mission kashmir...
coming back from the hospital after a long time...the dreaded chicken pox struck me without any warnings...nobody around me had it and it seems i gave it to no one at all...really feels bad not to have given anyone else the chance to give up their freedom for a few days...
now coming to the point...for a long time now i have been interested in song meanings and interpretations and led zep has been my greatest challenge...finally i think i have made some sense out of the song kashmir which incidentally is credited to all 4 members of the band...so here goes...
to give a little background...from my wanderings on the net i discovered that bonham was a great fan of tolkien and parts of this song are inspired by his "the simarillion"(forgive me if i got the spelling wrong)...the song is based on the bands travels through the deserts of morocco...now lets go on to the lyrics...
"Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, whose sounds caress my ear
But not a word I heard could I relate, the story was quite clear
Oh, oh."
here they are obviously imagining morocco as the land of the elves who are called the gentle race...the elder elves(or moroccan tribesmen) discuss prophecies and sing songs about them in a language we don't understand but somehow understand the gist of what is said...probably this part has been written by bonham...
"Oh, I been flying... mama, there ain’t no denyin’
I’ve been flying, ain’t no denyin’, no denyin’"
this is an obvious drug reference...as they are flying high...in all probability this part is plant's(or maybe page's)...
"All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Trying to find, trying to find where I’ve been."
a rude awakening to reality...after the effects have worn off they see themselves in a desert land with no elves or prophecies...
"Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My shangri-la beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that floats high and true, when movin’ through kashmir."
the promised land of the prophecies and elves is sought by them...they are sure that they will return to this shangri-la,this kashmir...the reference to kashmir must not be taken to refer to the disputed land but to the ideal of heaven on earth represented by it...
"Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear
Ohh."
they ask god to give them courage for this journey of soul searching to reach that promised land(that ideal) through defeating their fears...
"When I’m on, when I’m on my way, yeah
When I see, when I see the way, you stay-yeah
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I’m down...
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I’m down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there
Let me take you there. let me take you there"
through this seeking the singer asks the beloved to stay with him so that they can reach this state of mind together...
this interpretation struck me suddenly while listening to the song one day with my friend handa...i started telling him and he said that this was the best interpretation that he had heard so far and coaxed me to put it on my blog...so here it is...it might well not be what the band intended but still its what i take it to mean...i'll end with a quote on kashmir in persian...
Gar Firdaus bar-ruye zamin ast
Hamin asto hamin asto hamin ast.
(if there is heaven on earth...it is here,it is here,it is here...)
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