By Going To Kashmir Led Zeppelin Gave The World A Masterpiece by Virgil The StoryTeller

Kashmir is a region of the East that contains the Indian state of Kashmir as well as parts of China. Historically, Kashmir has been an important center of that geographical area, and it has recently known political and social turmoil due to the intersecting cultures found there.

It is no surprise that such a culturally rich part of the world found itself the title subject of a song by the world’s most popular hard rock band. In the song Kashmir Led Zeppelin paints a vivid picture of a traveler moving across the great dry sea of one of the world’s deserts, moving inexorably towards his destination even as reality crumbles around him and he implores the gods to give him safe deliverance. Included on the album ‘Physical Graffiti’, the song opens with the lyrics ‘Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream / I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been’. This opening stanza indicates the state of mind of Robert Plant when he composed it while driving through the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Plant found himself filled with wonder at the natural surroundings, and many have speculated that in the emptiness between the sand and the stars he felt a spiritual communion that made its way into the final recording of the song.

It is not surprising that Kashmir has remained one of the most enduring songs in Led Zeppelin’s catalog. It is a personal favorite of both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, both of whom feel that their performances on that record fully tapped their respective abilities as songwriters. Bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones agrees, and he has repeatedly stated that in Kashmir Led Zeppelin incorporated melodic elements that had previously eluded their studio recordings. The band played the track at every single live performance post-release, and it is also one of the songs that the surviving members usually choose to play at their rare reunion shows. For their 1994 album ‘No Quarter’, Page and Plant performed a stunning live version of Kashmir backed by a full string and Moroccan rhythm section onstage, using it as the album and show closer.

Kashmir remains a masterpiece of Led Zeppelin’s legacy, and it has achieved a level of cultural status that has seen it covered and sampled by groups from genres as diverse as instrumental progressive rock and hip hop.