STAIRWAY
2006 (PASTA, GLUE, PANEL, GLOW IN THE DARK PAINT)
The song Stairway to Heaven was written by Jimmy Page one afternoon while he was living at “Bolekskine”, a farmhouse located on the shore of Loch Ness. This house was once owned by the famous occultist Aleister Crowley, who had bought the house because he believed that the layout of the property was perfect for certain Magick ceremonies. The house had north facing windows and doors that looked out onto a smaller building that Crowley used as an oratory. Crowley claimed that during the rituals he performed there, shadowy figures would escape from the oratory and enter the north facing windows and doors of the house. This house was also once the site of a church that had burned to the ground with the congregation inside.
Jimmy Page was himself a follower of Aleister Crowley and it is believed that he placed encoded words and double meanings in many of the lyrics to the song. Some of the lyrics to the songs are “sometimes words have two meanings” and “thoughts are misgiven.” When played backwards, many words and sentences can be heard among the gibberish. The first words heard when the song is reversed is a slow, drawn out “play backwards, hear words sung.” Studies of the song have indicated that this speech reversal was not done intentionally but is rather the singer’s unconscious mind trying to communicate with the listener.
Later
on in the song, another reversal says “It’s my sweet Satan, the
one whose little path will make me sad, whose power is fake. There was a little
tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.” Crowley often described
the “Bolekskine” house as a tool house. The forest setting described
in the song is said to be very similar to the setting of the “Bolekstine”
house. The suffering that the speech reversal refers to might refer to the
people that were killed in the church fire or the souls of the spirits used
in the occult ceremonies performed there. Another speech reversal appears
on a live recording of the song from 1976, that says, “forgive me lord,
forgive me lord.”