Led Zeppelin signature song Stairway to Heaven is in the spotlight over
allegations its opening chords were stolen from another work by the band
Spirit. (Reuters)
For music geeks, what has unfolded in a Los Angeles courthouse over the past week has been like some epic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony — except with everyone wearing suits, and way too many lawyers in the room.
First, it was legendary axeman Jimmy Page at the mic. Then his longtime Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones. And on Tuesday, it was their charismatic frontman Robert Plant — whose soaring screech and bare-chested swagger set a standard for 1970s rockers — who took the witness stand to insist that the band did not steal the opening chords of their defining song, “Stairway to Heaven,” from less-famous musicians.
[Health: Foods That Slow Aging & Prevent Disease @iReporterng]
Plant testified that he had no recollection of the 1968 instrumental tune “Taurus,” by the psychedelic rock band Spirit, and that it did not inspire Led Zeppelin’s 1971 hit. “I didn’t remember it then, and I don’t remember it now,” he declared, according to Rolling Stone.
And as for claims that he attended a Spirit concert where he might have heard it — well, Plant noted that he was in a bad car accident only hours later — “part of the windshield buried in the top of my head, which was interesting,” he noted dryly, according to the Independent — and had no memory of the prior evening.
“I don’t have a recollection of mostly anybody I’ve hung out with,” he added, which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, prompted raucous laughter in the gallery.
A courtroom sketch of Robert Plant, left, and Jimmy Page at the trial. (Mona Edwards/Reuters)
Over the past several days, some entertainingly quirky testimony — that has included spontaneous air drum performances, a slew of wry Britishisms and some vivid descriptions of Plant’s mop of wild curls — has distracted somewhat from the seriousness of the copyright infringement claim that the estate of the late songwriter Randy Wolfe, a.k.a. Spirit founder “Randy California,” has leveled against Led Zeppelin.
The two bands toured together in the late 1960s, according to court records. The Zeppelin rockers have maintained that they don’t recall watching Spirit perform or socializing with members of the band. But others — including Spirit bassist Mark Andes and Michael Ware, a fan who testified on behalf of the plaintiff — offered conflicting recollections. Ware testified last week that he saw Plant at a Spirit show at the Mother’s Club in Birmingham, England, the Wrap reported. (And how could Ware be sure the man he saw was Plant, in the midst of a jam-packed venue more than 40 years ago? Because he spotted Plant’s “distinctive long, corkscrew blond hair,” of course.)
But even if Plant had heard Spirit perform “Taurus” live, he maintained he couldn’t have transcribed the notes for his guitarist and songwriting partner Page. When defense attorney Peter Anderson asked Plant if he could read or write music, he laughed, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I haven’t learned that yet,” he said.
Plant then recounted the creation story of “Stairway to Heaven,” replete with all the evocative nostalgia and mysticism that diehard Zep fans might hope for.
[News: Man dies in cinema while watching The Conjuring 2]
Plant echoed Page’s testimony, according to reports, noting that the song was actually born when Page first played the opening notes while the men sat by a fire at Headley Grange — a rural recording and rehearsal retreat in England that was frequented by other popular bands at the time, including Fleetwood Mac and Genesis. (This tiny detail about geography galvanized rock nerds around the world, since legend has long held that the song was written at the Plant family vacation home, a Welsh cabin called Bron-Yr-Aur, which later lent its name to a pair of other Led Zeppelin songs and became a pilgrimage site for serious Zepheads.)
Plant said he had already been forming the lines that would become the song’s opening lyrics — a couplet that channeled “the natural, old, almost unspoken” culture of the Welsh landscape, according to the Los Angeles Times. Plant’s lines were paired with Page’s riff, and the song, an eight-minute anthem rich with Celtic iconography, began to take shape.
Source: Washington Post
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For music geeks, what has unfolded in a Los Angeles courthouse over the past week has been like some epic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony — except with everyone wearing suits, and way too many lawyers in the room.
First, it was legendary axeman Jimmy Page at the mic. Then his longtime Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones. And on Tuesday, it was their charismatic frontman Robert Plant — whose soaring screech and bare-chested swagger set a standard for 1970s rockers — who took the witness stand to insist that the band did not steal the opening chords of their defining song, “Stairway to Heaven,” from less-famous musicians.
[Health: Foods That Slow Aging & Prevent Disease @iReporterng]
Plant testified that he had no recollection of the 1968 instrumental tune “Taurus,” by the psychedelic rock band Spirit, and that it did not inspire Led Zeppelin’s 1971 hit. “I didn’t remember it then, and I don’t remember it now,” he declared, according to Rolling Stone.
And as for claims that he attended a Spirit concert where he might have heard it — well, Plant noted that he was in a bad car accident only hours later — “part of the windshield buried in the top of my head, which was interesting,” he noted dryly, according to the Independent — and had no memory of the prior evening.
“I don’t have a recollection of mostly anybody I’ve hung out with,” he added, which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, prompted raucous laughter in the gallery.
A courtroom sketch of Robert Plant, left, and Jimmy Page at the trial. (Mona Edwards/Reuters)
Over the past several days, some entertainingly quirky testimony — that has included spontaneous air drum performances, a slew of wry Britishisms and some vivid descriptions of Plant’s mop of wild curls — has distracted somewhat from the seriousness of the copyright infringement claim that the estate of the late songwriter Randy Wolfe, a.k.a. Spirit founder “Randy California,” has leveled against Led Zeppelin.
The two bands toured together in the late 1960s, according to court records. The Zeppelin rockers have maintained that they don’t recall watching Spirit perform or socializing with members of the band. But others — including Spirit bassist Mark Andes and Michael Ware, a fan who testified on behalf of the plaintiff — offered conflicting recollections. Ware testified last week that he saw Plant at a Spirit show at the Mother’s Club in Birmingham, England, the Wrap reported. (And how could Ware be sure the man he saw was Plant, in the midst of a jam-packed venue more than 40 years ago? Because he spotted Plant’s “distinctive long, corkscrew blond hair,” of course.)
But even if Plant had heard Spirit perform “Taurus” live, he maintained he couldn’t have transcribed the notes for his guitarist and songwriting partner Page. When defense attorney Peter Anderson asked Plant if he could read or write music, he laughed, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I haven’t learned that yet,” he said.
Plant then recounted the creation story of “Stairway to Heaven,” replete with all the evocative nostalgia and mysticism that diehard Zep fans might hope for.
[News: Man dies in cinema while watching The Conjuring 2]
Plant echoed Page’s testimony, according to reports, noting that the song was actually born when Page first played the opening notes while the men sat by a fire at Headley Grange — a rural recording and rehearsal retreat in England that was frequented by other popular bands at the time, including Fleetwood Mac and Genesis. (This tiny detail about geography galvanized rock nerds around the world, since legend has long held that the song was written at the Plant family vacation home, a Welsh cabin called Bron-Yr-Aur, which later lent its name to a pair of other Led Zeppelin songs and became a pilgrimage site for serious Zepheads.)
Plant said he had already been forming the lines that would become the song’s opening lyrics — a couplet that channeled “the natural, old, almost unspoken” culture of the Welsh landscape, according to the Los Angeles Times. Plant’s lines were paired with Page’s riff, and the song, an eight-minute anthem rich with Celtic iconography, began to take shape.
Source: Washington Post
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