What does Stairway To Heaven mean?

Led Zeppelin: Stairway To Heaven Meaning

Album cover for Stairway To Heaven album cover
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Stairway To Heaven Lyrics

There's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to Heaven
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for
Ooh ooh and she's buying a stairway to...

  1. anonymous
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    Jan 10th 2017 !⃝

    When I first heard this song and tried to "decipher" the lyrics I was totally lost in its meaning. After much thought and being in the mid part of my sixties, I now have come to realize what they were trying to convey. Here is my take on this: It is nothing more than the old adage of being yourself and the golden rule of existing in this society of "treating everyone as you would like to be treated", and should you be dissed by anyone, fuck them 'cause they are not worthy of your compassion.

  2. anonymous
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    Sep 19th 2016 !⃝

    OK, Here's what I see,from my perspective....

    This song is about A Meditation Experience.

    It's about trying to achieve the Kundalini experience, it is also known as a Stairway through your 7 Chakras, When you reach the top of the stairway, you enter the Brain/Mind and reach Heaven within yourself, think of the mind as a compass:

    North= Emotional

    East= Spiritual (Its in the Bible)3rd eye

    South= Physical

    West= Intellect

    * The Glittering Gold is a Heaven Reference.

    * When she gets there... in meditation, her mind in blank.

    * With a word.... Prayer/Chant/ Om

    * There's a sign on the wall.... her mind is giving her glimpses from the 3rd eye.

    * sometimes words have to meanings.... she is dealing with the west and east sides of her mind Intellect/Spiritual and is confused.

    * Tree by the brook, songbird who sings....is the East mind in which heaven is reached.

    * Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven... our human nature to hold on to the Emotional, Physical, Intellect lead us off the path mentally.

    * There's a feeling I get when I look to the WEST.... looking at the intellectual side of things.....

    * and my spirit is crying for leaving.... Not walking a Spiritual path (East)....

    * in my thought i have seen..... This is about Vulnerability in the experience, letting go, judgement by others.

    * If we all call the Tune, The Piper will lead us to reason..... Meditation to the higher frequency of Sound (OM ) The Piper ( Christ Consciousness ).... these are Metaphors of the Mind...

    * new day will dawn (Sun Rising in the East) for those who stand long (Followers of the practice of Meditation) and the forest will echo with laughter ( Joy, Bliss, Garden of Eden)

    I can go on... but you have the Idea...Use the Compass as it pertains to an Allegory of the mind and how we connect to God..... its not a Religion thing....its Buddhist thing.

  3. anonymous
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    Aug 28th 2016 !⃝

    I am 56 years old I have been listening to Stairway to Heaven for many years when I was a teen. Every time I hear it I learn something new about the lyrics I think it has a lot to say about your path in life and where you are going and never give up on God he is always around. Don't give up on your faith in him things happen for a reason. God created us for a reason so don't lose hope this beautiful song has nothing to do with drugs and I have done many in my life. In this crazy world we live in God is watching over us even the bad ones its his job. Hey I still love old music drink beer drugs but I am not scared of what God has in store for me.

  4. Bruce Claypool
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    Jun 23rd 2016 !⃝

    this song is about the undertaker....

    a trajety has bestruck a family in a small town.
    "there's a songbird who sings" refers to them singing at the tavern every night.
    "it makes you wonder" refers to the facct that it remains a mystery to be solved.
    "then the piper will lead us to reason" refers to a vigil of revelers who are gathered in the town square.
    "yes there are two paths you can go by" refers to a change in careers or location. The survivors must pick up the pieces and start a new life for themselves.
    "the piper is calling you to join him" refers to death, to join St. Peter up in heaven.
    "and as we wind on down the road" refers to the road of life.
    "our shadows taller than our souls" the sun is setting casting long shadows of there backs as they have so much work ahead of them that its is more work than they can be expected do.
    "there walks a lady we all know" refers to a whore, prostitute.
    "to be a rock and not to roll" refers to them staying and they carry on standing thier ground.
    "and she's buying a stairway to heaven" refers to they prosper and live happily ever after.

  5. Bruce Claypool
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    Jun 23rd 2016 !⃝

    The song is about the trajic death of a man's wife who died in a blaze when the house burned down and she was trapped inside of it.

  6. kooljohn176
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    Apr 12th 2016 !⃝

    The one and only Robert Plant with the LED ZEPPELIN band at their best with ''Stairway To Heaven''. A hopeful song to receive the ''SPIRIT'' of the 60's and 70's to explore and discover your road in life that is also alive and relevant today ''with'' and about a ''lady'' to find your way from the parallel ''TWO PATHS'' that are on the road we're traveling to hear the echoes of WORDS that have ''TWO MEANINGS''. To ''think'' and then decide to listen to that ''BIRD song'' that was and still singing it's tail of to tell and direct us to choose ''THE WAY'' that is not to late ''if'' you're on the wrong path to change directions with hope that would lead you to the Heavenly One that ''feels the burn'' of Compassion for us, by getting all of us to Heaven without burning the stairway behind any of us that has been blowing his Trumpet as the Piper at the gates of Heaven who doesn't charge a fee if we took the right path even in today's day.

  7. anonymous
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    Mar 16th 2016 !⃝

    A demon wrote it threw possessing plant.. HIS WORDS.. i have experienced this as well, its how like 90% of rock music is written lol

  8. Sureluck
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    Aug 24th 2015 !⃝

    This is easy if "you listen very hard" and you identify the lady.

    The lady is Queen Elizabeth II. The crown has collected taxes from many countries, including the USA. Hence she has collected enough money to buy a stairway to heaven to leave as her legacy to the world. She uses art, music, movies, TV shows, politicians and musicians to "whisper" her intents. She will turn 90 in 2016, at which time she will gift her subjects with with the money and interest collected during her reign. With the proceeds of her gift, humanity will invest in second and third world countries to eliminate poverty.

  9. anonymous
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    Aug 7th 2015 !⃝

    Led zeppelin's lead singer doesn't know what it is about. He said on interview that a spirit channeled it through him. Look it up.

  10. anonymous
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    Jun 20th 2015 !⃝

    Simple, it's about a spiritual man who has been with many women and see's a very common occurance in many of them which is confusion, non understanding of anything other than what they can comprehend on a physical level. She's good looking, she comes from money, she can find plenty of money where ever she goes and is caught up in worldly possesions. Not taking the time to recieve confirmation on heaven yet taking the time to recieve worldly gifts to create a happiness in her mind that is closest to heaven.. In the eyes of the creater of this song there are two people, the ones he knows and the ones that know him. The song promotes a feeling of really wanting this women to be happy on a higher level. The stairway to this women right now is everything physical, maybe after she gets all her houses, husbands, kids, cars and airplanes, ect. She will realize that alone will not get her to heaven. because there is still time to change the road your on there is still hope. as the song progresses from a sad reality slow truth to more of a fast pace truth, the sadness continues but with an upbeat hope. Keep on rockin' I wish her the best and all in her position.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. anonymous
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    Nov 20th 2014 !⃝

    I think that stairway is'nt only about drugs but about someone who's life only revolves around them: ^all that glitters is gold^, ^with a word she can get what she came for^ also, there are no stanic messages. The reason this song came out so messed up (and awesomw ) is yes they were very trippy at the time.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  12. anonymous
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    Nov 2nd 2014 !⃝

    The meaning is found in Celtic mythology. You all have it wrong.

  13. anonymous
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    Oct 14th 2014 !⃝

    The song is a lighhthearted play on lots of archetypal stuff. Hence so many references to things from folklore as well as the literature of the time that inspired people. Tolkien is hinted at, religious imagery, it's just saying think about stuff, don't fear, you can change as you learn, seek truth and you'll find it. As for the Christian viewpoint, I am a Christian but I get so saddened and sick of all the fear and condemnation of anything that dares to ask questions of life. "Seek and you will find" it says in the Bible, not listen to this or that music and you're doomed! Just enjoy the track, it's harmless and brilliant!

  14. anonymous
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    Sep 27th 2014 !⃝

    OK, this may seem strange and a little far fetched to say the least, and it's a very limited interpretation to say the least. I am merely concentrating on the statement in the lyrics about the piper leading you to reason. During the Dark Ages, there was a craze called Dance Manias. The youth and young adults of villages would run away from their homes riddled with plague and follow musicians across the lands and essentially become vagabonds. Their reasoning: it would be better to live the life they live now rather than stay in their homes and wait for disease to overtake them. In following these musicians, they actively began to take drugs (herbal substances of that era) and dance madly to music. All that these young people desired was to lose consciousness, enter a trance, and literally dance until they could dance no more. Essentially, dance has shown to release pent up energy and relieve stress. By doing this along with numbing pain through the use of external substances, these young adults were escaping the horrors of life Moreover, they were "buying their stairway to heaven." All these people would die in their travels with these musicians. These Dance Manias inspired the child's story, "The Pied Piper of Hamlin". All in all, these young adults were ensuring that they were going to die the way that they wanted to. They lived their lives, allowing the piper to lead them on the journey of truth.

    As I said before, this is a very vague and loose interpretation that I developed after listening to this song this evening. I thought that it was interesting that the song shared so many parallels with these Dance Manias that have been historically recorded in tapestries as well as manuscripts.

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 23rd 2014 !⃝

    The song doesn't tell a story but is a collection of characters or archetypes as Carl Jung would say. These are concepts that are just "out there" And these concepts can mean different things to different people. It is crazy for anybody to try and interpret the song because there is no story or message, the story is in the characters. Why do people always have to have meaning for things. Why can't they just appreciate and have that sense of awe and yes "it makes you WONDER about the world.




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