Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin

All right, so yesterday I was in the local shopping centre and visiting my favourite charity shop, when over the radio they played Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin all 8 minutes 2 seconds of it. I was amazed and transported back to my teenage years, listening to this on my Garrard record deck through a pair of Panasonic headphones.

It is amazing how once song can bring back so many memories. Memories of sitting in the house I grew up in, of my parent’s front room, the bight flowered wallpaper, the green sofa and my hi-fi system.

This song has so many meanings, it meant for me that feeling of not being grown up but the expectation and dreams of all the future would hold. I felt that everything was there ahead of me, there waiting for me to grab it. ‘The piper will lead us to reason’ I knew as I trusted and followed the piper that I would always be on ‘The Stairway to Heaven’

So hear it is in all its glory.

  

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 cant get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When we all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying the stairway to heaven.