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Willie Dixon and "Whole Lotta Love" credit


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I was watching It Might Get Loud on DVD, and noticed during the rolling end credits Willie Dixon's name is absent for "Whole Lotta Love". I just checked on the ASCAP site and also noticed Dixon's name is no longer listed among the credits for the song. Anyone know what happened? Did Superhype Music cut a deal with ARC Music?

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That's an interesting find. There now seem to be 2 different entries for "Whole Lotta Love". This one only credits Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham, while this one credits the song to Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Peter Moore. I have no idea who Peter Moore is.

I checked a few other Zep song titles and the writing credits have not changed.

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That's an interesting find. There now seem to be 2 different entries for "Whole Lotta Love". This one only credits Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham, while this one credits the song to Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Peter Moore. I have no idea who Peter Moore is.

I checked a few other Zep song titles and the writing credits have not changed.

The second link credits Sharon Plant not Robert Plant. any clue?

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Okay, I figured out the Peter Moore thing. Moore wrote a song called "Asteroid" in the late '60s. Then, in 1996 a group called Goldbug released a cover of "Whole Lotta Love" which sampled "Asteroid". (

) Therefore, the writing credits were split between Moore and Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham.
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I was watching It Might Get Loud on DVD, and noticed during the rolling end credits Willie Dixon's name is absent for "Whole Lotta Love". I just checked on the ASCAP site and also noticed Dixon's name is no longer listed among the credits for the song. Anyone know what happened? Did Superhype Music cut a deal with ARC Music?

Dixon (or his estate) sued Led Zeppelin and won. Part of that victory was co-songwriting credit.

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I noticed this as well and I asked Steve Jones about the change of credits on WLL back in May 2010 (it's on page 169 of his mysteries thread). Steve, replied that it "could simply be an oversight or a typo as certainly the Dixon estate retains royalty rights associated with it." If Steve reads this thread maybe he has new information.

Robert

www.behindthetoys.com

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Dixon (or his estate) sued Led Zeppelin and won. Part of that victory was co-songwriting credit.

It's no longer listed which is the point of the thread. Music publishers and musicians have been known in the past to sell their credit. I note in 2009, ARC Music was in financial difficulties and was sold to Fuji Entertainment. In 2009 It Might Get Loud was released in cinemas. Around this time Dixon's name was removed from the ASCAP credit. Also of note is Dixon's "You Need Love" which was administered by ARC Music, is now just solely administered by Hoochie Coochie Music. Something happened in 2009. Whether there was a deal done behind closed doors, is now speculation.

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Here's a possible explanation: if I remember correctly, Zeppelin were nailed more by the lyrics than the music of WLL.

And while Jimmy plays the riff from WLL in "Might Get Loud", no words are sung. So technically he hasn't violated Willie Dixon's copyright, since it was always Dixon's lyrics that were at issue, not the music. If someone in the film had sung along, then they would've had to include Willie in the credits.

That's my take on the discrepancy, at least.

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Robert Plant loved the erotic imagery that bluesmen used and the swaggering sexuality expressed in the blues, so much so that he would often lift lines here and there from various blues classics. On occasion, however, he borrowed a little too much. Such is the case with "Whole Lotta Love", which opens Led Zeppelin II. "Whole Lotta Love" was initially credited to Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. In 1985, Willie Dixon sued Led Zeppelin, claiming that "Whole Lotta Love" was largely plagiarized from "You Need Love," written by Dixon and recorded by Muddy Waters as a single for Chess Records in 1962. [1]The opening verse of "Whole Lotta Love":

You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin'

I'm gonna send ya back to schoolin'

Way down inside, honey, you need it

I'm gonna give you my love (2x)

is readily identifiable from Dixon's lyrics for "You Need Love":

I ain't foolin' you need schoolin'

Baby you know you need coolin'

Baby, way down inside, woman you need love

The next verse strays a little from the original, but is still recognizable. Compare "Whole Lotta Love":

You've been learnin' and baby, I been learnin'

All them good times, baby, baby, I've been discernin'

way, way down inside, honey, you need

I'm gonna give you my love (2x)

with "You Need Love":

You've got yearnin' and I got burnin'

Baby you look so sweet and cunning

Baby way down inside, woman you need love

Woman you need love, you've got to have some love

I'm gonna give you some love, I know you need love

Robert Plant also briefly quotes Howlin' Wolf at the end of "Whole Lotta Love" with the lines "Shake for me girl/I wanna be your back door man." Actually, Plant was once again quoting Willie Dixon, as both of the songs "Shake for Me" and "Back Door Man," though popularized by Howlin' Wolf, were written by Dixon. When the lawsuit was filed, a lawyer for the Led Zeppelin's record company, Atlantic Records, offered only the weak defense, "It's strange that someone would wait all that time [to file a suit]." [2]The case was settled out of court and recent Led Zeppelin releases have given songwriting credit for "Whole Lotta Love" to Willie Dixon along with all four members of Led Zeppelin. Though Led Zeppelin had no doubt heard Muddy Waters's version of "You Need Love", the version of this song that appears to have most directly influenced them was by the Small Faces. The Small Faces released "You Need Loving" in 1966 and despite the slight retitling, this track is a straightforward interpretation of "You Need Love" that stays close to Muddy Waters' version. "You Need Loving" was credited to "Lane/Marriot," demonstrating that Led Zeppelin weren't the only ones who were reluctant to give proper songwriting credit. In a 1977 interview with Ray Coleman, Robert Plant referred to Steve Marriot, the lead singer for the Small Faces, as "the master of white contemporary blues." Perhaps competing with Marriot, Robert Plant sounds very much like the Small Faces' vocalist during the climactic vocal break ("Way down inside, woman, you need... lo-o-ove"). The Small Faces' "You Need Loving" included a similar vocal break, but Robert Plant draws out this line even more than Marriot had. Still, Plant expressed humility in the Coleman interview, "I could never be compared with Steve Marriot because he's too good, unfortunately! He's got the best white voice, for sheer bravado and balls." [3}

Notes

  1. ^ "Dixon Sues Led Zep Over Hit Records," Variety 317 (Jan. 30, 1985), p. 78.
  2. ^ Michael Goldberg, "Willie Dixon Sues Led Zeppelin over 'Whole Lotta Love',"Rolling Stone (March 14, 1985), p. 12.
  3. ^ quoted in Robert Godwin, Led Zeppelin: The Press Reports... (Burlington, Ontario: CG Publishing, 1973), p. 386.

From My link

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Here's a possible explanation: if I remember correctly, Zeppelin were nailed more by the lyrics than the music of WLL.

And while Jimmy plays the riff from WLL in "Might Get Loud", no words are sung. So technically he hasn't violated Willie Dixon's copyright, since it was always Dixon's lyrics that were at issue, not the music. If someone in the film had sung along, then they would've had to include Willie in the credits.

That's my take on the discrepancy, at least.

Bingo. We have a winner.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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