The Symbolism Of Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

Victor Rouă0 comment

Led Zeppelin IV is one of the best-selling and most critically-acclaimed studio albums in rock music history. Controversial at times through some of its songs (e.g. most notably Stairway to Heaven), this masterpiece of classic rock has a very interesting and relatively lesser known symbolism as well. In this brief article, I am exploring this theme by analysing elements pertaining to the album’s cover artwork.

The vinyl of the classic rock studio album Led Zeppelin IV (otherwise simply known as Untitled) released in 1971. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

First of all, the album is also simply known as Untitled given the fact that the band members didn’t quite like the critics’ approach towards their previous studio album, Led Zeppelin III (which has a significant number of songs previously composed at the picturesque and beautiful Bron-yr-Aur stone cottage near Machynlleth in Wales). So it is that for this particular studio album they decided to release it without a title and instead let the music speak for itself. Nonetheless, there were four esoteric or mystic symbols on the inner sleeve which also spoke volume of the each member’s visual identity and literary interests. The inner sleeve also included a representation (more specifically a painting by Barrington Coleby) of the tarot card The Hermit (of important particular interest to guitarist Jimmy Page himself). The Hermit has a dual valence in tarot: if upright it means introspection (which signifies a quest for knowledge and wisdom), if downright (or upside down) it means isolation (therefore a negative connotation).

The Hermit Rider-Waite tarot card is a Major Arcana card (out of a total of 22 such significant cards), representing a group of cards that deal with important life lessons and spiritual achievements (in stark contrast to the 56 Minor Arcana which deal with the mundane or daily events). On a personal note, this my most favourite tarot card as well. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Image depicting the four symbols of Led Zeppelin, one for each constituent band member. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

In point of fact, guitarist Jimmy Page was so fascinated with this tarot card that he even played the role of the hermit himself in the 1976 concert film The Song Remains the Same in a dreamy, surreal, or fantasy-like scene in which he ultimately finds out the fact that he is actually the hermit, as you can see below:

Additionally, the scene was filmed on a mountain near Boleskine House (one of Jimmy Page’s former properties in Scotland which was associated in the past with English occultist Aleister Crowley) at nighttime in cold weather.

In a separate article, I already described the meaning behind the four symbols associated with each and every band member and the literary sources from which they were taken. Briefly put, these four symbols are the followings: the so-called ZoSo or Zoso symbol (associated with guitarist Jimmy Page, essentially an alchemical symbol for Saturn), the triquetra (associated with bassist, keyboardist, and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, an ancient Celtic and Norse symbol found in both Celtic/Gaelic and Norse art), the Borromean rings (associated with drummer John Bonham, meaning the Holy Christian Trinity, that is of the Son, Father, and Holy Spirit, with the bond between the three interlocking circles being unbreakable and eternal), and the feather of Ma’at or Maat (associated with singer and frontman Robert Plant, an ancient Egyptian symbol for both the concept of divine justice and order as well as for the goddess representing these values herself). Another important visual aspect pertaining to the album’s cover is an old man carrying many sticks on his back. This is actually a Wiltshire thatcher, as it was later discovered.

The cover artwork of the studio album Led Zeppelin IV (released in 1971) also includes a colorised photograph of a thatcher from Wiltshire taken by Ernest Howard Farmer. The photograph was originally purchased by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from an antique shop in Reading, England (which is near Jimmy Page’s home in Pangbourne, Berkshire). Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The photograph above depicts Lot Long, a 69-year old thatcher from Mere, Wiltshire, England from the late Victorian era. The actual identity of the old man photographed above was a mystery for longtime Led Zeppelin fans for more than 50 years!

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