Reviews for The battle of evermore Lyrics

Anonymous im glad u said what i always thought and i never even read anyth4ng about the song or much about them when i was young and started listening to them properly around 15 and i just naturaly interpreted it that way and as i got older and done a lot of research on them and came across wbt they were into it makes perfect sense without question, people should really open there eyes

Wow, this is such a great song. I remember listening to it during my youth. It is packed with layers of meaning as any well crafted song is; that being said, it is definitely inspired by LotR.
The fellow named "OMG" has no idea what he's talking about sadly, as his spelling proves. OMG is ready to praise Zeppelin as "gods" and suggest that they are too good, too big, too mighty to use such a lowly craft as Tolkien's LotR. Seriously? Have you spent much time sniffing glue OMG? Zeppelin, as great as they are, are NOT Tolkien. Seriously? Grab a clue.
Tolkien is an absolute genius. Not only did he craft arguably the best novel for younger children (Hobbit) and for those older and adults (LotR) and many other tales besides...the man created worlds complete with languages, races, rich politics, intricate maps, deep histories etc etc. What influenced him? His knowledge of the great Norse/Germanic & Keltic myths & legends...and to know these as well as he did, he actually intimately knew the languages (one of which he also was a professor of at Oxford).
This doesn't take anything away from Zeppelin, they are a GREAT Rock band...one of the greatest if not the greatest...but please, Rock and Roll is one thing, Literature with the scope and breadth of Tolkien's works is quite another.
Did Zeppelin utilize Tolkien? Of course they did! Is that to their shame? Hell no! It's to their credit!
All great music uses myth, religion or spirituality in one form or another...when they don't, you end up with the crap you hear on the radio today. When they do, you end up with timeless pieces that still make men marvel decades (and centuries) later. Don't believe me? Listen to the great classical pieces of Griegg or Tchaikovsky or even more recently Wagner. Great music requires great soul. Zeppelin knew this, and utilized it. No shame, just great, great music...like the Bards of old.

Lots of Zeppelin songs are rich with imagery from the Lord of the Rings. "The ringwraiths ride in black" (from the Battle of Evermore) - "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" (from ramble on)- The song Misty Mountain Hop - the Misty Mountains are the mountain range in the Hobbit where Golum has the ring of power. Plant and Page refer to the Ring of Power from the books as if it was a woman, "her" "girl so fair" etc ...
THe Battle of Evermore is about, for the most part, the Battle at Helms Deep in the "Two Towers" from the Lord of the Rings Series. There are many more parralels than these, but they are good examples.

Why do you have to assume that someone must be high to write lyrics that are profound. I was born in 1961 my father died in 1968 last of five children, mom at work all the time, three older brothers, one of which had no problem showing a seven year old the way of the world. The men that wrote these lyrics were smart smart men,and they helped me get through some very very sad times. their music is very spiritual, and its out there for all to use it for what they need it for. If I ever could say anything to them it would be thank you thank you thank you for healing a hurting soul.

the lyrics bring to mind the conflict that must of occured, when christianity took over from our idigeoouse fath. i believe our original religion was a circular tale, concerning the changing seasons, and the relevant gods in charge of each part of the year. this old religion is somewhat lost and mystical because we couldnt read or write. we had no need for educathon, we had a perfect exisgance at one wivh nature. the true god. the battle ofevermore is like the riddle that we have left.

Dear Mr Spiny unclawed Lobster
I was using sarcasm to make a point. My point being that two people can look at one thing and develop completely different interpretations. Neither is right or wrong, they just see things in a different way because no two people are alike. I think this is especially evident when we start looking at the works of artists. Whether it be a contemporary painting on the wall,poetry or a beautiful song like the battle of evermore. You can't always expect that the artist intended for their piece to have just one interpretation. I think the battle of evermore is more of a theme about war than just a story about the lord of the rings. Thereyouhaveit! Carpe Langousta? I think somebody better put down their DOOBY! :)

Appreciate your interpretations but the song that you refer to is The Battle of Nevermore I believe, not Going to California. Maybe put the doobie down when posting. :-)

Interesting how Zep was ahead of their time w/ this song long before a movie was ever made of the story.

I think there are some misinterpreted words in the lyrics above. "I hear the forest assunder" not "the horses thunder". And "repay do not forget" - not "which they do not forget"

What most people dont know is that song "Going to california" is really about Frodo's Journey into Morodor. Think about it! I figured that out right after I smoked a doobie. I wonder if plant and page were high when they wrote this one?

"No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold"-This references samwise rescuing frodo from the tower with that magical light Galadriel gave sir Frodo. Hello!

"The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone"-when Frodo breaks from the fellowship

"Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, race now to my bow

Side by side we wait the might, of the darkest of them all"- Rohan retreated to helms deep. Farmers had to put down there plows and pick up swords and they waited in that fotress for saurumans army no joke.

"Oh well, the night is long, the beads of time pass slow
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow"-Obviously Rohan is waiting for gandalf to return with reinforcements(Eomer and Rohirrim) as he promised!

"The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go"-Queen of light is Galadriel because she can lift her hand and envelop herself with a great light. Just ask frodo.

The rest is obvious! B+

runes writ in gold are words on the One Ring. nothing bad about LOTR in lyrics, its how you analogize the fantastic elements (avalon,lotr) and how its synonomous with modern times

The song was made up on the spot by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. It has references to Lord of the Ring,Arthurian legend and other mystical lore... Perhaps inspired by Gandalf's Garden? Anyways no need to argue against the LoTR reference, Ringwraith did not exist outside of LoTR. If it bothers you that the song makes references to LoTR then make up your own meaning for it. Nothing wrong with that, in fact that's what music is all about.

The reference to Avalon is clear. The Queen of light and prince of peace are religious and significant but not as preaching.If you think about the history of Avalon and Glastonbury, there is a time when the old religion, the goddess religion, is driven underground and Christianity becomes the religion of the land. It's not a peaceful transition. This song carries much of that. A LOTR reading cannot work for many reasons, but highest among them, the reference to Avalon.

It could be dark and it could be light, maybe it is both. One does not exist without the other. The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath, bring the balance back. Perhaps allowing the existence of both in balance is better than constantly fighting about it?

The tune for this was written by guitarist Jimmy Page at Headley Grange while he was experimenting on the mandolin owned by bassist John Paul Jones.[1][2] As Page explained in 1977:

"Battle of Evermore" was made up on the spot by Robert [Plant] and myself. I just picked up John Paul Jones's mandolin, never having played a mandolin before, and just wrote up the chords and the whole thing in one sitting.[3]

Vocalist Robert Plant had recently been reading about Scottish folklore and this inspired him to compose the lyrics to this song.[1] The song, like some others by the group, makes references to The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Plant felt he needed another voice to tell the story and for the recording of this song folk singer Sandy Denny was invited to duet with Plant. Denny was a former member of British folk group Fairport Convention, with whom Led Zeppelin had shared a bill in 1970 at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Plant played the role of the narrator and Denny represented the town crier. Page elaborated:

[The song] sounded like an old English instrumental first off. Then it became a vocal and Robert did his bit. Finally we figured we'd bring Sandy by and do a question-and-answer-type thing.[3]

To thank her for her involvement, Denny was given the symbol on the album sleeve of three pyramids (the four members of Led Zeppelin each chose their own symbols for the album). This is the only song Led Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest vocalist. In an interview he gave in 1995 to Uncut magazine, Plant stated:

[F]or me to sing with Sandy Denny was great. We were always good friends with that period of Fairport Convention. Richard Thompson is a superlative guitarist. Sandy and I were friends and it was the most obvious thing to ask her to sing on "The Battle of Evermore". If it suffered from naivete and tweeness—I was only 23—it makes up for it in the cohesion of the voices and the playing.[4]

"The Battle of Evermore" was played live at Led Zeppelin concerts during the band's 1977 concert tour of the United States. For these live performances, Jones sang Denny's vocals with Plant and played acoustic guitar whilst Page played mandolin. Sometimes drummer John Bonham sang Denny's vocals instead of Jones. Page and Plant also recorded a version of the song in 1994, released on their album No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. Singer Najma Akhtar sang Sandy Denny's vocal part.

Fairport Convention performed "The Battle of Evermore" with guest vocalists Robert Plant and Kristina Donahue at Fairport's Cropredy Convention on 9 August 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss regularly performed "The Battle Of Evermore" on their tour of USA and Europe in Spring and Summer 2008

my god... its just disrespect zeppelin say that they make this song for lotr.... i mean really? come on , zeppelin its much more deep then that and allways remember the real meaning of the lyrics is hidden , its on you to interprate as you want but , LOTR REALLY?.... i mean, it could be based on lotr or the bible but the idea is that you can take the metafore and use it to real life , not tales of epic worlds..... lets try to get serious and respect gods of music like zeppelin