Talk:List of Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others

Improving the Title and/or Intro
My goal in creating this list was (in part) to make an objective, deeply informative (on the narrow topic at hand) reference that could be used by people trying to understand or discuss Led Zeppelin's "borrowing" of songs. We need it to be as NPoV as possible: It shouldn't focus on either attacking or defending Led Zeppelin's "borrowing", it should simply document it, the good and the allegedly bad. For example, Zeppelin correctly credited Babe I'm Gonna Leave You from the very start, made an honest mistake on You Shook Me (they were covering a song by Joan Baez that she had attributed to "traditional", but it was actually written by Anne Bredon, her fault, not theirs), and with Dazed and Confused lifted a whole, modern song by Jake Holmes without crediting it, and lost in court.

But as it is, the name and description may actually go so far in being neutral that they obscure the objective, which is indeed to document the way Zeppelin so often took part or all of a song and made it their own (literally or figuratively). We might need to either add to the description, or change the name, to make it clearer. "Songs Led Zeppelin Stole" obviously would be way too PoV. And unfair, too. Songs Led Zeppelin Borrowed might be better, but still seems to draw conclusions, just in a more passive-aggressive way.

So I'm looking for some feedback from you guys, please reply to this discussion with suggestions for expanding the description, or changing the name, to make it clearer while still not drawing conclusions. — Kaz (talk) 15:47, 25 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi, your first para above confuses "Babe" which was an honest mistake following Joan Baez, and "Shook Me, which was correctly attributed. Anyways, this is a great page. I suggest you somehow work in something about "songs that were possibly inspired by the work of others", to include stuff like the Taurus thing. Just because the judge wa sin their favour, doesn't mean it shouldn't be on the list. 24.114.22.146 (talk) 02:42, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Audio Clips of Borrowed Songs
While the Stairway to Heaven case is still in court, all you have to do is click the Spirit clip in the article and you can hear that it probably inspired those chord changes in Stairway. Having this example in the article is the most powerful, useful, and clearest documentation of the relationship between the two songs.

For the other songs, I linked to examples on YouTube. But not only is this frowned upon, it also requires the user noticing the citation and following it. What I'd really like to do is make a little ogg audioclip of EACH source song (less than ten seconds, for fair use reasons) to include in this article.

But doing that for 20+ songs is going to be a lot of work. So I'm hoping you will help out. Just copy the code from the Stairway example, make a nine-ish second clip of one of the other songs, and include it in that entry. I'll be so thrilled with the help that I'm going to make a special Thank You graphic to post on your own user page to honour your contribution. — Kaz (talk) 16:00, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

"Stairway" is not related to "Taurus" -- they share a chord progression that has been around for centuries. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.248.160.241 (talk) 23:22, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
The comments on "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" do not refer to this song but another. It is factually incorrect and dishonest to pass off those comments as being about "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp". 154.70.152.97 (talk) 08:20, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Stairway to Heaven Intro similarities
I would like to add that the intro part also bears some resemblance to Italian composer Giovanni Battista Granata's "Sonata di Chittarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo". The "Stairway" intro appears to be a combination of the bass line on "Taurus" plus the lead melody on Granata's piece from the 17th century. Do a search on Youtube for 'origin of stairway to heaven' and you'll find it. Listen closely at around the 0:32 mark.

There's also a song by Slade called "Dapple Rose" from the album Play It Loud on which the verse uses the same descending chord progression. This one was released before "Stairway" in 1970.

Another example is the verse on Johnny River's "Summer Rain" from 1967 and of course, the Beatles had already tried something similar on "Michelle".

I know there's another song from the period '65-'69 by a British-Invasion band that has a similar intro played on an harpsichord. The problem? I just forgot who the heck played AND the name of the song! Can anyone help? The Action? The Attack? The Creation? The Herd? Timebox? Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich? The Hollies? The Nice? Small Faces? The Animals? Thundercalp Newman? Traffic? Spencer Davis Group? The Yardbirds? The Kinks? Chapa1985 (talk) 21:07, 18 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Jimmy Page has submitted as his evidence a demo recording of "Spring Is Near" recorded in 1960 for Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, which demonstrated his use of a descending chromatic line and arpeggiated chord. I think if you're going to add songs that bear a passing resemblance to a common chord progression post-1960, you're wasting your time. 70.90.16.115 (talk) 04:44, 19 March 2016 (UTC)


 * What I wanted to get by is to let more people know about the similarity of the Stairway intro to Granata's piece which bears a similarity not to the descending progression but to the lead melody! That's why it is interesting. Chapa1985 (talk) 14:33, 19 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Pareidolia. Look it up. People hearing patterns in songs when the pattern doesn't really exist. There's too much of that going on. 70.90.16.115 (talk) 21:15, 19 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I don't think it applies in this case. It is pretty clear that the "Stairway" intro mostly combines the bass line on "Taurus" with the lead melody heard at 0:32 on "Sonata di Chittarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo" with only some minor differnces. That's the point. If it wasn't so similar, then nobody would have bothered to post a Youtube video about it! Chapa1985 (talk) 00:11, 20 March 2016 (UTC)
 * We should also be clear that Zeppelin opened for Spirit when they were playing Taurus, before Stairway was written. And the similarity is far beyond any of the other examples cited here. It's not simply an example of a contrary motion arpeggio, but THE SAME contrary motion arpeggio, played by a band that Zeppelin opened for, a band that Zeppelin covered in its early live sets. It is also the subject of a lawsuit based on the similarity, right now, where a judge found it was sufficiently similar to call a jury. Obviously, this is noteworthy. — Kaz (talk) 02:37, 17 April 2016 (UTC)


 * If you juxtapose the two recordings (Taurus/Stariway intro) and play them, they match perfectly! As for Granata's part at 0:32, the lead melody is quite similar but it may be in a different key.Chapa1985 (talk) 14:48, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Since the verdict was in the bands favor, Should the song still be listed here ? Mlpearc Phone ( open channel ) 03:26, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
 * No because the article title says "songs written or inspired by others" - the jury unanimously have said otherwise. 70.90.16.115 (talk) 06:14, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
 * The song was not written or inspired by anyone but Zeppelin, I do not understand your comment.  Mlpearc  ( open channel ) 16:43, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Well, they've been cleared of copyright infringement, so that leaves out "written by others". My feeling (OR) is that Page was probably "inspired" by Spirit and "Taurus", but not enough to constitute infringement.  It's unlikely that a RS will ever confirm this, so I'd say it's time to remove STH. —Ojorojo (talk) 17:56, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
 * It also seems appeals are forthcoming, the entry can always be re-added pending those outcomes, naturally.  Mlpearc  ( open channel ) 18:15, 24 June 2016 (UTC)

How Many More Times riff
The lyrics are clearly based on Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years" while the riff is based on another tune by Wolf called "No Place to Go" which had been covered by Fleetwood Mac already on their 1968 debut album. It would be nice to add this info but I'm not sure if there's a reliable source about it. Chapa1985 (talk) 15:31, 24 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Responded at Talk:How Many More Times. —Ojorojo (talk) 18:10, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

Moby Dick riff
It has also been said that the main riff is similar to the one on Bobby Parker's 1961 song "Watch Your Step". Chapa1985 (talk) 19:08, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

How The West Was Won
Should also include "Goin' Down Slow" in the Whole Lotta Love medley. The Wikipedia page credits the song to James B. Oden. I did not make the edit because I am unsure of the attributions. Jameywiki (talk) 02:53, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Etymology
Portmanteau word from Plant and Page, English musicians Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, who purloined the words, writings, or ideas of another, and passed them off their own, thus engaging in plagiarism.

Pronunciation

 * British English

Derived terms

 * plagiarism
 * plagiarist

How about a list of songs they wrote without pinching anything!
I know music doesn't spring from nowhere, but I'm trying to think of a song they wrote that isn't on this list! Anyways, great idea for a page (pardon the pun), and well done on the research. 24.114.22.146 (talk) 02:37, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Reformatting
The layout of this article is clumsy to edit and fails WP:COLOR. A reformat of the first album is available here. I also take issue with the poorly-defined scope of this list: Which kinds of copying or inspiration should be listed? –LaundryPizza03 ( d c̄ ) 21:29, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

Your Time Is Gonna Come
CameronDol (talk) 19:57, 7 March 2021 (UTC)Most sources state that the track is purely original Led Zeppelin material although the riff is clearly and exactly same as the main riff on “Dear Mr. Fantasy” by Traffic. Mr. Fantasy was released in 1967 two years prior to the 1969 release of Led Zeppelin’s self titled debut album. Anybody that listens to the song should pick that up immediately, yet there is no mention of it here and little mention of it anywhere else.CameronDol (talk) 19:57, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

Organization

 * I'm glad someone got around to fixing this – the old version was hard on the eyes. Just curious though, since it's a list of songs, wouldn't an alphabetical list by song be more appropriate? —Ojorojo (talk) 15:32, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

Communication Breakdown is based on Eddie Cochran's Nervous Breakdown
Indeed. 197.87.135.181 (talk) 13:21, 28 June 2023 (UTC)