Led Zeppelin - Battle of Evermore

The Queen of Light took her bow And then she turned to go The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom And walked the night alone Oh, dance in the dark of night Sing to the morning light The dark Lord rides in force tonight And time will tell us all Oh, throw down your plow and hoe Rest not to lock your homes Side by side we wait the might Of the darkest of them all I hear the horses’ thunder Down in the valley below I’m waiting for the angels of Avalon Waiting for the eastern glow The apples of the valley hold The seeds of happiness The ground is rich from tender care Repay, do not forget, no, no Oh, dance in the dark of night Sing to the morning light The apples turn to brown and black The tyrant’s face is red Oh the war is common cry Pick up you swords and fly The sky is filled with good and bad That mortals never know Oh, well, the night is long The beads of time pass slow Tired eyes on the sunrise Waiting for the eastern glow The pain of war cannot exceed The woe of aftermath The drums will shake the castle wall The ringwraiths ride in black Ride on Sing as you raise your bow Shoot straighter than before No comfort has the fire at night That lights the face so cold Oh dance in the dark of night Sing to the mornin’ light The magic runes are writ in gold To bring the balance back Bring it back At last the sun is shining The clouds of blue roll by With flames from the dragon of darkness The sunlight blinds his eyes Oh, bring it back, bring it back Bring it back, bring it back Bring it back, bring it back Bring it back, bring it back Oh now, oh now, oh now Oh now, oh now, oh now Bring it back, bring it back Bring it back, bring it back Oh now, oh now, oh now Oh now, oh now, oh now Bring it, bring it, bring it Bring it, bring it, bring it Bring it, bring it, bring it Bring it, bring it, bring it Written by: Robert Plant, James Patrick (jimmy) Page Album: Led Zeppelin IV Released: 1971 The song, like Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On“ and “Misty Mountain Hop“, makes references to J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings,[9][10] with “The Dark Lord rides in force tonight and time will tell us all“ in line 4, “The drums will shake the castle wall, the Ringwraiths ride in black“ in line 18, and mentions of war and swords (line 13), shooting with a bow (line 19), magic runes (line 20) and “the dragon of darkness“ in line 24.[11] The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia states that the three songs make “direct references to Gollum, Mordor, the Ringwraiths, and events described in The Silmarillion and [Lord of the Rings]“.[12] The Oxford Handbook of Music and Medievalismtreats the song as “fantasy medievalism“, seeing allusions to multiple features of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.[10] It notes that the song “specifically alludes“ to the Dark Lord and the Ringwraiths, while the “Queen of Light“ mentioned is “possibly“ the elf-queen Galadriel.[10] It states that the battle in the song “has often been identified by fans“ as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.[10] Describing the effect of the song, it writes that Plant makes use of the feeling of nostalgia with the “strain and desperation“ in his “vocal cries“ combined with the “haunting, pastoral soundscape“ that together set up “the destructive world of war in opposition to an idealized and Arcadian peaceful home“.[10] Sandy Denny edit Sandy Denny’s symbol Plant felt he needed another voice to tell the story, and for the recording of the song, singer Sandy Denny was invited to duet with Plant. Denny was a former member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention, with whom Led Zeppelin had shared a bill in 1970 at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Plant played the role of the narrator and Denny represented the town crier. Page elaborated that “[The song] sounded like an old English instrumental first off. Then it became a vocal and Robert did his bit. Finally we figured we’d bring Sandy by and do a question-and-answer-type thing.“[8] To thank her for her involvement, Denny was given the symbol on the album sleeve of three pyramids (the four members of Led Zeppelin each chose their own symbols for the album). This is the only song Led Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest vocalist. In an interview he gave in 1995 to Uncut magazine, Plant stated that “[F]or me to sing with Sandy Denny was great. We were always good friends with that period of Fairport Convention. Richard Thompson is a superlative guitarist. Sandy and I were friends, and it was the most obvious thing to ask her to sing on ’The Battle of Evermore’. If it suffered from naivete and tweeness—I was only 23—it makes up for it in the cohesion of the voices and the playing.“[13]