The song consists of several distinct sections, beginning with a quiet introduction on a finger-picked six-string guitar and four recorders in a Renaissance music style (ending at 2:15) and gradually moving into a slow electric middle section (2:16–5:33), then a long guitar solo (5:34–6:44), before the faster hard rock final section (6:45 to 7:45), ending with a short vocals-only epilogue. “Stairway to Heaven” is described as progressive rock, folk rock and hard rock. In the US, Atlantic issued “Stairway to Heaven” as a 7″ promotional single in 1972. This led many people to buy the fourth album as if it were the single. 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 19. The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV in November 1971. Jimmy Page was strumming the chords and Robert Plant had a pencil and paper. 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”. Page always kept a cassette recorder around, and the idea for “Stairway” came together from bits of taped music:
According to Page, he wrote the music “over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night”. 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. Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo. The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971. The recording of “Stairway to Heaven” commenced in December 1970 at Island Records’ new Basing Street Studios in London.
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In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin’s Mothership release, “Stairway to Heaven” hit number 37 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been commercially released as a single there. “Stairway to Heaven” was voted number three in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs, and was placed at number 31 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 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.” The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume.
It is often referred to as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band’s untitled fourth studio album (often called Led Zeppelin IV). “Stairway to Heaven” is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971.