| This song is acoustic. Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones played the mandolin. |
| Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention sang on this with Robert Plant. Fairport Convention was a British folk group Zeppelin shared a bill with in 1970. |
| Denny was given a symbol on the album sleeve, 3 pyramids, to thank her. The 4 members of Led Zeppelin each designed their own symbols for the album. |
| Jimmy Page wrote the music on a mandolin he borrowed from John Paul Jones. He had never played the mandolin before. |
| Plant wrote the lyrics after reading a book on Scottish history. |
| Plant felt he needed another voice to tell the story. He was the narrator and Sandy Denny represented the people as the town crier. |
| Led Zeppelin rarely played this live, but when they did, John Paul Jones sang Denny's part. |
| Sandy Denny died in 1978 from a brain hemorrhage resulting from a fall down the stairs. (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE) |
| Many J.R.R. Tolkien fans see the lyrics as a reference to his book Return Of The King, where the lyrics could describe the Battle of Pelennor ("The drums will shake the castle wall, The ring wraiths ride in black"). Plant is a huge Tolkien fan, and referred to his books in "Ramble On" and "Misty Mountain Hop." (thanks, Ollie C - Hampshire, England) |
| A lot of this fits the battle of the Pelennor fields: "At last the sun is shining, The clouds of blue roll by" - as Sauron's army and influence advanced the sky darkened and when he lost this battle it became light again. But a lot doesn't fit to that particular battle/book, including the part about the angels of Avalon, as Avalon was not from Tolkien's world but the legends of Merlin and King Arthur. The song is not completely about that battle but there are references to Lord Of The Rings things like Ringwraiths and most of the song can be interpreted to be about it if you choose. (thanks, Caleb - Christchurch, New Zealand) |
