Kashmir

Song Meaning of Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, and what it is about

"Kashmir" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. Included on their sixth album Physical Graffiti in 1975, it was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant with contributions from John Bonham over a period of three years with lyrics dating to 1973.

The lyrics were written by Plant in 1973 immediately after Led Zeppelin's 1973 US tour. None of the group members had visited Kashmir. Instead, Plant was inspired during a drive through a desolate desert area of southern Morocco. Back in the band’s studio in rural England, Page and Bonham began riffing on an Arabic-sounding set of chords that would perfectly match Plant’s desert vision.

“The song was bigger than me,” said Plant. “I was petrified. I was virtually in tears.” John Paul Jones’ string arrangement provided the crowning touch, ratcheting up the song’s grandeur to stadium-rock proportions.

Lyrics of Kashmir by Led Zeppelin

Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face

With stars to fill my dreams

I am a traveler of both time and space

To be where I have been

Sit with elders of the gentle race

This world has seldom seen

Talk of days for which they sit and wait

All will be revealed

Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace

Whose sounds caress my ear

But not a word I heard could I relate

The story was quite clear

Oh, oh

Oh, oh

Ooh, baby, I been flying

No yeah, mama, there ain't no denying

Oh, ooh, yeah I've been flying

Mama, mama, ain't no denying, no denying

Oh, all I see turns to brown

As the sun burns the ground

And my eyes fill with sand

As I scan this wasted land

Trying to find, trying to find, where I've been

Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace

Like thoughts inside a dream

Here is the path that led me to that place

Yellow desert stream

My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon

I will return again

Sure as the dust that floats high in June

When moving through Kashmir

Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails

Across the sea of years

With no provision but an open face

Along the straits of fear

Oh, oh

Oh, oh

Ooh

Oh, when I'm on, when I'm on my way, yeah

When I see, when I see the way, you stay-yeah

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I'm down

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, but I'm down, so down

Ooh, my baby, ooh, my baby, let me take you there

Oh come on, oh, let me take you there... let me take you there

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, let me take you there... let me take you there