[Lawsuit over Stairway to Heaven]

What I find weird is that this is not even the worst case of LZ plagiarism. The Lemon Song, SIBLY, and Nobody's Fault But Mine are much worse cases. Indeed, I find it even more weird that "...Levee..." gives credit to Memphis Minnie, when that song appears to be musically different and somewhat original (lyrics notwithstanding), yet those other 3 tracks I mentioned credit LZ only, when the melodies are very similar to the original songs. NFBM is credited to Page/Plant, when the melody is based note for note on the BWJ original song. TLS is the same story as there is nothing original about the melody.

Why, then, are some tracks credited partially to others, and some are not?

Blind Willie Johnson didn't write NBFBM. It's a traditional spiritual that pre-dates his recording.

[Lawsuit over Stairway to Heaven]

On my copy of Truth, Beck admits to stealing the "Ain't Superstitious" riff from Howlin' Wolf, but justifies it by claiming "but he doesn't mind because I asked him". I'm not sure if I'd call that "doing the right thing".

Besides that, the song

borrows significantly from Willie Dixon's song of the same name (

), yet it's credited to Beck/Stewart. Hmmm.

I agree. Their own songs and reworkings of others' songs are so brilliant, it's a shame that they were not more careful with proper credits. Pay the money to use the songs and reap more (untarnished) glory down the road.

I have original vinyl of Jeff Beck's Truth and he credits people right on the back of the sleeve, so obviously some people were managing or at least trying to do the right thing.

But just because Zep magpied some song ideas doesn't mean they took Taurus.

Jeffrey Rod's (whatever happened to him?) Rock My Plimsoul is pretty much B.B. King's Rock Me Baby. No word on who B.B. nicked it from. :-)

[Lawsuit over Stairway to Heaven]

Apparently the judge blasted Spirit's lawyer. Now look, I am all for giving artist's credit, and Jimmy was a bit of a jerk in 68 for things like "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" and "Dazed and Confused."

Its good Holmes and Baez got credit there. This is a different thing entirely, though. Jimmy surely was influenced by "Taurus", but he changed the riff enough to the point where it is quite different. The rest of the song also could not be more different. You cannot honestly say "Taurus" and "Stairway" are similar in any capacity as songs.

Joan Baez didn't write BIGLY.

Page heard it on an album of hers where she had credited it as Traditional. Page did his arrangement and likewise credited it as Traditional (arr. Page). So if anybody is responsible for the credit problem on BIGLY it is Baez. LZ simply used the only credit they knew for it on the debut which was Traditional. I don't know what else they could have done since Baez had not credited it properly in the first place.

It's interesting how these things get so mixed up even for Zeppelin fans.

[Hot pics of Jimmy]

It's a Fender XII.

I'm not absolutely certain but believe that is correct. It is the one and only occasion I've ever seen him with it.

According to the Brad Tolinski book Page used this guitar in the studio for Thank You, The Song Remains the Same and Stairway. The Beck HOF induction was it's first public outing though.