by Will Emaus

Created on: September 25, 2009   Last Updated: September 26, 2009

I guess if I'm going to compare the songs Freebird and Stairway to Heaven I should be somewhat objective about it; but the truth is that whether I use my personal bias or not Stairway to Heaven is certainly what I would regard as the better of the two songs.

Both songs have suffered from such drastic oversaturation that I'm as likely to switch the channel if either come on today as listen to the song. Freebird is a song that although I always liked it, and "got" the point of it, it always comes across more to me as an anthem of the south; Stairway meanwhile is the quintessential rock song of the first 55 years of rock and roll, it's just that people have gotten really sick of it to put it bluntly.

I have a video channel with many rock videos including quite a few from Led Zeppelin, the truth at this point is that people would rather listen to Tangerine than Stairway to Heaven. Stairway is just worn out, so for perspective I'll go back to when I was a kid to evaluate the song.

There was a time when hearing Stairway to Heaven on the radio was special, an event. AOR in the 70's already had some incredible music to choose from; and Stairway to Heaven was never released as a single. You would normally hear offerings from The Who, The Stones, The Beatles, Nights in White Satin or Tuesday Afternoon from the Moody Blues and so on, but when Stairway came on the radio in those days no one turned the channel.

The song had an aura to it, the way it built from its initial "Taurus" (a song from Spirit in 1968 that mirrors STH) acoustic chords throughout the verses. When the drums kick in it's a big deal, the song is building, it's really a masterpiece in its design. By the time Page's solo hits and then when Plant begins his wail, this song is the greatest you've ever heard. By the time it finishes, you are convinced you've just heard the greatest song on earth.

It never comes across that way any more when you hear it, but in the 70's there were some pretty great songs it was up against. You might hear Stairway between "A Day in the Life" and "Hotel California", or between "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Behind Blue Eyes" but during it's heyday no matter what other songs you were listening to (Freebird included), when you heard Stairway to Heaven you were listening to the greatest song in Rock and Roll.

I don't know for myself that I could ever get that ideal back with the song, it's just been heard so many times for so many years; but for a couple of generations when it was still regarded as fresh it was the greatest song of all time...

Learn more about this author, Will Emaus.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.