Singer and songwriter Jake Holmes has filed a copyright infringement case against Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin for stealing his 1967 song Dazed and Confused.
It's puzzling that it took him this long given the striking musical and lyrical similarities between Zeppelin's classic and Holmes original. Page credited himself as sole author of Dazed and Confused when the song was included on Zeppelin's first album in 1969.
As I documented in an earlier post, Holmes shared a bill with Page's Yardbirds in New York City during the summer of 1967, and Dazed and Confused quickly became a part of the Yardbird's live set.
Needless to say, there's a lot of money at stake here. The Led Zeppelin album has sold over 8 million copies in the U.S. to date. Add that worldwide sales plus the song's inclusion of various Zeppelin live albums and compilations and Holmes is looking a substantial payday.
Holmes has stated that he attempted to contact Zeppelin's representatives at various times through the years, but to no avail.
It's good to see justice served after so many years.
Here's a link to the New York Times story.
Here's how the song evolved starting with the version on Holmes' 1967 album The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes:
The Yardbird's version from French TV in early 1968:
And the version Page and the newly formed Zeppelin recorded in the fall of 1968 for release on their debut album:
Jake Holmes (Finally) Sues Led Zeppelin
The Lenny Welch - Beatles Connection
I recently noticed a newspaper article wherein singer Lenny Welch recounted being told that Paul McCartney had based the Beatles' version of A Taste of Honey on Welch's 1962 recording of the song.
Welch is best remembered for his hit Since I Fell For You, but I had never heard his version of A Taste of Honey.
A Taste of Honey served as the instrumental theme of the 1961 film and the 1960 Broadway production of the same name. The Welch version was the first to have lyrics. Along with Look Back in Anger and Room at the Top, A Taste of Honey was one of the realistic "kitchen sink" style of British films from the late '50s and early 60s. It tells the story of a working class girl from the north of England who refuses to conform to societal expectations. Tony Richardson directed both A Taste of Honey and Look Back in Anger.
Fun Fact: A photo of A Taste of Honey playwright Shelagh Delaney was used for the cover of the Smiths' Louder Than Bombs compilation and their 1987 single Girlfriend in a Coma. NOt coindidentally, the Smiths and Delaney both hail from Manchester.
Take a listen and see if you agree that the Fabs' arrangement of the song is closely based on Welch's record: