Up or down?

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.

Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
(Page & Plant 1971)


The UK in 1971:

1 January – The Divorce Reform Act 1969 came into effect. It is revealed on 19 January 1972 that the number of divorces in Britain during 1971 exceeded 100,000 for the first time.
2 January – a crush at the Rangers vs. Celtic football match killed 66.
14 January – "The Angry Brigade" extremist group, admitted responsibility for the bombing of Robert Carr's house, as well as planting a bomb at the Dept of Employment offices at Westminster.
20 January – The first ever postal worker's strike, in an attempt to win a 19.5% pay rise.
23 January – The 1st Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, gave Britain permission to sell weapons to South Africa.

4 February –  Rolls Royce went bankrupt and was nationalised.
15 February - D-Day Decimalisation in the U.K.
Enoch Powell predicted an "explosion" unless there was a massive repatriation scheme for the immigrants.
24 February – The Immigration Bill announced that is set to strip Commonwealth immigrants of their right to remain in the United Kingdom.

1 March – An estimated 120,000 to 250,000 "kill the bill" protesters went on strike against the 1971 Industrial Relations Act in London.
7 March – Following the recent protests in London, some 10,000 striking workers protested in Glasgow against the Industrial Relations Bill.
8 March – The Postal workers' strike ended after 47 days.

1 April – The United Kingdom lifted all restrictions on gold ownership. Since 1966 Britons were banned from holding more than four gold coins.
11 April – Ten British Army soldiers were injured in rioting in Derry, Northern Ireland.
19 April – Unemployment reached a post-WWII high of nearly 815,000.
27 April - Eight members of the Welsh Language Society went on trial for destroying English language road signs in Wales.
British Leyland launched the Morris Marina. (BL part nationalised 1975)

1 May -  A bomb planted by the Angry Brigade exploded in the Biba Kensington store.

14 June - Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher's proposals to end free school milk for children aged over seven years were backed by a majority of 33 MPs.

15 June - Several Labour-run councils threatened to increase rates in order to continue the free supply of milk to school children aged over seven years, in reaction to Thatcher's plans to end free milk supply to school children of that age group. Thatcher defends her plans, saying that the change will free more money to be spent on the construction of new school buildings.
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders entered liquidation.
21 June – Britain began new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg.

24 June – The EEC agreed terms for Britain's proposed membership and it was hoped that the nation will join the EEC next year.

8 July – Two rioters were shot dead by British troops in Derry, Northern Ireland.
29 July – The United Kingdom opted out of the Space Race.
30 July – Upper Clyde Shipbuilders workers began to take control of the shipyards in a work-in.

9 August – British security  in Northern Ireland detained hundreds of  suspects and put them into Long Kesh prison - the beginning of an internment without trial policy. Twenty died in the riots that followed.

3 September – Qatar gained indepedence from theUnited Kingdom.
7 September – The death toll in The Troubles of Northern Ireland reached 100 after three years with the death of a 14-year-old girl wounded by a gunshot in crossfire between British soldiers and the IRA. 
24 September – Britain expelled 90 Russian diplomats for spying.

13 October – The British Army began destroying roads between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
23 October – Two women were shot dead by soldiers in Belfastas their car failed to stop at a checkpoint.
28 October: - The House of Commons voted in favour of joining the EEC by a vote of 356-244.
Immigration Act 1971 restricted immigration.

30 October – The Democratic Unionist Party DUP was founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley in Northern Ireland.
31 October – A bomb, probably planted by the Angry Brigade, exploded at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.

November
World's first domestic violence shelter founded in Cheswick, London.

2 December – The Queen's yearly allowance was increased from £475,000 to £980,000.
4 December – McGurk's Bar Bombing: Fifteen people were killed and seventeen injured in a bomb attack that destroyed a bar in Belfast, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during "The Troubles". The Ulster Volunteer Force is believed to have been behind the bombing.
29 December – The United Kingdom gave up its military bases in Malta.

Undated
Inflation stood at a 30-year high of 8.6%.
The government introduced a policy of "Competition and Credit Control", lifting quantitative limits on lending by retail banks and allowing them greater freedom to offer savings accounts,
The government imposed a rent freeze.
Oil overtook coal as the most consumed fuel in Britain for the first time.