"Stairway"? Really?

I'm driving home from work last Sunday night and "Stairway To Heaven" emerges from my car's magical musical machine.

Brief aside: "Driving home from work on Sunday night" is a grouping of words I would prefer never to have to utter. Not because of any religious belief, just because in my gut working on a Sunday represents the collapse of society.

When I was a kid a fairly large portion of the world shut down on Sundays. A lot of stores, banks (Saturdays too), businesses etc. I liked that feeling. It felt like a day when the world could not get at you. You were not owned on Sundays, you were free.

Now Sundays, and especially Saturdays, are just like any other day of the week. You are a beast of burden, forced to go out into the world to earn inadequate pay that deceives yourself into believing you are paying your bills. Getting by. "Making a living".

There is no escape from the constant pressure and obligation. I think that is destructive and very, fucking wrong.

Back to the matter at hand: "Stairway To Heaven" comes on and I found myself responding to it. Really listening. Do you have any idea how many times I have heard that song? It is not humanly possible to count that high.

"Stairway, and "Free Bird" - two songs that are much derided because of the anthems they have become. I like them both but "Stairway" makes a deeper, mystical connection with the soul.

It was released late in 1971. I was 17 years old. My mind went right back there last Sunday night. I was dating Janice at the time and we were both crazy ass Zeppelin fans. Janice was the last woman I dated before meeting Carol.

She was nuts. Could out drink me and out smoke me. We used to go to house parties where Zep was blasting and just party our asses off.

She dumped me, and well done for that. Because I ended up with the most loving, considerate, unselfish woman in the world. The woman without whom, I am absolutely convinced, I would either be dead or in prison.

Anyway I thought about all that, the time period, who I was back then. But the real connection was the moment I was in.

I am a night time guy. As much as I love sun and heat, I am most comfortable in the dark. In the night. Seems I am most sensitive then, most open, most me. It suits me.

I am driving home, in the dark, listening to "Stairway", and really feeling alive. Completely immersed in the song, digging on the dark, digging on the ride (I love to drive, listen to music and, maybe occasionally, sip on a nip - I often wish I had a 5 hour commute home from work - cruising and dreaming) - lost in myself.

Ignorant of my worries, forgetting about my age, feeling happy, feeling good.

It was a really good moment. Spontaneous. Came out of nowhere. The song comes on and bingo, bango, boingo I am transported to a place I rarely visit.

That, my friends, is the power of music.