Chords for Jimmy Page: How Stairway to Heaven was written - BBC News

[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ I [A] wanted to [D] try to [Eb] put something together [F] _
_ [Dm] _ which [A] started with _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Ab] quite [C]
a fragile _ [D] exposed
acoustic guitar playing in sort [A] of [C] style of _ a poor _ [G] man's [Bb] Blu-ray by [D] Park, that sort of
aspect. _
_ [C] As far as the [G] instrumentation [D] goes, [A] there are going to be [C] _ _ _
[Bm] recorders to the early
[C] part which gives it a [D] slightly medieval feel.
[F] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Here's a [A] _
lady who's [E] sure _ [C] all her glitters is [D] gold
And [F] she's buying a _ stairway to [A] heaven
_ _ _ [F] That was an idea of John Paul Jones's to put the [Db] recorders on [B] _ [C] and he played the
recorders when I actually had the idea for Stairway, that wasn't
[F] necessary, I wasn't thinking _ [B] recorders, I was thinking more [A] the texture [Bm] of actually
the electric piano.
[C] _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ And [C] she's _ buying [G] a _ stairway to [D] _ heaven _ _ _ _
There's a [C] sight on the [G] wall _ [F] but she wants to be sure
_ Cos [C] you know _ sometimes [D] words have _ _ [F] meaning _
_ _ The idea [Db] of Stairway was to have _ [B] _ _ a _ [Eb] piece of music, a composition _ _ whereby it would just
[Bb] keep unfolding into more _
[Eb] _ [Am] layers _ and more [C] moods and actually [A] the whole intensity of the, [F] or
the subtlety and the [C] intensity _ _ _ [Gb] of the overlay of the composition would [F] actually _ _ _ _ [C] accelerate
as it went through on every level, every emotional level, every musical level and so it just
keeps opening up [D] as _ it _ continues through its sort [Am] of passage.
And _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ you know _ _
_ [Am] there's _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
a [C] _ feeling I [G] get _
When I [Am] look to the west
And [C] my spirit [G] is crying for [Am] leave _ _ _ _
Robert was [C] magnificent with his [Bm] input of lyrics to the music of [A] Led Zeppelin anyway.
And [C] the voices [G] of those
This was during [D] the period that we were at Hedley Grange [C] _
that _ the thing was put [G] together.
It was slightly complicated to be doing this [D] whole thing without a vocal because at the
time there weren't any [C] lyrics and this _ _ was the backbone of what the song was _ [D] intended
to be and the whole of [C] the running order from [Bb] the beginning to the end [D] was sort of mapped out.
It was tricky, it was a tricky thing to do because [Am] there's a lot of [D] music and changes in it. _ _
_ [C] It's whisper [Bm] that soon _
_ [Dm] I remember [Am] during that period Robert was, [C] he [F] was sort of sitting down _ [D] leaning against
[A] the wall and he [D] was just sort of writing.
[Eb] I'll [F] never [G] forget that image of him doing [F] that.
We do a run [Dm] through of it from beginning to end with the [F] guitar opening as we all know
and then Robert comes up and starts to, [C] he starts to pitch in and sing and I tell you
he had, it must have [Am] been 90% of the lyrics [A] were [D] already done. _ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] What I'd learnt about John [Dm] Bonham, that he could be really [Am]
effective if he [Eb] came in somewhere
[D] down the line on the song.
_ _ _ _ [C] If [G] there's a muscle in your [Am] head, don't be a long man.
[C] And so everything is [Bm] starting to open [B] up on [A] this [C] map, on this journey through and all
of this stuff was planned, you know, [G] it wasn't just an accident [Am] or _ [B] everyone chipping in,
it was just, [C] it really was [Db] a sort of design.
[Am] _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ One of the [D] cardinal rules when I was a studio musician _ was that you [C] didn't speed [D] up.
And I was keen to do something which had an acceleration _ [E] to it, not [D] only from the musical
point of view but from the [Am] lyricist _ so that the whole thing [D] would start to gain a momentum
as it went through so it wasn't just a [C] monotone piece.
And by that I [A] actually mean that it would _ _ _ [C] subtly speed up, so you're [Bb] breaking the [Am] number
one cardinal rule.
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
[F] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
The [C] concept of the solo was [B] to have something [Dm] like a sort of [D] fanfare, so it's a definite transition.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] So it comes in with a _ _ fanfare to introduce [Bb] his solo and the [D] solo is just going to soar right through. _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Am] It was a [G] very inspired [F] time for all of us at the time that we were [Am] living in the Headley
Grange [G] _ [Bb] as a residence, [F] _ eating, sleeping, [C] making music, [B] that's what we were [G] doing day after
day after day.
[F] And it sort of tells when you [A] hear the fourth album.
[G] But you know, [F] Stairway is a sort of by-product of it, _
[Eb] of all of that, [G] but you know [Dm] it's obviously
[F] been quite substantial _ _ [Eb] as _ [G] a milestone [F] for Led Zeppelin. _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ [C] _ _
[F] At the end of that solo there's the [Am] trills [D] which lead [G] into this huge [F] finale which is
the vocal as we [E] wind on down the [D] road.
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ [G] And by that point _ [F] it's really [A] motoring.
It's not racing, but [Gm] it's just the [Dm] passion of [F] it has just _ _ [A] unfolded on every [G] respect of
_ [Bb] _ _
_ [F] the [A] lyrical aspect of it.
Robert was [Db] [F] inspired. _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
[G] It _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] was really an inspired [Bm] period of [F] time.
It sort of [D] shows, I think the lasting quality of this music [F] over all these years is the
[Bm] fact that everyone's playing so honestly [Abm] _ and [F] with such _ conviction that it sort [Am] of shows.
_ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ She's back! _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _