Stairway to Heaven

Few songs generate fonder memories of my early teenage years than Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, a tune that has been covered by dozens of artists, all the way from Dolly Parton to Mary J. Blige. Written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and appearing on the album Led Zeppelin IV (1971), the song consistently ranks high among the top rock songs of all time.

Back in the fall of 1971 I was in the ninth grade, and from the first time I heard Stairway to Heaven, I remember immediately liking the song – its soft, arpeggiated acoustic guitar intro, its mystical and enchanting lyrics, and, most especially, Plant’s screaming vocals at the end.

During my high school years the song was a staple at parties, coffee houses and school dances. And, I’m pretty sure we did a cover version in the band I played with at the time, along with songs by groups like The Doors, Yes, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

But my favorite high school memory surrounding Stairway to Heaven is playing it as an instrumental guitar prelude in church one Sunday with one of my best friends, Doug. Our church (of the large, downtown, Presbyterian variety) must have been fairly liberal for the day – not that there’s anything wrong with that – because members of our youth group regularly played guitars and sang during worship, entertaining the old guard with classics like Blowing in the Wind and One Tin Soldier. I can still recall playing on that particular Sunday, the two of us sitting on the steps that led up to the chancel area, with Doug plucking out the melody and me putting the chords underneath, as the congregation sat in silence and listened, politely intrigued. "Pretty cool," I thought at the time. Still do.

On a related note, a year or two after playing Stairway to Heaven in church, three of my friends and I played a prelude of a different sort, this time offering up a medley of Duke Ellington tunes. You should have seen the three ministers sauntering down the aisle to the strains of Take the "A" Train….