Wonderfully studious article/thesis from Willard's Wormholes this morning about the Led Zeppelin copywriter infringements and lifting of musical influences, plain stealing in some cases and so well put together really worth checking out.

ZEPPELIN TOOK MY BLUES AWAY Trading Cards – An Illustrated History Of Led Zeppelin’s Copyright Indiscretions! + A 25-Track Various Artists Collection CD

April 8, 2017 – 22:15

FROM 2014: They’re one of rock’s greatest bands. They’re also one of rock’s worst… when it comes to properly crediting their sources of inspiration. Led Zeppelin’s many incidents of copyright infringement are legendary. There are those who have called it outright theft, and have sworn in a court of law that Led Zeppelin (primarily Jimmy Page and Robert Plant) have repeatedly taken credit for writing music that wasn’t their’s to take credit for. And, many of those cases have been vindicated. Of course… this is not to take away from Led Zeppelin’s greatness; the amazing arrangements, renditions, covers, interpretations, performances and history they’ve created and been a part of. But, the truth is they’ve become rich partly from royalties they were never entitled to. Jimmy Page was uncharacteristically candid on the subject when he spoke to Guitar Player Magazine in 1993, downplaying his own culpability while simultaneously throwing his partner, Robert Plant, under the bus. “I always tried to bring something fresh to anything that I used. I always made sure to come up with some variation. In fact, I think in most cases, you would never know what the original source could be. Maybe not in every case – but in most cases. So most of the comparisons rest on the lyrics. And Robert was supposed to change the lyrics, and he didn’t always do that – which is what brought on most of the grief. They couldn’t get us on the guitar parts of the music, but they nailed us on the lyrics. We did, however, take some liberties (laughs), I must say.” Note that Page says, “Robert was supposed to change the lyrics…” which might accidentally say a lot more about their process than Page intended.

INSTRUCTIONS: CLICK EACH CARD BELOW FOR A NEW POP-UP PAGE!Trading Card #1 is below, to illustrate what you’ll find with each card. Click for a pop-up enlargement. Streaming players of the songs are provided for comparisons. Collect Them All! (plus a bonus card)!

TRADING CARD #1: Jake Holmes (Click For A Pop-Up Enlargement)

LED ZEPPELIN “Dazed And Confused” 1969

JAKE HOLMES “Dazed And Confused” 1967


CLICK THEM ALL!
  

click a card, any card… PLUS…
Zeppelin Took My Blues Away (2014)
25 Tracks Led Zeppelin Took To The Bank

Many of these tracks, which form the basis for quite a number of Led Zeppelin’s earlier recordings, have found their way onto “Roots Of” Zep collections before, so this gathering is nothing new. Many already know this story, and these songs, but those that haven’t stayed abreast of the decades of abuse Zep has endured for their costly “borrowing” from others just might be shocked at what they hear on this collection. Of course, musicians borrow from each other all the time. Zeppelin were just way too blatant about it, and way too often took the credit (and royalties) for themselves. And, depending on how you slice it, this is only the half of it. On its own, this is a fun, mostly old blues collection made up of all the original songs heard on these pages… with a strangely familiar twist.

THANKS: check it out here Willards Wormholes Zep cards