The Almighty Led Zeppelin

davestar

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2001
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I assume that most of Page's plagarism is common knowledge, but then again there's a ton of blind Zeppelin worship floating around these forums. For the uninitiated:

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" - A folk song by Anne Bredon, this was originally credited as "traditional, arranged by Jimmy Page," then "words and music by Jimmy Page," and then, following legal action, "Bredon/Page/Plant."
"Black Mountain Side" - uncredited version of a traditional folk tune previously recorded by Bert Jansch.
"Bring It On Home" - the first section is an uncredited cover of the Willie Dixon tune.
"Communication Breakdown" - apparently derived from Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown."
"Custard Pie" - uncredited cover of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down," with lyrics from Sleepy John Estes's "Drop Down Daddy."
"Dazed And Confused" - uncredited cover of the Jake Holmes song (see The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes).
"Hats Off To (Roy) Harper" - uncredited version of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down."
"How Many More Times" - Part one is an uncredited cover of the Howlin' Wolf song (available on numerous compilations). Part two is an uncredited cover of Albert King's "The Hunter."
"In My Time Of Dying" - uncredited cover of the traditional song (as heard on Bob Dylan's debut).
"The Lemon Song" - uncredited cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" - Wolf's publisher sued Zeppelin in the early 70s and settled out of court.
"Moby Dick" - written and first recorded by Sleepy John Estes under the title "The Girl I Love," and later covered by Bobby Parker.
"Nobody's Fault But Mine" - uncredited cover of the Blind Willie Johnson blues.
"Since I've Been Lovin' You" - lyrics are the same as Moby Grape's "Never," though the music isn't similar.
"Stairway To Heaven" - the main guitar line is apparently from "Taurus" by Spirit.
"White Summer" - uncredited cover of Davey Graham's "She Moved Through The Fair."
"Whole Lotta Love" - lyrics are from the Willie Dixon blues "You Need Love."

An interesting read:

Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy

[Edit] Ha, I forgot I even posted this. I'm as big a (sane) Zep fan as you can find - own every studio album, many live recordings, bootlegs, symphonic Zeppelin, saw Jimi Page with the Black Crowes, etc. I did't recently discover this info on the intarweb (as someone put), I've known about Page's borrowing from the Delta Blues greats for years.

I thought it would be fun to see how people would react to this info, given the seemingly blind idol worship of Zeppelin that I see on ATOT so often. I think Zep should be appreciated for what they were - a band with an unrivaled chemistry and live show that wrote/compiled great rock tunes - and not for what weren't - the most innovative songwriters of all time.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
1
0
go cry.


i didn't see a song off house of the holy, and since that was zeppelins best record, zeppelin still pwns.
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
You just unsettled the gods by bad mouthing Zeppelin. Put on your flame retardant suit, it's about to get hot in here.
 

timswim78

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2003
4,330
1
81
Led Zeppelin isn't the only group in history to do this, and they made tons of great songs without borrowing from anyone. As I see it, they just took stuff to a new level. Sort of like Vanilla Ice did with "Under Pressure." just / kidding However, LZ should have credited and paid royalties to those from whom they took riffs and lyrics. If you ever read one of their biographies, you'll understand why they didn't. Their manager, Peter Grant, was not the most ethical guy, and everyone else in the group was constantly high on smack or drunk.

The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean "borrowed" from each other constantly.

Almost every George Thurgood song was ripped from someone else.
 

Chiropteran

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2003
9,811
110
106
Originally posted by: davestar

"Custard Pie" - uncredited cover of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down," with lyrics from Sleepy John Estes's "Drop Down Daddy."

"Hats Off To (Roy) Harper" - uncredited version of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down."



So, two different zeppelin songs are actually the same song with different lyrics?
 

Boxxcar

Senior member
Mar 19, 2002
364
0
0
Originally posted by: davestar
I assume that most of Page's plagarism is common knowledge, but then again there's a ton of blind Zeppelin worship floating around these forums. For the uninitiated:

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" - A folk song by Anne Bredon, this was originally credited as "traditional, arranged by Jimmy Page," then "words and music by Jimmy Page," and then, following legal action, "Bredon/Page/Plant."
"Black Mountain Side" - uncredited version of a traditional folk tune previously recorded by Bert Jansch.
"Bring It On Home" - the first section is an uncredited cover of the Willie Dixon tune.
"Communication Breakdown" - apparently derived from Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown."
"Custard Pie" - uncredited cover of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down," with lyrics from Sleepy John Estes's "Drop Down Daddy."
"Dazed And Confused" - uncredited cover of the Jake Holmes song (see The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes).
"Hats Off To (Roy) Harper" - uncredited version of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down."
"How Many More Times" - Part one is an uncredited cover of the Howlin' Wolf song (available on numerous compilations). Part two is an uncredited cover of Albert King's "The Hunter."
"In My Time Of Dying" - uncredited cover of the traditional song (as heard on Bob Dylan's debut).
"The Lemon Song" - uncredited cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" - Wolf's publisher sued Zeppelin in the early 70s and settled out of court.
"Moby Dick" - written and first recorded by Sleepy John Estes under the title "The Girl I Love," and later covered by Bobby Parker.
"Nobody's Fault But Mine" - uncredited cover of the Blind Willie Johnson blues.
"Since I've Been Lovin' You" - lyrics are the same as Moby Grape's "Never," though the music isn't similar.
"Stairway To Heaven" - the main guitar line is apparently from "Taurus" by Spirit.
"White Summer" - uncredited cover of Davey Graham's "She Moved Through The Fair."
"Whole Lotta Love" - lyrics are from the Willie Dixon blues "You Need Love."

An interesting read:

Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy

Very interesting. I did not know this. However, knowing this now will have no effect on how I still think this band was one of the greatest hard rock bands to take a stage.
 

shimsham

Lifer
May 9, 2002
10,765
0
0
agree with boxxcar on this one.

edit: but ive know this for a long time since i started listening to them.
 

LikeLinus

Lifer
Jul 25, 2001
11,518
670
126
You have to love that site.

It even says "The online music magazine with warped perspectives".

I trust that!
 

myjaja

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2005
3,357
0
0
Originally posted by: shilala
Jimmy was a mega-smackhead satan worshipper, too.
:thumbsup: for the King.

Uh, no he wasn't. Supposably, he followed satanism called Laveyan Satanism, Anton LaVey's philosophy of Satanism. Jimmy page didnt follow that either

Anton Lavey satanism does not have a damn thing to do with worshiping satan. Satan is just used as a figure. Read about it.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Uhh... "The Lemon Song" is an altered cover (different lyrics) of the Robert Johnson song "Travelling Riverside Blues" (a song which they again partially covered [with mostly different lyrics again, but this time a more accurate guitar riff] as the 2nd bonus track of Coda, and this time with the correct name). I didn't know who Page stole the lyrics from.
I have a good quality vinyl rip of the Johnson 1930's original, along with Eric Clapton's masterful cover from his album "Me and Mr. Johnson" (edit: I own that Clapton album -- excellent).


 

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
66
91
Wow, a rock band covering old blues tunes! Who woulda thunk!


If you listen to the originals of most of these you can see why LZ deserves accolades for their arrangements. I still like the originals too though.





 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
.. what a bunch of dicks. Makes me wanna to find out a little more about bittorrent and rip them off too. Course I already own every Zepplin CD legit but my reverance for them definity drops a couple notches. Thanks for the info OP which steers me to check out whom they stole from.
 

13Gigatons

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
7,461
500
126
They turned BLUES scrap into Rock masterpieces. That is the GENIUS of Led Zeppelin.

They should have paid royalties though. :thumbsdown:
 

compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,112
930
126
Oh, and wait, there is more. Robert Plant is the leader of the biggest Satanic church in America. ;)

John Bonham...lives forever! :D
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
They turned BLUES scrap into Rock masterpieces. That is the GENIUS of Led Zeppelin.

They should have paid royalties though. :thumbsdown:


How about just giving credit? I'm not sure how music royalites work maybe they did'nt have to.