Tolkien Lyrics in Rock Music: Led Zeppelin and Rush
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.พ. 2024
- A viewer asked that I discuss Tolkien-inspired lyrics in Led Zeppelin songs, so here I go with some bonus material from Rush!
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"There's a feeling I get when I look to the West and my spirit is crying for leaving..." from Stairway to Heaven always felt like a Tolkien reference to me and not particularly a stretch.
All the songs are closer to the lore than The Rings of Power.
Huge Rush fan! I'll watch this tomorrow when I have time!
Tom Sawyer is one of my favorite songs. It is perfect!😁👍
I'm pretty sure you're *supposed* to name your Black Metal band by throwing a dart at a randomized list of Tolkiens' invented words.
😂
Hell yeah
I’ve got an album by a thrash band called “Sauron” and a death metal band “morgoth”
I read one theory that the Prince of Peace in "Battle of Evermore" was a reference to Aragorn, in that he walks long in the wilderness but as king he brings peace to Middle Earth. I would recommend one musician who has done several songs based directly on Tolkien's work: American cellist Yolanda Mott. She has several songs based on the text of The Lord of the Rings, including "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" (sung partly in Elvish), "Song of Nimrodel", and "When All Other Lights Go Out". She has a TH-cam channel.
Blind Guardian
There's a lovely Syd Barrett song on Pink Floyd's first album called "The Gnome" which is clearly about Bilbo Baggins. I'm sure the only reason it's not called "The Hobbit" is that clearer heads prevailed, and warned the Floyd they did NOT want to receive a cease and desist letter from Mr. Tolkien's solicitor.
I would also note the hobbits as depicted in Peter Jackson's movies look a lot like Pink Floyd circa 1967.
Speaking as someone who did not grow up with Led Zeppelin, I LOVE the band, but you got the idea. The Tolkien references are just kind of word stew from the books randomly thrown in here and there. I will note that Robert Plant spoke on this recently in an interview, and says it was just something he was into then, and that he kind of regrets it now because of people bringing it up to him so often.
Gotta be careful when stepping into fandom territory 😂
Blind Guardian, Summoning and Saurom are other bands with lots of musics centred on Tolkien's legendarium.
Honestly I’d love a nightfall on middle earth video from him either comparison breakdown or just plain old review
Summoning is amazing and so underrated imo
I am eternally obsessed with Summoning.
In the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair...
I know I’m not the only one who want to see an episode on blind guardian’s Tolkien music especially a video on nightfall on middle earth
Either way great video always exited to watch!
I got Blind Guardian mixed up with Blind Faith.😅 Blind Faith had a shocking album cover with a naked chick holding an airplane model. Good to know Blind Guardian aren't pedophiles.👍😁
This is my favorite video and I haven't even finished watching it. But I can't believe you resisted listening to Rush's songs before doing the video.
Rivendell is the lullaby I still sing to my girls, and they're 10 and 11!
Born '71... huge Zep and Rush fan... as is my '72 wife.. timeless
I grew up listening to Led Zep & Rush. I am glad you referenced those 2 bands . All fans know that Neil Peart & Robert Plant was a great Tolkien fans. Thanks🎸😎🎼
So glad you acknowledged both bands. I'm in my 20s, and only discovered Led Zep and Rush in the past few years. Had no idea they had Tokien-inspired songs, so it was a huge surprise to hear those references.
Knowing the influence Tolkien had on them, I've come across other songs of Led Zep and Rush that don't mention Tolkien overtly, but still give me a feeling of influence. Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin gives me major Bilbo vibes (reminds me of The Road Goes Ever On). Of course Stairway to Heaven also has 'parallels'
Of course maybe I'm just reading into it.
The bands might not have always been inspired by Tolkien specifically, but maybe more fairy stories/mythology in general (things Tolkien himslef was inspired by). Either way, I love the blend of 70's rock with classic fantasy literature.
Yay, I've been waiting for this video for so long!
Well, I liked The Leds before, I like them even more now
Blind Guardian's "Nightfall in Middle Earth" is an obvious recommendation
If you don't know them already, I recommend the band Blind Gusrdian. They have numerous songs inspired by Tolkien, some of them obvious, others more between the lines. They also have a whole album dedicated to the Silmarillion called Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Good video. I look forward to your analysis of Diggy Diggy Hole.
Very interesting. I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin even though i hadn't grown up in that era. I wasnt until recently in the last few years really started getting into Tolkiens legendarium. Thanks for clearing up a few things for me lol. In this van we only play Rush!
You need to watch the Zepplien’s Song Remains the Same. Plant dresses up like an elf king with his wife and curly haired children. Page dresses up like a wizard and climbs a mountain top to cast some spells. Obviously heavily influenced JRR. I got I to Zepplien around the same time I got into Tolkien in the mid 80s. Battle of Evermore give me chills similar to when I read Tolkien.
FYI, Bytor the snow dog is another Rush song. It was the name of Neil's dog. Amazing that I didn't know that Plant's dog was named after Aragorn 😂
btw, i have a cat named Pippin lol
I think Queen Beruthiel had a cat named Pippin, too.🤪🐈⬛
I'd love to hear what you think when you listen to the songs. I love Rush. One of my favorite bands of all time!
Rivendell was a bit too…simple I guess? Necromancer I didn’t care for except for part 3 where By-tor comes in.
In the deeepeesst depths of moorrdddooorrr
I have an instrumental blues song called “Brandywine river blues”.
Burzum. Varg Vikernes often references Tolkien in his social media, videos etc.
If you get tired of the classics, there's always the Lords of the Rhymes. Time for me to ramble on ...
Oonagh.
She deleted a lot of her clips from TH-cam and you would have to to look for texts translation from German, but the music is really great.
"Aulë Und Yavanna", "Eldamar", "Oromë" and other.
They’re rock bands lol. I wouldn’t try thinking too hard about the lyrics. Robert Plant was into Tolkien at one point so you might find more than a few of their song lyrics are influenced by that. Sort of anyway.
The battle of Evermore is my favorite on that list. Interestingly I’ve read that “Stairway to Heaven” was based Morgan Le Fay but I don’t see it.
That would be an interesting deep dive - how many rock bands were influenced by lord of the rings and the hobbit. I agree with about Rush, I’m going to go back and listen to them too! I didn’t know that.
Rush and Led Zeppelin I’m sure weren’t the only bands reading Tolkien in the early 70s.
Any word on his thoughts on rush??
Rush: Power Windows
That's a good album to start with, it's more or less made for everybody, a good place to start with for Rush
Yeah Robert plant was just throwing middle earth references into his lyrics cause he loved lotr and had lyrics to write
Ok. The LOTR reference something in his life. He is using it to make a setting and point to us other "cool geeks." In my day, we absolutely got the lyrics.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention The fact that many fans of Stairway to Heaven think the song is about Lady Galadriel since it is back to back with The Battle of Evermore on the original album... Ah but I was a tolkien fan when that album came out, so I'm probably biased in my liking of balads.
The internet didn’t point me in that direction? And honestly I don’t see it myself either.
@@TolkienLorePodcast I know you don't see it... your views on music and mine differ greatly... Would you like the link to the misic video about Stairway to Heaven that mentions Tolkien's fan's views on it?
@catherineleslie-faye4302 can’t hurt.
@@TolkienLorePodcast ok not sure if this will come up as a live link or not. th-cam.com/video/PNxp-gUyZes/w-d-xo.html
Pretty sure Plant is from Birmingham too, so maybe he equated Mordor with the city.
For comedy music you can always listen to “FIGWIT” himself (“My lady, we cannot delay…”) in Flight of the Conchords.
Ah yes, I was so amused when I realized the two were the same, and then he’s also in The Hobbit 😂
@@TolkienLorePodcast lol the Frodo song is not their best song IMO, but I’ve loved FotC for years and years so it gets a pass. Crazy to think that Bret McKenzie went from background Elf to winning an Oscar for his Muppets soundtrack!
A. Have u discussed the shadow? Ur thoughts etc?
I think every tolkien fan DREAMS of what could have been a sequel
You mean The New Shadow? I definitely have a video on that.
I don't think you mentioned Stairway to Heaven. We always assumed that was influenced by Galadriel's story, 'There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.' You knew the party was winding down when someone put Stairway to Heaven on 😅
🎸
If the line was about all that’s gold glitters (or rather doesn’t) there might have been something there lol
@@TolkienLorePodcast I reminded myself of the lyrics, there is reference to looking to the West, and also it refers the the lady 'who shines white light'.
@joannemoore3976 yeah, but the surrounding context doesn’t make it sound like Galadriel. Looking to the west could be but that’s so ephemeral a connection that it could be anything.
@@TolkienLorePodcast I know we all thought it was LOTR influenced when we were teenagers lol. Maybe look at the lyrics. I think it's something like ' there's a feeling I get when I look to the West and my spirit is crying for leaving.' There is a lot of other stuff in there as well, not Tolkien related. I'll see if I can find out if Robert Plant ever said anything about it.
another old rock sock that appears to be Tolkien inspired is the wizard by black sabbath
For a while i thought the Metallica song The Thing That Should Not Be mentioned Mordor. lol
Has Tom Bombadil released any albums yet?😜
He was going to but had to go pick flowers for Goldberry.
@@istari0
The deep lyrics of Tom's songs can only be matched by that of the Elves in Imladris when Bilbo and the Dwarves arrived. 😅
Did you enjoy the two Rush Songs?
By the way, I am quite sure, you came across Blind Guardians Nightfall in Middle Earth Album when researching for this video.
I think that if you were to decide to listen to any Metal about Tolkien, Blind Guardian is probably the best band to pick.
Most of my non Metalhead Friends to whom I suggest Blind Guardian did like it.
And if you don't want to listen to the whole album but just one song, I'd choose "When sorrow sang"
It is about Luthien and Beren in Mandos.
Also, while as a person who doesn't like metal the first minute might not be super enjoyable, after that it does get a lot softer.
Also, as it is "Power Metal" it is among the most accessible Metal Genres.
Obviously you don't have to force yourself to listen to music you don't enjoy, but should you be curious, Blind Guardian are a great pick.
Didn’t particularly like the Rush songs, though part 3 of the Necromancer was ok. I’ll give When Sorrow Sang a try but I think I tried listening to them before with no enjoyment lol
If I remember correctly, I didn't enjoy Rush the first few times I listened to them either. Especially Geddys Voice does take some getting used to, I think. But they have grown on me since.
About Blind Guardian: It would be cool, if you would enjoy them, but obviously tastes are different.
Nevertheless, if you want to share if you liked it, I'd like to read about it :)
While I don't think it should be necessary to say, and I hope it isn't, but don't stress about potentially disagreeing about music tastes with a random stranger on the internet.
@hendrikm9569 lol no stress here, I’m enough of an eccentric in terms of my musical taste to have long ago stopped caring what anyone else thinks about it. That said, still not a fan of Blind Guardian after trying that song 😂
@@TolkienLorePodcast That sounds like a great way to view this subject.
From what it sounded like in the video, your interest are more along the lines of classical / canonical music?
That's an area of music that I didn't jet get into in any depth unfortunately.
I mean there are obviously some pieces that I know and really like, Griegs In the hall of the mountain king, Holsts Mars and Vivaldis Winter come to mind, but there is still so incredibly much to discover.
If you dont like Rush, you're wrong.
Stormbringers coming you better...
Oops. Wrong books
You can’t appreciate Led Zeppelin?!! Man come on and jeez rush is one of the best ever… also the first zepp song you named is such a fantastic slammer
I always thought the Zeppelin lyrics sounded like they were written after overhearing a conversation about The Hobbit. Not exactly coherent.
You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. This one might sweep you to Burzum.