Of Music and Theft: Led Zeppelin

It has been awhile since I posted a Record Guide. I've almost exhausted the artists for whom I can really draft one, and I was recently working on one for Led Zeppelin. I was originally going to address their copyright and plagiarism issues within the Guide, but soon realized that it was a post unto itself.

I am sure many of you are aware of Zeppelin's latest legal woes. This time, though, it is not over a lesser album track. This time it is over what many consider to be the quintessential classic rock song - "Stairway To Heaven." Briefly, Jimmy Page has always claimed in a rather idylic story that he secluded himself in the Welsh countryside and wrote the music to this monolithic slab of rock greatness by the fire. Not so, say attorneys for the estate of one Randy California. California was the guitarist for Spirit, and he wrote a short instrumental entitled "Taurus" in 1968. "Stairway To Heaven" was written sometime around 1971 and was released on Zep's 4th record. The damning evidence, though, comes with opportunity. Led Zeppelin openned for Spirit in the late 60's when California and Spirit would have been performing "Taurus" regularly. One can just envision Page standing on the side of the stage listening to "Taurus" and maybe even subconsciously filing that melody away in his brain. The similarities with "Taurus" are in that acoustic intro before the electric section of "Stairway." Listen for yourself...

"Taurus" by Spirit...


"Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin...


Clearly there is much more to Zeppelin's song. Clearly there is a reason every rock music fan on the planet knows "Stairway" while "Taurus" remains an obscurity. Clearly there are some highly original parts to the multipart "Stairway." But all of that is beside the point. Legally (and morally) speaking, did Page use part of "Taurus" to write part of "Stairway"? If so, the credits should read California/Page/Plant, not simply Page/Plant. That is what the lawsuit claims as well. The stakes are high, of course, considering the still future royalties that "Stairway" will bring in. It is like "Taurus" is a bland, unseasoned plate of scrambled eggs that you whip up quickly at home before rushing out the door to work while "Stairway" is the most delicious, complex omlette you've ever tasted at the finest restaurant in New Orleans. But the omlette still uses some eggs. And the eggs should get some credit for the dish.

Perhaps one could forgive Page and Plant once. Maybe twice? Unfortunately Zeppelin has a pattern of not crediting source material. Below is an incredible video detailing crediting issues that plague Zeppelin's debut album. I recommend watching the entire thing. The "Dazed and Confused" part especially. Wow.



What makes this situation worse is that many of these blues artists whom Zeppelin and other early rock bands took so much inspiration from got screwed financially their entire careers through bad contracts, unscrupulous promotors and producers. Then to get screwed by young admirers who ought to be championing their musical heroes?

Here is an incomplete rundown of the legal history of Zeppelin's songwriting credit troubles:

* "Dazed and Confused" - 1967 song by Jack Holmes. Sued in 2010. Page's earlier band The Yardbirds had played shows with Holmes also on the bill and directly covered the song. Holmes now has co-writing credit post 2010.

* "How Many More Times" - Howlin' Wolf. Now co-credited after a lawsuit.

* "Whole Lotta Love" - Willie Dixon ("You Need Love"). Sued in 1985. Dixon now has co-writing credit on "Whole Lotta Love." This one is more on Robert Plant than Page. The thing that is the same here are lyrics. Plant apparently just started singing Dixon's lyrics in the studio over the music.

* "The Lemon Song" - contains verses from Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor." After a lawsuit, Wolf is now co-credited.

* "Bring It On Home" - Willie Dixon (who wrote the Sonny Boy Williamson song of the same name). Dixon co-credited in 1972 after threat of legal action.

* "In My Time of Dying" - credited to Zeppelin, but it is a traditional song that is in the public domain.

* "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" - Anne Bredon wrote the song. Page claims to have never heard it, but it is the same song. She sued and Zeppelin settled, and she is now co-credited on the song.

So, what is merely inspiration? What is taking a song and making it so different that it becomes something new? What is outright theft? With Led Zeppelin this is difficult. It is not like Zeppelin are hacks. Even with all of these songs aside, the songs that truly are original from Led Zeppelin rank amongst rock's greatest. They are clearly one of the seminal rock bands. When addressing these issues, Jimmy Page always talks about in the whole history of music, songwriters are "inspired" by what came before and then work from those templates to make their own work. It is a tradition in blues music especially to work from earlier pieces and then launch into something your own. As Joe Strummer of The Clash once said, "the only original music ever written was Johann Sebastian Bach." Meaning that everything since has been inspired or reworked from what came before it. Even Mozart wrote many of his piece as "riffs" so to speak off of already existing, lesser compositions by others.

All of that being said, I think that what Zeppelin did is beyond that. As these lawsuits have proven, credit deserves to be shared with these sources. Page, Plant and co. certainly also deserve credit for taking these songs to places way beyond the original source. But the source deserves to share in the credit. And the substantial profit.