Freebird or Stairway ?

[rbV5]

Stairway to Heaven was my first public performance, an acoustic duet with a violinist in front of my entire school (K through 8th grade) back when I was in the 7th grade (1972)

We practiced for a couple months before the assembly, and I remember being extremely nervous when the lights went low and the spotlight came on.....and we absolutely nailed it

It was actually a pretty sweet arraingement my guitar teacher came up with, and my partner was an accomplished violinist, much more skilled than I was on the guitar. I did a pretty solid job, and she did this fiddle solo over the outro that was awesome, brought down the house and we got a standing O....The whole rest of the assembly sucked horribly, so we came off even better, and from the on, I was the "guitar guy"

Freebird features some great jam soloing by Allen Collins. It was one of the anthems of my youth, and I loved Lynyrd Skynyrd's guitar rock and Collin's interaction with fellow guitarist Gary Rossington. Sadly, Allen Collins lived a somewhat tragic life and passed away on my 30th birthday

I'm pretty fond of both tunes, but I'll give the edge to Stairway, it truely is a Masterpiece. :thumbsup:

 

[ra990]

They aren't even in the same league. Stairway FTW.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

More direct, more applicable, more specific. Instead of vague references to an ill-defined something, Skynyrd actually comes out and says it.

Just because Zep couches things with flowery language doesn't make their statements any deeper than Skynyrd's.

ZV

Musical tastes aside, I submit that more concrete, direct lyrics are less applicable, not more so, because they more stringently dictate the scenario.

As for comparing the "depth" of Stairway vs Free Bird, Stairway certainly has more "depth" lyrically, but that's not fair because FB was not written (IMO) to be a "deep" song.

And anyway, "depth" is often a matter of inference, not implication. Since you mentioned LoTR in a previous post, it brings to mind this: after LoTR's publication, some critics wondered if Tolkien's intention had been allegory, specifically regarding WWII. Tolkien had responded that he disliked allegory "in any form", and remarked that if his story had indeed been an allegory of WWII, the Ring would not have been destroyed, but rather seized and used.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
You're telling me that, "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, its just a spring clean for the may queen" is straightforward and obvious symbolism? Sorry, it's not. It's a clear case of "we needed some words to fill up this verse and wanted people to think we were deep".

Like I said, Freebird's lyrics are trite and banal. And still better than Stairway's.

If I want intelligent lyrics, I have Rush or The Moody Blues to listen to. Zeppelin isn't even a blip on the radar screen for great lyrics. Zep had a few decent songs, and they get points for incorporating a lot of Lord of The Rings references in their works, but really I've never thought they were anything special.

ZV

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you're not a big fan of poetry?

 

[PepePeru]

Stairway

 

[evident]

stairway but they are both good but overplayed and very annoying to listen to now, just like nirvana