Robert Plant has long been celebrated for his mystical, evocative lyrics, and now the legendary LED ZEPPELIN frontman has opened up about one of his key inspirations: J.R.R. Tolkien.
During his November 4 appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Plant reflected on the Tolkien influences woven into some of LED ZEPPELIN’s songs. “Tolkien opened the door to all that sort of dark age meanderer of history,” Plant said, highlighting the connection between his lyrical vision and the famed author’s fantastical worlds.
Colbert noted that songs like “Stairway to Heaven” carry “some Tolkien in lyrics of ZEP songs,” and asked whether Plant’s bandmates—Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones—had ever picked up on the references.
“It didn’t exist at the time,” Plant explained. “Tolkien had his moment, but I guess The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings had subsided.”
Plant also shared a personal connection to Tolkien, noting that they both grew up in England’s Midlands. Tolkien spent much of his childhood in Birmingham, particularly in Sarehole (now Hall Green) and Edgbaston, while Plant was raised nearby in Halesowen and Kidderminster.
“[Tolkien’s work] spoke to me because the points of reference were very close to where I live, and very close to where my parents unwittingly used to take me through this landscape where you began, just like you can here from another culture that’s still around, you can read what the landscape gave you from the old times before there were highways and stuff like that,” Plant said, describing how the local terrain resonated with both his imagination and Tolkien’s stories.
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