Stairway to Heaven

[Sara S]

from delancyplace.com:

In today's excerpt - Led Zeppelin was a band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page and called
the New Yardbirds - until The Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle started kidding
Page about starting a group with him, joking, "We've got a good name for it. Let's
call it Lead Zeppelin, 'cause it'll go over like a lead balloon." Page took the
name and dropped the "a" to avoid mispronunciation. Though reviled by critics (a
Life Magazine writer reported upon meeting the group that she "got to smell the
sh*t firsthand"), Led Zeppelin was already the highest-grossing band in the world
and had released three chart-topping albums when lead singer Robert Plant stared
into a mansion fireplace and tried to fashion lyrics to describe spiritual perfection:

"[As they worked on their fourth album], 'Misty Mountain Hop' was written at the
Headley Grange [a mansion used a their recording studio]. So was 'The Battle of
Evermore' and three others. And then there was 'Stairway to Heaven.' Robert improvised
most of the lyrics for "Stairway" during the rehearsals as he sat in front of the
roaring fireplace, looking for some way, he said, to describe spiritual perfection.

Jimmy listened and was just blown away by what he heard.
"From the beginning, he felt that this song could be something special, that Robert
had eclipsed everything that he had written before. Late at night by himself, Page
worked on molding 'Stairway' into a cohesive unit, using the Telecaster and building
guitar track upon guitar track until he had the powerful instrumental harmonies
he wanted. He recorded three different guitar solos, none of them similar, and finally
chose the one he thought was best after agonizing over them in the studio late one
night. ...

"The recording of the fourth album was completed in February 1971. As it was
being prepared for release, there was some talk of calling it Led Zeppelin IV. But
Jimmy was against it. He was still pissed at the critics, and perhaps as a
way of retaliating against or confusing them, he didn't want the album to
have a title at all. He didn't even want Led Zeppelin's name or the album's catalog
number anywhere on it.

" 'The music is what matters,' Jimmy argued. 'Let people buy it because
they like the music. I don't want any writing on the cover! Period!'
"Executives at Atlantic Records were outraged at Jimmy's demand. 'An al-
bum without a title!' they exclaimed. 'An album without the artists' name on
it! You guys are signing your own death warrant!'

"Still, the band wouldn't capitulate. As a last-ditch effort, Atlantic tried to
convince them to at least put 'Led Zeppelin' on the spine of the album.
Zeppelin refused. ...

"Throughout Europe, audiences responded almost deliriously to 'Stairway
to Heaven.' When the band performed at KB-Hallen in Copenhagen, the
fourth Zeppelin album was still months away from its release. But judging by
the audience frenzy that night as Robert guided the crowd through 'Stairway' 's
compelling journey, you might have thought that the song had been at the top of
the charts for weeks. Word of mouth had obviously created a lot of enthusiasm about
the tune. And when Plant introduced it as 'something of an epic' and Jimmy gave
it a distinguished touch on his red Gibson SG double-neck guitar, the performance
of this single song clearly turned into an event.

" 'I bet there are a hundred tape recorders out there tonight trying to get 'Stairway
to Heaven' on tape,' band manager Peter Grant said backstage. 'The bootleggers are
going to make a killing on this one.'

"At the end of the show, Jimmy just shook his head. 'We've got a real monster on
our hands,' he said, intoxicated by the audience response to 'Stairway
to Heaven.' 'It's one of those songs that is developing a life of its own,' he
said. Page knew that every musician waits for a song like this. Zeppelin had
finally created one."

Author: Richard Cole and Richard Trubo
Title: Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored
Publisher: Harper Collins
Date: Copyright 1992 and 2002 by Richard Cole and Richard Trubo
Pages: 140-142, 153-154
Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored
by Richard Cole by It Books
Paperback ~ Release Date: 2002-01-08