10 Hard Rock Song Lyrics That Nobody Understands

10. If There's A Bustle In Your Hedgerow, Don't Be Alarmed Now

Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin's eight minute magnum opus and global guitar shop staple, ushered in a progressive new decade for rock music and brought fame and fortune to the ex-New Yardbirds in 1971.

With its sweeping three-section structure, building from a clean acoustic and recorder-driven sound into a hard rock crescendo, Stairway charts the narrative of a materialistic woman who has accumulated wealth instead of anything of meaning and value in her life and is trying to buy her stairway to heaven. All good so far.

As the song progresses, this idea is reinforced and listeners are faced with further admonitions against materialism, consumer culture's growth and its lack of spiritual worth, such as 'There's a feeling I get when I look to the west, and my spirit is crying for leaving.' However, as the drums kick in and the song steps up a gear, the section leads in with the lyrics 'If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, it's just a spring clean for the May queen.' While many millions of listeners will have cried out the line, few seem to know what it means.

The best interpretation available seems to be that the hedgerow represents the individual's life, with the lyrics advising a spiritual spring clean of sorts - getting rid of the old and letting in the new. But, as Zeppelin's singer, Robert Plant, has remained persistently tight-lipped on its real meaning over the years, we might never know.