn't the most requested song of all time on FM rock stations. Nobody ever had a "Hey Jude" theme prom or played the song at weddings and funerals like "Stairway." "Stairway" couldn't succeed today. Back in 1971, FM deejays prided themselves on digging deep into albums to come up with oddball, cultish favorites. With its near-oppressive length, erratic changes, and woo-woo lyrics, the quasi-medieval anthem was a perfect choice. It continues to be a favorite among music listeners who are younger than the song itself, listeners who, in some cases, were no doubt conceived while the tune blasted from car speakers.
In 2004, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine put it at number 31 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
". An article from the 29 January 2009 Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
magazine rated Jimmy Page's guitar solo at number one in the publication's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in Rock and Roll History. In 2010, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
based classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
radio station Q104.3
WAXQ
WAXQ is a radio station with a classic rock format in New York City. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications.-WFDR:...
ranked "Stairway to Heaven" no. 1 on their 10th Anniversary list of "Top 1,043 Songs of All Time".
Erik Davis
Erik Davis
Erik Davis is a North American writer, social historian, cultural critic and lecturer.He is noted for his study of the history of technology and society and his essays about the fate of the individual in the dawning posthuman era...
, a social historian and cultural critic
Cultural critic
A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole and typically on a radical basis. There is significant overlap with social and cultural theory.-Terminology:...
, commented on the song's massive success, subsequent backlash and enduring legendary status:
"Stairway to Heaven" isn't the greatest rock song of the 1970s; it is the greatest spell of the 1970s. Think about it: we are all sick of the thing, but in some primordial way it is still number one. Everyone knows it... Even our dislike and mockery is ritualistic. The dumb parodies; the Wayne's WorldWayne's World (film)Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris and starring Mike Myers in his film debut as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based Public-access television cable TV show Wayne's World...
-inspired folklore about guitar shops demanding customers not play it; even Robert Plant's public disavowal of the song—all of these just prove the rule. "Stairway to Heaven" is not just number one. It is the One, the quintessence, the closest AORAlbum-oriented rockAlbum-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
will ever get you to the absolute.
Page has himself commented on the song's legacy:
The wonderful thing about "Stairway" is the fact that just about everybody has got their own individual interpretation to it, and actually what it meant to them at their point of life. And that's what's so great about it. Over the passage of years people come to me with all manner of stories about what it meant to them at certain points of their lives. About how it's got them through some really tragic circumstances ... Because it's an extremely positive song, it's such a positive energy, and, you know, people have got married to [the song].
Other versions
The song has been covered a number of times. Rolf HarrisRolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
's didgeridoo
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
-and-wobble board
Wobble board
The wobble board is an instrument popularized by the Australian musician and artist Rolf Harris and featured in his best-known song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport"...
interpretation reached number seven in the UK charts
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in 1993. Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
's version was one of 26 different versions of the song that were performed live by guest stars on the early 1990s Australian chat show The Money or the Gun
The Money or the Gun
The Money or the Gun was an Australian comedy/talk-show on the ABC network. It ran from 1989 to 1990, with occasional specials until 1994. It was written by Andrew Denton, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, and George Dodd, directed by Martin Coombes and produced by Mark Fitzgerald.Each episode was...
- each being a unique version of the song in the usually idiosyncratic style of performance of each guest star. A video and CD album were released featuring 25 and 22 of the performances, respectively.
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
released a stripped down acoustic cover of the song in 2002; Plant spoke highly of Parton's version, noting that he was pleasantly surprised with how her version turned out.
In 1977, Little Roger and the Goosebumps
Little Roger and the Goosebumps
Little Roger and the Goosebumps is a pop/rock band from San Francisco active during the 1970s and early 1980s and resurrected in 2006. It has been led throughout its history by Roger Clark and Dick Bright, with various sidemen....
recorded a parody of the song in which the words to the theme song of the television show Gilligan's Island were sung in place of the original lyrics. Within five weeks, Led Zeppelin's lawyers threatened to sue them and demanded that any remaining copies of the recording be destroyed. However, during a 2005 interview on National Public Radio, Plant referred to the tune as his favourite cover of "Stairway to Heaven."
The sketch comedy series SCTV
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
had an elaborate spoof of the song with its spoof album Stairways to Heaven. In the mock album, advertised in the style of K-tel
K-tel
K-tel International is an "As-Seen-On-TV" company, which is most noted for its compilation music albums, such as "The Super Hits" series, "The Dynamic Hits" series and "The Number One Hits" series...
, various snippets of cover versions are featured, supposedly from artists ranging from Slim Whitman
Slim Whitman
Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...
to the faux-50s group "The Five Neat Guys," as well as the original version (albeit advertised to be a sound-alike
Sound-alike
A sound-alike is a recording intended to imitate the sound of a popular record, the style of a popular recording artist, or a current musical trend; the term also refers to the artists who perform on such recordings. In the voice-over world, it may also refer to those who recreate the voice and...
sung by Rich Little
Rich Little
Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. He has long been known throughout the world as a top impersonator of famous people, resulting in his nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices"....
). This sketch, due to rights issues, was not released on the DVDs for the show.
The London Symphony Orchestra recorded a version of "Stairway to Heaven" as part of their Classic Rock series in 1980, the venue being EMI Studio One, Abbey Road, London. It has also been arranged and recorded by the Hampton String Quartet
Hampton String Quartet
The Hampton String Quartet considered by many to be one of the founders of the "alternative music" genré of chamber music is a string quartet specializing in rock music and other popular styles, playing serious chamber music arrangements of songs using classical composer influences and frequently...
on their early album, What if Mozart Wrote "Born to be Wild."
A version by Far Corporation
Far Corporation
Far Corporation is a band created by record producer Frank Farian, who created the bands Boney M. and Milli Vanilli. The name was shortened from "Frank Farian Corporation", which was originally put together to record a cover of the Paul Simon piece "Mother and Child Reunion" as a charity record and...
was released in 1985 and reached number 8 in the UK singles chart.
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
created an arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
of the song as one of the centrepieces of his 1988 tour. The arrangement, as heard on the album The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life is a double disc live album by Frank Zappa, released in 1991 . The album was one of three to be recorded during the 1988 world tour, along with Broadway the Hard Way and Make a Jazz Noise Here...
, features the horn section of Zappa's band playing Jimmy Page's guitar solo.
Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward is an English musician, best known as singer, songwriter and guitarist in the rock band The Moody Blues.Hayward was born in Dean Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, England...
of the Moody Blues, with producer-arranger Mike Batt
Mike Batt
Michael Philip "Mike" Batt is a British songwriter, musician, producer and Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry...
, released Classic Blue
Classic Blue
Classic Blue is the fourth solo studio album by The Moody Blues front-man Justin Hayward. Classic Blue was released in 1989 by Trax Records , and features Mike Batt, who also produced the album, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra...
, an album of pop standards written by other composers, set to orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
arranged by Batt, in 1989. Classic Blue included a cover version of "Stairway to Heaven."
Australian physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Joe Wolfe composed a set of variations
Variation (music)
In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...
on "Stairway to Heaven." This work, The Stairway Suite, is composed for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
, chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, and SATB
SATB
In music, SATB is an initialism for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work...
. Each variation is in the style
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
of a famous composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
: Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
, Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
, and Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
. For example, the Schubert inspired variation is based on the Unfinished Symphony
Unfinished Symphony
Unfinished Symphony is a 59-minute documentary film about a protest against the Vietnam War divided into three sections, mirroring the movements of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, to which the film is set...
, and the Beethoven inspired variation includes vocal soloists and chorus and resembles Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
. Wolfe posted the full score of this piece on the Internet.
Dread Zeppelin
Dread Zeppelin
Dread Zeppelin is an American band best known for performing the songs of Led Zeppelin in a reggae style as sung by a 300 pound Vegas Elvis impersonator. Over the years they would also perform songs originally by Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and The Yardbirds. The group toured extensively around the...
released a version on their album 5,000,000
5,000,000
5,000,000 is Dread Zeppelin's second full-length album. Recorded in early fall 1990, it was conceived and recorded during a three-week break from touring to support the surprisingly successful Un-Led-Ed. Produced by Jah Paul Jo and Rasta Li-Mon, the album once again featured their patented...
. In their traditional style, this version figures reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
style with an Elvis impersonator
Elvis impersonator
An Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies famed American musician Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators can work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts are in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis...
on vocals.
In the movie Wayne's World
Wayne's World (film)
Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris and starring Mike Myers in his film debut as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based Public-access television cable TV show Wayne's World...
, Wayne (played by Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
) takes a guitar and plays several notes of the song in the original theatrical release. In the video release and subsequent airings, however, the notes are changed to a generic guitar riff due to licensing restrictions. In the scene, Wayne is almost immediately stopped by a store employee who points to a "No Stairway" sign, referencing the fact that so many people have attempted the song on guitar while at music stores, employees became sick of hearing it and banned patrons from playing "Stairway," threatening them with fines or removal.
In 2007, Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rodrigo y Gabriela , also known as "El Rodri y La Gabi", are a Mexican musical duo who specialize in playing fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars...
covered this song in the album Rhythms del Mundo Classics
Rhythms del Mundo Classics
Rhythms del Mundo Classics is the follow-up album to the internationally successful album Rhythms del Mundo, featuring artists like The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Keane, Jack Johnson, The Rolling Stones, KT Tunstall and Rodrigo y Gabriela.-Charity:...
by the Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s...
.
In 2010, Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
released a version on her album Stronger with Each Tear featuring Travis Barker
Travis Barker
Travis Landon Barker is an American musician, producer and entrepreneur, most noted as the drummer for the American pop punk band Blink-182, as well as the alternative rock band +44, the rap rock band The Transplants, and the alternative rock band Box Car Racer. He was a frequent collaborator with...
on drums, Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
and Orianthi
Orianthi
Orianthi Panagaris , better known simply as Orianthi, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist. She is perhaps best known for being Michael Jackson's lead guitarist for his ill-fated This Is It concert series. Her debut single "According to You" has peaked at No. 3 in Japan, No. 8...
on guitar, Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R executive, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew...
on bass and Geffen Records chair Ron Fair on piano. Blige performed the song on American Idol
American Idol (season 9)
The ninth season of American Idol premiered on January 12, 2010 and concluded on May 26, 2010 on Fox. Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi all returned as judges, and Ellen DeGeneres permanently replaced Paula Abdul as the fourth judge. Idol Gives Back also returned for the season and was...
with Barker, Vai, Orianthi, and Jackson; the recording was released via download for charity.
Allegation of backward masking
In a January 1982 television program on the Trinity Broadcasting NetworkTrinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
hosted by Paul Crouch
Paul Crouch
Paul Franklin Crouch is a religious broadcaster and, along with his wife Jan, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network .-Biography:...
, it was alleged that hidden messages were contained in many popular rock songs through a technique called backward masking
Backmasking
Backmasking is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward on to a track that is meant to be played forward...
. One example of such hidden messages that was prominently cited was in "Stairway to Heaven." The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now...") when played backwards, was purported to contain the Satanic references "Here's to my sweet Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
" and "I sing because I live with Satan."
Following the claims made in the television program, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
assemblyman Phil Wyman
Phil Wyman
Phillip D. "Phil" Wyman is an American politician from California and a member of the Republican Party.-Assembly Races:...
proposed a state law that would require warning labels on records containing backward masking. In April 1982, the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
held a hearing on backward masking in popular music, during which "Stairway to Heaven" was played backwards. During the hearing, William Yarroll, a self-described "neuroscientific researcher," claimed that backward messages could be deciphered by the human brain.
Various versions of the alleged message exist. One such interpretation reads:
The band itself has for the most part ignored such claims; in response to the allegations, Swan Song Records
Swan Song Records
Swan Song Records was a record label launched by the English rock band Led Zeppelin on 10 May 1974. It was overseen by Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and was a vehicle for the band to promote its own products as well as sign artists who found it difficult to win contracts with other major labels...
issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards." Led Zeppelin audio engineer Eddie Kramer
Eddie Kramer
Edwin H. Kramer is an audio engineer and producer who has worked with, among others, Led Zeppelin, Triumph, Kiss , Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Spooky Tooth, Peter Frampton, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, Anthrax, Carly Simon, Loudness, and Robin Trower.-1960s:Eddie...
called the allegations "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they want to spend so much studio time doing something so dumb?" Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
expressed frustration with the accusations in a 1983 interview in Musician magazine: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,... |
United States | "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" | 1994 | * |
| Classic Rock Classic Rock (magazine) Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of... |
United Kingdom | "Ten of the Best Songs Ever!" | 1999 | 1 |
| VH1 VH1 VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly... |
United States | "The 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time" | 2000 | 3 |
| RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
United States | "Songs of the Century Songs of the Century The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America , the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage" in American schools... " |
2001 | 53 |
| Grammy Awards | United States | "Grammy Hall of Fame Award Grammy Hall of Fame Award The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"... " |
2003 | * |
| Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... |
United States | "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".... " |
2003 | 31 |
| Q Q (magazine) Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology... |
United Kingdom | "100 Songs That Changed the World" | 2003 | 47 |
| Toby Creswell Toby Creswell Toby Creswell is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone and a founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes... |
Australia | "1001 Songs: the Great Songs of All Time" | 2005 | * |
| Q | United Kingdom | "100 Greatest Songs of All Time" | 2006 | 8 |
| Rolling Stone | United States | "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" | 2008 | 8 |
| Triple J Triple J triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation... |
Australia | "Hottest 100 of All Time" | 2009 | 10 |
| Guitar World Guitar World Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year... |
United States | "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" | 2006 | 1 |
(*) designates unordered lists.
Formats and tracklistings
1972 7" single (Philippines: Atlantic 45-3747)- A. "Stairway to Heaven" [part 1] (Page, Plant) 4:01
- B. "Stairway to Heaven" [part 2] (Page, Plant) 4:01
1972 7" promo (US: Atlantic PR 175 [picture sleeve])
- A. "Stairway to Heaven" [stereo] (Page, Plant) 8:02
- B. "Stairway to Heaven" [mono] (Page, Plant) 8:02
1972 7" promo (US: Atlantic PR-269)
- A. "Stairway to Heaven" [stereo] (Page, Plant) 7:55
- B. "Stairway to Heaven" [mono] (Page, Plant) 7:55
1972 7" promo (South Africa: Atlantic Teal)
- A. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant) 8:02
- B. "Going to California" (Page, Plant) 3:31
1978 12" single (Brazil: WEA 6WP.2003)
- A. "Stairway to Heaven" [stereo] (Page, Plant) 8:02
- B. "Stairway to Heaven" [mono] (Page, Plant) 8:02
1990 7" promo (UK: Atlantic LZ3)
- A. "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant) 8:02
- B. "Whole Lotta LoveWhole Lotta Love"Whole Lotta Love" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is featured as the opening track on the band's second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was released in the United States and Japan as a single. The US release became their first hit single, it was certified Gold on 13 April 1970, when it...
" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant, Dixon)
1991 20th Anniversary promo (US: Atlantic PRCD 4424-2, Japan: Warner Pioneer PRCD 4424-2)
- CD single, 7" single
Single (Digital download)
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 13 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 5 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
24 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
37 |
| US Billboard Hot Digital Songs Chart | 30 |
| US Billboard Hot Singles Recurrents Chart | 16 |
| Canadian Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart | 17 |
| EU Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart | 79 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 17 |
| Portuguese Singles Chart Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
8 |
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 57 |
| German Singles Chart | 71 |
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
| German Singles Chart | 15 |
Note: The official UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005.
Further reading
- Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
- The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
External links
- NPR Fresh AirFresh AirFresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
audio interview with Robert Plant, who comments on various covers of the song, the lyrics and writing it. - Sold on Song, "Stairway to Heaven" at BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
- Jimmy Page Audio Interview about the Gibson guitar used in Stairway to Heaven