Friday, February 16, 2007

Who Is "Holla Lee" And What or Who Is She Waiting For?

I recently finished reading 33 1/3: Led Zeppelin IV by Erik Davis. It's a fine read. Davis does a fascinating job of discussing all the various occult and magick Zeppelin claims, plus he delves into the numerous musical influences that Zep tapped into - like English folk and rockabilly. They weren't just a loud blues-rock band.

He also spends some time on the infamous "if you play 'Stairway to Heaven' backwards you can hear Robert Plant say 'my sweet Satan'" claim and even provides a link so you can check out the evidence. You need to scroll down to find the "Stairway to Heaven" sound bites. The key to listening, though, is to NOT READ what the fundamentalists claim the backwards singing says. If you avoid the power of suggestion, it's interesting what you might come up with. Here's what I heard backwards (and since I had read the rock-haters claims in the book, that may be why I came close to their interpretations on a couple of 'em) :

1) "'cause I live with sleet"

2) "lord chirpy all but"

3) "errors ... no escapin' it"

4) "In my Gluek's haven"

5) "There is power and stain"

6) unintelligible

7) "Hey holla lee was waitin'"