Led Zeppelin's process of creating Stairway to Heaven

As I struggle through a really tough, sketchy week personally, temporarily homeless and stuck in a city I'd never been to, I lined up a Led Zeppelin themed drawing to do this week to help me earn money to move on, both physically, and in life itself.  I'm at a point where I can honestly say I'm a "working artist," but I don't yet make what most people call a "real" living from my Sharpie art.  As I was drawing the last day and a half, I started listening to Zeppelin documentaries, and then the music itself.  So as I wandered into McDonald's this morning in a really terrible mood, this great little gem of a video popped up on my YouTube feed first thing this morning.  A good start to the day.

I'm one of the older members of Generation X, I was born in the 1960's, but I didn't "experience" the 60's like many Baby Boomers did.  My parents were a bit older than many of my friends' parents, and they weren't into rock ' roll.  So I grew up with my mom's kitchen radio playing 70's country music all day long.  My dad was a clarinet and saxophone player in high school, and he liked Big Band and swing music of the 30's and 40's.  He also played the organ to relax at night, playing church hymns and traditional classic music of his era.  So while there was always music in my house, it was NOT rock n' roll. 

But on the radios and albums that my friends older brothers and sisters played, the music being listened to in garages and basements by the older kids, that was 60's and 70's classic rock.  And you can't get any more classic than Led Zeppelin.  So while I wasn't into Zeppelin myself, it was a continuous part of the soundtrack of my years as a kid and teenager.  By my high school years, I knew the major Zeppelin hits note for note, word for word, but I couldn't name any of the songs while they were playing.  Except for "Stairway to Heaven."  It is, quite possibly, the most classic song of my youth.  It's arguable, there are a handful of songs that could take that title, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," for instance.  But "Stairway" is as epic as a rock song can get. 

It's been really cool these last couple of days, going through Led Zeppelin's music, and listening to documentaries about them as I draw.  One of my favorite things about drawing pictures of people's favorite musicians and bands is that I get to immerse myself in music as I draw.  I don't want to just draw a picture, I want to absorb the vibe of the musicians I'm drawing, and let that vibe flow through me as I make my own creation. 

Every drawing I do, I discover a song I didn't know of , or learn things about a band or musician that I never heard before.   This video of Jimmy Paige talking about how they created one of the the best rock songs of all time, is one of those great little tidbits of knowledge and experience that really make my musician drawings a wonderful thing to do, and hopefully I create something wonderful for people's walls, that will tap into all their memories tied to the music as they see my drawing on their wall.

"Stairway to Heaven"- Live