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Led Zeppelin and Tolkien


Arius Valhur

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One day, I was sitting listening to Zeppelin tunes, when I noticed many of them use words that I've only seen used by J.R.R Tolkien, such as "Gollum" and "Wringwraith".

 

If you read the song lyrics for many of their songs, you can see both direct and indirect references. Some songs to note:

 

Misty Mountain Hop

Over the Hills and Far Away

The Battle of Evermore

 

 

There are lots of others, but thats a start.

 

Most of you on this board aren't old enough to have heard or seen Zeppelin first hand, although Daerk would have been a little tike during their prime.

 

Another reference, was the name of Percy's dog: Strider. He would often shout the name out during concerts and what not.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to see if anybody else had thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Peace,

Ari

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Guest kfmccall
PSH, though I am quite a minority in my musical taste, I enjoy classic rock immensly and listen to nothing modern, even though im 15. :) Led Zeppelin is of course one of my favorites, but it is safe to assume that most 'youngins' are droned into the modern chord strumming and drum bashing crap music.
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Oh man. I'm from the "pop-star" generation, but gawd do I love Led Zeppelin!

 

I don't think I dislike any of their songs, and my favorite (Stairway to Heaven) will forever remain as my favorite song of all time.

 

The band admittedly used Tolkien as a source of lyrics. Look at the song Ramble On-

T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair.

But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her, her....yeah.

 

Battle of Evermore-

The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath,

The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, Ride on

 

Misty Mountain Hop is pretty obvious... Misty Mountains?? Hello?

 

Although I fail to see any Tolkien references in 'Over the Hills and Far Away'. Anyone wanna point that out? 'Stairway to Heaven' was said to have LOADS of Dungeons and Dragons and Tolkien references in it, but I know of none =P

 

-val

 

Ho! I found another in Going to California:

Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn

 

A reference to Shadowfax and Gandalf, perhaps? :)

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Over the Hills and Far away actually refers to "the hobbit" or there and back again, as bilbo went, 'over the hills and far away.

 

Read the lyrics closely, and you'll see it falls into place.

Man, that one just went *woosh* over my head :rolleyes:

 

Oh jeez, one line post..... *makes a new thread to compensate*

 

-val

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The guys in Zeppelin were real big on Celtic mythology and such, and they apparently were big into Tolkien's work. What really seals it is the use of "Ringwraith" in "Battle of Evermore" (my favorite Zep song). I asked this question once, and my father (a Tolkien and Zep nut) pointed out that the word "ringwraith" is a Tolkien word. He "created" the idea. Basically, Battle of Evermore is supposed to be about the Battle of Pelennor Fields, IIRC.

 

Stairway to Heaven is iffy. Some people say yes, some say no, it just draws from Celtic imagery, and since Tolkien liked Celtic stuff that's why it's seems similar.

 

 

I have NEVER been able to figure out "Ramble On". Where the hell would you find a fair girl in Mordor? Somebody once claimed to me that it was about Isildur finding the One Ring (fair girl) in Mordor, and having Gollum then get the ring, but I thought it was a stretch. If anybody has any comments on it, I'd like to hear 'em. Song confuses me in that respect.

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