The Great Led Zeppelin Songs Inspired By “Lord Of The Rings”

The band Led Zeppelin was well-known for its numerous tracks that had otherworldly themes. They were known to pair fantastical lyrics with hard rock, and among those that became their subject for lyrical inspiration came J. R. R. Tolkien, the legendary writer of the iconic series, The Lord of the Rings. Below are the three songs that were inspired by Tolkien’s legacy.

“Ramble On” (1969)

Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On” can be found on their 1969 follow-up album, Led Zeppelin II. The song was written by lead singer Robert Plant and the band’s guitarist Jimmy Page. Lyrics such as “In the darkest depths of Mordor” and “Gollum and the evil one” make allusions to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Plant apologized for incorporating his love of Middle-earth into his lyrics, attributing the mistake to his younger self in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I can see from this window the hill where Tolkien used to sit and look out over the landscape, and that’s the Shire, and the village just below it is called Bagginswood,” Plant told the magazine. “I was living in a dream then, talking about C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. And, of course, it brings hoops of derision into everybody who picked up a guitar or got near a microphone by 1980. But I was a kid…I was 22 when I wrote ‘Ramble On’ with Jimmy, so what do I know?”

“The Battle of Evermore” (1971)

Led Zeppelin’s love for Tolkien was on full display with two Tolkien-inspired songs on their unnamed fourth studio album. Some of the words in “The Battle of Evermore” that allude to the book, The Return of the King are: “The Dark Lord rides in force tonight and time will tell us all” and “The drums will shake the castle wall, the Ringwraiths ride in black.”

“Misty Mountain Top” (1971)

Moreover, the song “Misty Mountain Hop” was released by the band on their fourth studio album in 1971. In case you don’t know the Misty Mountain is Bilbo Baggins’s favorite place in all of The Hobbit, and its name is a reference to that. However, the song is about a pro-pot legalization gathering that the cops break up. “It’s about a bunch of hippies getting busted, about the problems you can come across when you have a simple walk in the park on a nice sunny afternoon,” Plant said. “In England, it’s understandable because wherever you go to enjoy yourself, ‘Big Brother’ is not far behind.”