First of all, let's get one thing straight - I am and always have been a huge Led Zeppelin fan. I know all their songs by heart, I’ve been playing their repertoire since I first picked up an instrument and I really think that they are one of the most creative and most important bands in the whole history of rock music. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, as well as John Paul Jones and even Bonham, wrote some of the greatest songs in history of popular music. But what about those they didn’t actually write themselves, but said they did?
Some time ago I saw couple of videos on Youtube with the title “Led Zeppelin plagiarism”. I must admit, I was astounded by the claims in the videos, but most of them made a pretty convincing point. I’m gonna pick those that really cast doubt on Zeppelin’s, especially Page’s, honesty. So, here they are:
First, the most obvious of all - “Dazed and Confused” was written by the folk-rock singer Jake Holmes and released as a track in his debut album "The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes” in 1967. That same year Holmes opened for The Yardbirds in a show in New York where Jimmy Page heard the song. The song was rearranged and later became one of Led Zeppelin best-known songs, the debt to Jake Holmes however went largely unacknowledged by the band until 2012.
Second, another number from their debut album - “Baby I’m Gonna Leave You”, a song originally written by Anne Bredon in the late fifties and publicly performed on a live folk-music radio show, The Midnight Special, on radio station KPFA. Janet Smith, another folk singer, developed her own version of the song and performed it on the same radio show some time later, catching the attention of Joan Baez who used the song on Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1 (1963). The song was initially credited as "Traditional, arr. Baez" but properly attributed on Baez' 1964 sheet music, “The Joan Baez Song Book”. When Zeppelin first recorded the song it was credited “Traditional, arr. Page”, but soon after it was changed to “words and music by Jimmy Page”. When Bredon’s son knocked on their door with an attorney by his side at the beginning of the 80’s, the credits “magically” changed to Bredon/Page/Plant. How did Plant’s name suddenly appear as a co-author is another question, but Bredon received a substantial back-payment in royalties.
Third, one of my favorite blues songs ever written - “Since I’ve been loving you” from their third album. You can change the order of words “from seven to eleven”, but does that save you from infringement of copyright? Moby Grape were the “victims” this time.
Fourth, again from their first album - “Black Mountain Side”, an acoustic instrumental credited to Jimmy Page. This time he only changed one word in the title, since the original song was called “Black Waterside”, an Irish traditional song recorded and performed by Bert Jansch. The story is that Al Stewart taught Page Jansch’s adaptation of the song (the DADGAD tuning version) during a tea-break. Jansch sued Page, but since he didn’t have rights over the song (it is traditional) he couldn’t win in court. However, he said that Page "ripped me off, didn't he? Or let's just say he learned from me."
Fifth, one of the most famous Zeppelin songs - “Whole Lotta Love” was credited to Page/Plant and appeared on their second album from 1969. The story behind this song is particularly interesting because it’s a double steal. In 1966 The Small Faces “wrote” a song called “You Need Loving”, which was very, very similar to Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love” from 1963. But their version is much more different from Dixon’s than Zeppelin’s from the version by The Small Faces”, especially in the vocal phrasing and expression. Here are all of the three songs for you to compare and make up your own opinion on who stole more:
I can go on, but I’m not preparing a lawsuit against Jimmy Page, so I think that this is enough for now. In their defense, it was much more common to “adapt” (or "adopt") songs back then, than it is now. Led Zeppelin were not the only band that “borrowed” songs. Their main “rivals” in the 70’s were Deep Purple and they weren't sincere always either. You probably know “Child in time”, one of the great hymns of hard rock and on of the biggest hits by Purple. It was signed by Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice, but I’m not sure that they were unfamiliar with the American band “It’s a Beautiful Day” and their song “Bombay Calling”. Have a listen to this song and judge for yourselves if it is a coincidence or not that the riff is practically the same:
Of course, it is still the wrong thing to do despite the fact that other people do it too. In my defense, I’m not a hater - I love Led Zeppelin and most of the songs they actually did write themselves. Listen to this cover of John Paul Jones’ “No Quarter” that I did with my band 8 years ago. I don’t think a hater could play it with such passion as I (we) did:
