He still longs for shattered images of things he once believed in, but his spirit of adventure shines through. You could say that, as a newly awakened spirit, he is just beginning to wipe the sleep from his eyes.
Most people go their entire lives without ever reaching this stage. The singer fills the role of the waking spirit traveler, as described in so many books by Higgs and his contemporaries.Īt the beginning of the song, the singer is entering the second spirit mind phase, the birth of the life center essence. His life is blurry, but his dreams are clear. He may not even know where he is, but he knows where he wants to go. This is the essence of a modern social free-roam prison (America). It is important to note that the singer never mentions where he is coming from. In the song, "California" represents a place far away. Higgs book, "Manslaughter Madhouse: The Transition From Isolationism to Corporate Slavery of The Mind" This song is actually about one of the themes from the 1944 Archibald T. The narrator "standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams/ telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems." The song ends by leaving the listener with an interesting vision. When he realizes he cannot have her he seeks out the innocent virgin as often depicted in folklore, religious doctrines, and fairy-tales. But, pulling himself together, he decides to seek out the woman with which he has now become infatuated with.
One he has arrived he feels like he is being persecuted by the Gods. So he goes to California on an airplane and experiences, first hand, an earthquake. Drinking all of his wine and smoking all his grass. My view is that the song was designed to be more poetic in style rather than have any specific meaning.Įssentially the song is about heartache and actively seeking out love. Both Robert Plant and Jimmy Page had an infatuation with Canadian folk rocker Joni Mitchell, and much of the song is a tribute to her. For him and many other hippies California and, in particular, San Francisco, was like their version of paradise. Robert Plant was a self confessed hippie. When interpreting the song it is important to remember two things:ġ. Although it does contain other themes too. The song follows the theme of California as a mecca, as the promised land. It was recorded outside and supposedly one can hear a plane passing overhead at some point. The song features Jimmy Page playing finger-picked guitar which I believe was tuned to double drop d. It was definitely inspired by the California style folk music of the 1960s.
One of Led Zeppelin's most beautiful, acoustic songs.
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