Stairway to Heaven: An ode to the Virgin Mary

A few months ago our young adult group was meeting and we were discussing Catholic music and I could not help but bring up one of my favorite songs about the Virgin Mary... Stairway to Heaven.  Now immediately this started a bit of a controversy.  I heard all the usual cliché things... The whole band was totally high while they made that album, it has the devil talking in it when you play it backwards, etc. etc.  Well I have heard it played backwards and the whole devil thing is a pretty big stretch if you ask me.  And yes the members of Led Zeppelin were probably totally high when they wrote this song.  Interestingly if you read any books written by exorcists they like to comment that drug use is one good way to get possessed.  Well along that vein I do not see why the Holy Spirit could not also have some influence on a person when they were in a mentally compromised state.  It is not something I would recommend, but I have known God long enough to know that he plays by his own rules, and does whatever he wants.  If he wants to he can inspire Led Zeppelin to make a song about the Virgin Mary... Which is exactly what it looks like "Stairway to Heaven" is to me.  Now its widely reported these guys were influenced by Lord of the Rings which was written by a practicing Catholic.  You definitely see some of the LOR imagry in there, but I am going to ignore that for now.  The multiple interpretations of this song are part of what makes it interesting

The song is chock full of imagery related to the Virgin Mary and Christianity.  It is blatantly explicit at times.  It's not clear to me how anyone who is familiar with Mary could miss it.  Regardless I have gotten mostly a skeptical response for my observations, so I am going to go through the lyrics and spell it out.  Now this is a highly poetic song.  If you don't like what I see just forget it.  There are more important things in life to worry about.  My primary motivation in writing this is to give a few more people an outlook on this song that they may not have experienced before.  Here we go...

Lyrics to Stairway to Heaven 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 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 all are one and one is all, yeah To be a rock and not to roll And she's buying a stairway to heaven

My Interpretation: This is talking about the hope Christians are expected to have.  The lady buying the stairway to heaven refers to Mary obtaining graces for us as a rest of her intersession.  Some say Jesus cannot refuse anything Mary asks of him.  This is why if "the stores are all closed, with a word"  she can get what she wants.  Think wedding at Cana.   The “sign on the wall,” refers to things like the law, the Bible, the Church, the Prophets, natural law, etc, etc, The two meanings here can refer to a number of things.  The concept of mystery is at the core of Christianity.  It could also refer to different people responding to different methods of communication.   This is just a generally philosophical statement.  No need to constrain it with my interpretation.  Come up with your own.  Mine has to do with self-doubts and questioning.  The constant reference to wonder I interpret at the highest level as wonder about God and a yearning to know him better I am going to postulate this refers to western civilization which Christianity had a major role in, but there could very well be other interpretations that are more interesting.   I am open to comments. because I think my interpretation here could use more thought.  This refers to us and the innate longing we have for things bigger than ourselves.  To become better.   I think this refers to generally mystical things like looking for signs.  There are probably better ways to interpret this out there.  I will keep thinking about it.  If we all get on board with Jesus’ message we will be led to reason.  Jesus is the piper.  Basically this is a poetic way of saying that if we persevere we will experience eternal joy.  My interpretation of this is that the “bustle in the hedgerow” is a person experiencing the discomfort and confusion and excitement brought on by conversion from a sinful life to a life of striving to follow God’s law.  The “spring clean” can be thought of confession and conversion.   The “May queen” is an explicit reference to Mary.  It is interesting to note too that the temo of the music changes here too.  I think this is to echo the discomfort and excitement. This is a clear reference to the call for conversion.  In Catholicism there is always time to repent until you are dead.  This makes me wonder too.  The head is humming could be any number of things, a person’s conscious, the promptings of grace, personal feelings and thoughts about things bigger than yourself.  The piper is once again Jesus calling you.   The lady is once again the Virgin Mary.  The stairway alludes to grace which is the path to holiness.  The “whispering wind” is an explicit reference to the Holy Sprit.     As we go through our lives the sins (shadows) can just add up and add up.  It can lead a person to despair.  But Mary is there to help us.  She helps inspire Hope.  No matter how damaged things become.  In the end everything will come to resolution. (I also think the music changes dramatically here to emphasize the importance that Hope is called for in spite of our shortcomings and the suffering of the world.) If you quiet your thoughts and feelings so your heart .  The “tune” is a relationship with the Trinity.  When all members of the communion Saints are united in the Body of Christ.  This brings up a lot of imagery.  To persevere in Faith, Hope, and Love, Peter is the “Rock” of the Church.  It could be thought of as a “baptism” of rock music.  Of course she is ;-)

I found the lyrics for Stairway Here:

http://www.elyrics.net/read/l/led-zeppelin-lyrics/stairway-to-heaven-lyrics.html