Friday, February 26, 2016
In Plagiarism Lawsuit, Jimmy Page Describes the Creation of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"
Hollywood Reporter: On Thursday, Led Zeppelin guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page gave a remarkable declaration in court where he admits to discovering a copy of Spirit's first album in his record collection. He's currently fending off a lawsuit brought by the heirs of Spirit's own guitarist, Randy Craig Wolfe, who contend that the famous song "Stairway to Heaven" derived from a 2-minute, 37-second instrumental titled "Taurus" from Spirit's 1968 album.
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I remember coming across something about this same issue awhile ago. At the time it was presented as a theory and not a lawsuit and I found myself siding with Spirit, after all the version of events in the story I read basically boiled down to Led Zeppelin stealing at least part of the song of a less successful band. Even though I was siding with Spirit something seemed a bit off about the story, I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was at the tine but looking back on it after reading this article it was that lack of motive for Led Zeppelin to steal the song. In that old piece it was pretty much attributed to “they stole it because they could.” That entire situation is certainly possible but after reading this article I find myself siding more with Led Zeppelin. It certainly seems less likely that they took the song and they actually provided evidence.
So much of music history involves borrowing, stealing and plagiarising of other musical influences from artists in both the mainstream and out of the spotlight. This semester I have been taking a class about the roots of rock and roll and it is amazing how so little in music is completely original. Most young artists learn by copying the greats of their time, so there’s no question that stylistic choices will be inherited. There is also the aspect of time: over time, people forget where songs come from, or subconsciously remember a tune independent of its origin. This has lead in part to many songs using the same melody or lyrics of an earlier song and being copyrighted as a new one nonetheless. Contemporary data keeping and the tireless work of musicologists has made it much easier to track down the origins of a song, bringing us many of the lawsuits of modern day. In the case of Led Zepplin however, it seems perfectly possible that both artists created a nearly identical tune, without ever hearing the other. Maybe they were both inspired by the same artists as a child, or maybe we can’t find an explanation, but when a song seems to copy another, it usually isn’t as cut and dry as we’d like to think.
Reading this article, I was struck by the sheer complexity of intellectual property arguments in a court of law. From Robert Plant having to exhume his no doubt insane record collection, to Led Zeppelin having to defend its use of a common broken arpeggio in the iconic opening of "Stairway to Heaven, " this case sounds like a mess to sift through. Because creative material, or rather, the conditions under which creative material is created, is so subjective, proving whether or not Jimmy Page might have taken a few liberties with his influences or not soon becomes much more of a complicated tale. Adding to all this mess is the fact that this lawsuit has been filed 40 years after the fact, which both muddles the memories of Led Zeppelin's slightly less than adolescent members, and the facts concerned. The case also is complicated by the fact that two songs are in fact, very alike in sections, but that the judge may not, depending on the strength of each attorney's case, or lack thereof, even listen to the tracks in question.
So I’d love to get into the topic of originality and artistic integrity (and I no doubt will) but first I have to ask the question. Why now? 45 years later you decide to file a lawsuit, it takes nearly half a decade for that copyright infringement to mean something to you? Did Wolfe not hear arguably the most iconic song in Rock & Roll history for that long? Either prospect to me is a little bizarre at the least, and completely derailing to Wolfe’s whole case at it’s most damaging.
Even so, accepting the fact that there are similarities between the songs, Led Zeppelin has a long and proud history of borrowing inspiration from other artists. In 1972, when they were sued for copyright infringement on ‘The Lemon Song’ they were able to settle out of court, recognizing the influences there were on the song from Howlin’ Wolf. None the less, ‘Killing Floor’ (the song they had drawn inspiration from) and ‘The Lemon Song’ are very different songs. Led Zeppelin is one of those bands that created album after album a series of new and interesting works, and if Jimmy Page and Robert Plant are fighting for their integrity on this one, I have little choice but to believe them.
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