# Darkest Depths of Mordor -- Led Zeppelin



## Bullgrit (Apr 12, 2010)

Listening to the radio yesterday while puttering around my office, I discovered something surprising. “Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin was playing — a song I’ve heard a hundred times over the decades — and I noticed a line that sounded like, “in the depths of Mordor.”

“Mordor,” I thought, “like in Lord of the Rings? In a Led Zeppelin song?”

So I looked up the lyrics online. What I found surprised me. I even checked three different lyrics sites to be sure.


> How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air.
> T’was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair.
> But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her…



Well, color me impressed. I don’t know what surprises me more, that Led Zeppelin so obviously referenced LotR in one of their songs, or that I never noticed it or knew it despite how many times I’ve heard the song.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3HemKGDavw]YouTube - Ramble On - Led Zeppelin[/ame]

Bullgrit


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## Stoat (Apr 12, 2010)

See also, _The Battle of Evermore_ on Led Zeppelin IV.


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## Dragonhelm (Apr 12, 2010)

And the _Misty Mountain Hop_!


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## El Mahdi (Apr 12, 2010)

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## D'karr (Apr 12, 2010)

I have it on good authority that they took their inspiration directly from this one:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC73PHdQX04&feature=fvw]YouTube - Leonard Nimoy's Ballad of Bilbo Baggins[/ame]


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## Bullgrit (Apr 12, 2010)

Apparently, my brother thinks I'm wrong -- Total Bullgrit

I wouldn't mind if someone knowledgeable wanted to say something in reply to him 

Bullgrit


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## SolitonMan (Apr 12, 2010)

Another good literature-based song is Blue Oyster Cult's _Black Blade_.  Definitely worth a check, especially the version on Extraterrestrial Live.


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## Klaus (Apr 12, 2010)

More than the quoted part is about LotR:



> Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was on my way.
> Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay.
> But now it's time for me to go. The autumn moon lights my way.
> For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it's headed my way.
> Sometimes I grow so tired, but I know I've got one thing I got to do...




This is a dead-on depiction of Rivendell, where the Fellowship stayed for weeks in the book.



> *Ramble On, And now's the time, the time is now, to sing my song.
> I'm goin' 'round the world, I got to find my girl, on my way.
> I've been this way ten years to the day, Ramble On,
> Gotta find the queen of all my dreams.




"Sing my song" is something frequently done in LotR, specially by that damned Aragorn!


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## Hand of Evil (Apr 12, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> Apparently, my brother thinks I'm wrong -- Total Bullgrit
> 
> I wouldn't mind if someone knowledgeable wanted to say something in reply to him
> 
> Bullgrit




See Ramble On - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for more info on it.


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## Ourph (Apr 12, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> I wouldn't mind if someone knowledgeable wanted to say something in reply to him




There is no question that Robert Plant was a Tolkien fan and often referenced Middle Earth in his lyrics. He also named his dog _Strider_.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 13, 2010)

El Mahdi said:


> I'd use that as reference every time someone tried to tell me that D&D or Fantasy/Sci-Fi wasn't cool or was just for geeks.
> 
> That and songs like Iron Maiden's _To Tame A Land_ (about "_Dune_") _<snip good info>_




According to legend, Iron Maiden originally meant to name their Powerslave album Dune, and contacted Frank Herbert (or his agent) about it.  However, Frank Herbert (or his agent) didn't think this was a good idea, so they sadly relented.



SolitonMan said:


> Another good literature-based song is Blue Oyster Cult's _Black Blade_.  Definitely worth a check, especially the version on Extraterrestrial Live.




Michael Moorcock actually co-wrote that one, as well as Veteran of 1000 Psychic Wars.  He also wrote for and played with Hawkwind- alongside future Mötorhead bassist/vocalist Lemmy Kilmister-  as well as his own band, The Deep Fix (named after a fictional band in his Jerry Cornelius stories).


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## El Mahdi (Apr 13, 2010)

deleted


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## Remus Lupin (Apr 13, 2010)

And of course much of Rush's music is explicitly sci-fi and fantasy based, including the Tolkein-y "Rivendell"


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 13, 2010)

Red Barchetta, The Body Electric and 2112, anyone?


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## Felon (Apr 14, 2010)

This thread reminds of an episode of NewsRadio. It's 1997. Bill has been enjoying rap music on his car radio for years, but it's only until Joe turns up his treble that Bill discovers that rap songs contain lyrics--filled with profanity no less. Flabbergasted, he insists on doing an editorial to blow the lid off of rap. Dave says something like "sure, as long as we can jump into a time machine and travel back to 1988".

Bullgrit, you're Bill.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 14, 2010)

"Kazizzah, my Diznoofus!"


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## Felon (Apr 14, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Red Barchetta, The Body Electric and 2112, anyone?




You actually have to do some homework on Red Barchetta to know it's a sci-fi story about the future of automobiles. The references are kind of subdued, and Geddy's lyrics are always easy to hear wrong.  

But it is a pretty cool allegory, about how we keep adding safety features to cars, with the net result being that cars become ugly and ungainly and their owners simply feel free to drive like even bigger idiots. 

Then again, I don't know how SUV"s factor in there, because they're popular vehicles that are ugly, ungainly, AND unsafe.


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## Felon (Apr 14, 2010)

D'karr said:


> I have it on good authority that they took their inspiration directly from this one:




Thoughts:

First off, what's with the prairie dog poses?

Second, why have all those chicks and then make them wear bulky sweaters?

That's all for now.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 14, 2010)

Felon said:


> You actually have to do some homework on Red Barchetta to know it's a sci-fi story about the future of automobiles. The references are kind of subdued, and Geddy's lyrics are always easy to hear wrong.
> 
> But it is a pretty cool allegory, about how we keep adding safety features to cars, with the net result being that cars become ugly and ungainly and their owners simply feel free to drive like even bigger idiots.
> 
> Then again, I don't know how SUV"s factor in there, because they're popular vehicles that are ugly, ungainly, AND unsafe.




It may just be me but I never had a problem understanding the lyrics to that song...

The "Motor Law" and weekly crime hinted at it, but the gleaming alloy aircars that were 2 lanes wide getting caught at the one-lane bridge sold it for me.


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## Klaus (Apr 14, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Red Barchetta, The Body Electric and 2112, anyone?



Why am I reminded of the movie Fame?

"I sing / The Body Electric / ..."


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## Felon (Apr 14, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> It may just be me but I never had a problem understanding the lyrics to that song...
> 
> The "Motor Law" and weekly crime hinted at it, but the gleaming alloy aircars that were 2 lanes wide getting caught at the one-lane bridge sold it for me.



So from a reference to a "motor law" and a really big car, your mind went straight to "hey, man, this song takes place in the future"? You're better at divining lyrics than I am. I always wondered why the other cars are chasing him.  To me the lyrics were up for grabs until I eventually looked them up...Was that "motor law" or "motor locked"? Was that "alloy aircar" or "loader car"? Too many years of listenting to beat up cassete tapes because I wouldn't move on to CD's may be a contributing factor.


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## Remus Lupin (Apr 14, 2010)

Yeah, being able to understand the lyrics helps a great deal in picking out the sci-fi and fantasy tropes, and i agree that's not always possible with either Geddy Lee's screech or Robert Plant's screech.

But I too picked right up on the science fiction aspects of "Red Barchetta."


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## Felon (Apr 14, 2010)

Despite giving Bullgrit and his (pretend?) brother a hard time about "Ramble On", it is a well-known phenomenon that people tune out lyrics and conjure up their own stories. In fact, a couple of songs spring to mind about that: Missing Person' "Words" and Blue's Travellers' "The Hook".


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 14, 2010)

Felon said:


> So from a reference to a "motor law" and a really big car, your mind went straight to "hey, man, this song takes place in the future"? You're better at divining lyrics than I am. I always wondered why the other cars are chasing him.  To me the lyrics were up for grabs until I eventually looked them up...Was that "motor law" or "motor locked"? Was that "alloy aircar" or "loader car"? Too many years of listenting to beat up cassete tapes because I wouldn't move on to CD's may be a contributing factor.




Its a combo of reading a LOT of sci-fi/fantasy, listening to a LOT of music (my CD collection alone is over 5000- no, that's not a typo- and I play guitar, bass, cello and sing), and the fact that, on this song at least, I had no problem deciphering Geddy's lyrics as sung.


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## Bullgrit (Apr 15, 2010)

> Bullgrit and his (pretend?) brother



LOL! It would annoy him greatly to have someone think he's just a figment of my imagination. :-D It's bad enough for him that I "force" him to use a pseudonym on my site rather than his real name.

Brogrit is really my brother -- he has been a regular commenter on my blog for as long as I've been writing it, even if it's just to call me a nerd.

And I think it's hilarious that he seems to take umbrage at the idea that Led Zeppelin referenced LotR in some of their songs.

Bullgrit


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 15, 2010)

Just remind him that the works of Tolkien and CS Lewis would have been circulating around the England of Plant's, Page's, Jones' and Bonham's youth...

And that European schools tend to teach a broader range of subjects and writers than do American ones.


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