The Battle of Evermore

As I talked about yesterday, Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" is about J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings.  I have read this book over and over again in the last 20 years.  Thanks also to Peter Jackson, we have wonderful images that brought this story to life.  I’m eagerly awaiting his version of The Hobbit this winter (only 101 days to the release of the first installment!).  

While "Ramble On" makes references to characters, places, and themes in The Lord of the Rings, Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore" is more overt in it's message, and elegantly portrays a sense of danger, gloom, and war. 

"The Battle of Evermore" opens fading in to Page playing a mandolin.  While I enjoy this song, and the message of it is a dear story to me, something I marvel at is that Jimmy Page hadn't ever played the mandolin before picking it up at Headley Grange and putting the chords together and writing this song.  From a 1977 interview:  "I just picked up John Paul Jones's mandolin, never having played a mandolin before, and just wrote up the chords and the whole thing in one sitting."   In one sitting.  I marvel at the talent that takes. I've played piano and saxophone. A few times I have tried to learn the guitar, and just not pursued it because I just had too much other stuff going on at the time.  I moved from alto sax to tenor sax to baritone sax to fill needs in the concert bands in high school.  The fingering and notes in the saxophone family are all the same; they just stretch out the brass a little more.  Are chords on a mandolin the same as on a guitar?  I don't know.  Perhaps they are.   And as for writing a song?  It's out of my league.

Back to Page opening the song with the mandolin:  we fade in, as if appearing through the mist.  Then Plant starts us off on the story.  In this song, Plant's vocals are telling the story, and are supplemented by Sandy Denny of the Fairport Convention calling the people of Gondor to action.  This is the only Led Zeppelin song to feature a guest vocalist, and due to how they wrote this song, another voice was needed.

	Plant (Narrator)	Denny (Crier)
	Queen of Light took her bow, And then she turned to go,  The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone.	Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light.
	The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all.	Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, Rest not to lock your homes.
	Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all. I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley below,  I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow. The apples of the valley hold, The seeds of happiness, The ground is rich from tender care, Repay, do not forget, no, no.	Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light.
	The apples turn to brown and black, The tyrant's face is red.	Oh war is the common cry, Pick up your swords and fly.
	The sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know. Oh, well, the night is long the beads of time pass slow, Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow. The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath, The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, Ride on.	Ride On Sing as you raise your bow, shoot straighter than before.
	No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold.	Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light.
	The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back. Bring it back. At last the sun is shining, The clouds of blue roll by, With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes.

This song is still just a back of the envelope summary of the story, but more of a picture is painted than that in "Ramble On," with direct references to Sauron, his Ringwraiths, The Ring itself, Frodo and Samwise, the horse riders of Rohirrim, Aragorn, and Galadriel.   Two of my worlds -- Tolkien and Zeppelin -- crossed paths again, and I personally couldn't be happier. It's a great song and another reason that I love Led Zeppelin.