|
| Length = 8:03 | Label = Atlantic | Writer = | Producer = Jimmy Page | Audio sample? = yes | Misc = }} "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album (often called ''Led Zeppelin IV''). It is often referred to as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.〔Shmoop (2010), ''Stairway to Heaven: Shmoop Music Guide'', Shmoop University, Inc., ISBN 1-61062-069-0, p.4〕〔(September 2002 Issue ). ''SPIN''. SPIN Media LLC.〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' Voted the Greatest Rock Song before the year of 2000 )〕 The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The final section is an uptempo hard rock arrangement highlighted by Page's intricate guitar solo accompanying Plant's vocals that end with the plaintive a cappella line: "And she's buying a stairway to heaven". "Stairway to Heaven" was voted #3 in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=VH1 100 Greatest Rock Songs 1–50 )〕 and was placed at number 31 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been officially released as a single there.〔Dave Lewis (1994), ''The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin'', Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9.〕 In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's ''Mothership'' release, "Stairway to Heaven" hit No. 37 on the UK Singles Chart.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Yahoo Celebrity UK )〕 ==Writing and recording== The recording of "Stairway to Heaven" commenced in December 1970 at Island Records' new Basing Street Studios in London.〔Dave Schulps, (Interview with Jimmy Page ), ''Trouser Press'', October 1977.〕 The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for ''Led Zeppelin IV'' at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971. Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo.〔 The song originated in 1970 when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were spending time at Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales, following Led Zeppelin's fifth American concert tour. According to Page, he wrote the music "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night".〔Sutcliffe, Phil (April 2000). "Bustle in the Hedgerow". ''MOJO'', p.62〕 Page always kept a cassette recorder around, and the idea for "Stairway" came together from bits of taped music:〔Tolinski, Brad and di Benedetto, Greg (January 1998). "Light and Shade: A Historic Look at the Entire Led Zeppelin Catalogue Through the Eyes of Guitarist/Producer/Mastermind Jimmy Page". ''Guitar World'', p. 100-104.〕 I had these pieces, these guitar pieces, that I wanted to put together. I had a whole idea of a piece of music that I really wanted to try and present to everybody and try and come to terms with. Bit difficult really, because it started on acoustic, and as you know it goes through to the electric parts. But we had various run-throughs (Headley Grange ) where I was playing the acoustic guitar and jumping up and picking up the electric guitar. Robert was sitting in the corner, or rather leaning against the wall, and as I was routining the rest of the band with this idea and this piece, he was just writing. And all of a sudden he got up and started singing, along with another run-through, and he must have had 80% of the words there ... I had these sections, and I knew what order they were going to go in, but it was just a matter of getting everybody to feel comfortable with each gear shift that was going to be coming.〔National Public Radio, (Guitar Legend Jimmy Page ), 2 June 2003.〕 Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones recalled this presentation of the song to him following its genesis at Bron-Yr-Aur: Page and Plant would come back from the Welsh mountains with the guitar intro and verse. I literally heard it in front of a roaring fire in a country manor house! I picked up a bass recorder and played a run-down riff which gave us an intro, then I moved into a piano for the next section, dubbing on the guitars.〔Chris Welch (1994) ''Led Zeppelin'', London: Orion Books. ISBN 1-85797-930-3, pp. 60–61.〕 In an interview he gave in 1977, Page elaborated: I do have the original tape that was running at the time we ran down "Stairway To Heaven" completely with the band. I'd worked it all out already the night before with John Paul Jones, written down the changes and things. All this time we were all living in a house and keeping pretty regular hours together, so the next day we started running it down. There was only one place where there was a slight rerun. For some unknown reason Bonzo couldn't get the timing right on the twelve-string part before the solo. Other than that it flowed very quickly.〔 The first attempts at lyrics, written by Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then".〔 Jimmy Page was strumming the chords and Robert Plant had a pencil and paper. Plant later said that suddenly, My hand was writing out the words, 'There's a lady is sure , all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven'. I just sat there and looked at them and almost leapt out of my seat." Plant's own explanation of the lyrics was that it "was some cynical aside about a woman getting everything she wanted all the time without giving back any thought or consideration. The first line begins with that cynical sweep of the hand ... and it softened up after that.〔 The lyrics of the song reflected Plant's current reading. The singer had been poring over the works of the British antiquarian Lewis Spence, and later cited Spence's ''Magic Arts in Celtic Britain'' as one of the sources for the lyrics to the song.〔 In November 1970, Page dropped a hint of the new song's existence to a music journalist in London: It's an idea for a really long track.... You know how "Dazed and Confused" and songs like that were broken into sections? Well, we want to try something new with the organ and acoustic guitar building up and building up, and then the electric part starts.... It might be a fifteen-minute track.〔 Page stated that the song "speeds up like an adrenaline flow".〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=BBC radio 2 )〕 He explained: Going back to those studio days for me and John Paul Jones, the one thing you didn't do was speed up, because if you sped up you wouldn't be seen again. Everything had to be right on the meter all the way through. And I really wanted to write something which did speed up, and took the emotion and the adrenaline with it, and would reach a sort of crescendo. And that was the idea of it. That's why it was a bit tricky to get together in stages.〔 The complete studio recording was released on ''Led Zeppelin IV'' in November 1971. The band's record label, Atlantic Records was keen to issue this track as a single, but the band's manager Peter Grant refused requests to do so in both 1972 and 1973. The upshot of that decision was that record buyers began to invest in the fourth album as if it were a single.〔 In the US, Atlantic issued "Stairway to Heaven" as a 7" promotional single in 1972. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stairway to Heaven」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|