-
What about those Brits, huh?! No, not the ones that voted to exit the EU; Jimmy Page and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. They won a plagiarism suit that was filed against them by a guy (now dead) who said they ripped off his song when they wrote “Stairway to Heaven.” Say it isn’t so, boys! Well, apparently the jury agreed that they didn’t pilfer the melody to the tune.  

You know these kind of cases happen a lot. Johnny Cash lost a case that he plagiarized “Folsum Prison Blues.” Recently the Estate of Marvin Gay won a case against of couple of guys (who I don’t really know.) A really bad loss was when a group called The Verve was found guilty of stealing the Rolling Stones music from “The Last Time” for the Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” It was a terrible judgement! Anyway, I guess a song sometimes reminds you of some other song it’s because they are kind of same song!

Well, I think this case had some merit. Just listen to the first couple minutes of each of these songs.

Taurus by Spirit

Stairway to Heaven

Okay, so what do you think? Pretty damn similar aren’t they? Yet the court said they didn’t steal that riff. Robert Plant wasn’t much help in testifying; he said he was a little foggy during that period. I’ll bet. Apparently he couldn’t even remember that they opened some concerts for Spirit in the late 60’s and hung around with them when this was written. I guess it all comes down to how do you prove, that from a finite set of notes and tunes and stuff, someone intentionally copied it? Don’t know but even Mrs. Dear Leader, who is a gifted musician and song writer, came down on the side of the Zeppelinners.  

Why do I bring this up?  Well, mostly because I really liked Spirit and have VERY fond memories of the summer of ‘69 and their song “I Got a Line On You.” (And Stairway to Heaven is overrated.)

I Got Line on You

Oh sweet youth, wasted on the young!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time to Say Goodbye

-
Image
  "Avoid Becoming an Act of Force and Not of Right . . ."  A Time to Say Goodbye This is not what I wanted to post today but it is what I thought I had to. We have so many issues to deal with in our country but I think this is one we will really need to face in the near future. I take no pleasure in this post. I spent 28 years in the military ostensibly defending the Constitution and being proud of that, I gotta say this is really uncomfortable. We, the Supreme Court, beg to differ That being said, I’m sorry old friend, but it’s finally time to say goodbye. You’ve been around for centuries yet it seems like just yesterday that our best and brightest sat down in a hot, stuffy building in Philadelphia and glued you together from a bunch of mismatched pieces. You have been through wars, depressions, good times and bad. You helped as we went from a small backwater country to the most powerful nation in the world. Your genius was in being almost a gymnast in your flexibility ...
Read more

The Last Leaf

-
Image
  My oldest daughter recently sent me something that, at first blush, is perfect for a leaf watching meditation and it certainly is that. Of course, as you will see, this verse can mean different things to different people and for many different reasons. As for me, as a lot of people have noted, I've had a pretty negative outlook for quite some time (although sadly as one looks around my country, I may have good reason.) So this lovely piece was very timely because it forced me to have an attitude check that I definitely needed. It may not negate the things have made me feel so sour but it reminded me that it's easy to let the minutiae of modern life take on a role well beyond their actual importance.  It said, "Come on, pal, it's time to step back and get a grip, focus on t hings like family, friends and how you are living your life instead of crap you can't control." Alrighty then! Obviously and most importantly this contemplation also speaks to the biggest ...
Read more

A Tale of Two Posts

-
Image
  Take heart . . . I had prepared two different posts for after the election – and I really wish I was posting the other one.  America Just had a Worse Day than This . . . Like most non-Trump voters I am gob smacked by the results. Who knew there were so many people who were so angry and dissatisfied with their lives in our country that they were forced to vote for possibly the most unqualified candidate ever. As a twice-impeached felon who is clearly mentally diminished and who tried to overthrow his previous loss, he is certainly a "interesting" choice. Our two party system; ain't it grand? Perhaps more problematic than his dark outlook on America, however, are the barnacles that are riding along with him. People like Elon Musk, Rob’t  Kennedy Jr. – and the Evangelicals? And, of course, his crackerjack VP, JD Vance.   JD does offer one positive for Trump however. Never thought I’d say this but with him in the wings we REALLY must hope that Trump makes it to 20...
Read more