Mythos: the foundational tales or origin myths of a society.

On May 8, 2012 I wrote this about Led Zeppelin’s greatest song ever:

Kashmir

The best ever song anywhere, anytime. Yet the music (melody) is simple and the lyrics not all that important (Plant’s voice, in my opinion, is what it’s about – not what the words mean but how they sound).

What the heck is it about that song that makes it better than Staircase to Heaven (which shares the mystery, but doesn’t tap into the magic as strongly)?

Kashmir on YouTube (from Led Zeppelin’s album, Physical Graffiti) (78 million views on just one person’s YouTube channel, as of 12/29/23).

Moroccan influence: In 1994 Kashmir was recorded for No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded  and was performed with a Moroccan ensemble. Robert Plant said of Jimmy Page and No Quarter, “His riffs were spectacular. To take it as far as we did… it’s one of the most ambitious and mind altering experiences.”

People have described Kashmir as “spiritual”. Plant says “mind altering”. I would agree – this is incredibly uplifting music – but what makes it that way?  And do you find, as I do, that when Kashmir is performed by others it doesn’t carry that extra something, that magic?

December 2023: More than spiritual or mind altering (both of which are accurate), Kashmir evokes timelessness and power, inevitability and… well, just plain magic. The music takes up space in the world like no other song. When listened to with full attention and it ends, it’s as if a balloon that has been occupying your soul has suddenly popped.  In Jimmy Page’s words’s words, “That’s it. Nothing follows that. You need time to catch your breath after.”

Kashmir is about where we’ve come from and where we may go if we so choose. It shows us the way — not a stairway to heaven but the path of the power of the individual to invoke and then surrender to an energy that is so much more than the physical. It The notes are not complex, the lyrics are not profound, yet Kashmir tells us of the mythos of humanity.

This New Year’s eve, when the clock strikes midnight, forget Auld Lang Syne. Play Kashmir instead. Play it loud. Let it take you away.

Sorry sorry sorry!!!: I totally forgot that I even had this blog. I mean, I totally TOTALLY forgot about it.

You know those kinds of dreams where you show up to a final exam and you realize you forgot you were enrolled in the class so never opened the book? Or you are in the grocery store and you realize you’re buck naked even though nobody is commenting about it?

Well this is me today. I was looking for something else and came across this in my bookmarks. OMG! A whole year of forgetting something that means so much to me! And if people mentioned it, I assumed they were referring to another blog I have with the same name (what was I even thinking???), just a different subtitle.