Time To Get The Led Out... In Court

Earlier this week, the American folk singer Jake Holmes sued Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and the band’s associated publishing and record companies over copyright infringement involving the hazy classic-rock staple “Dazed And Confused,” which Holmes claims was nicked from him when he opened for Page’s pre-Zep band the Yardbirds in 1968. Holmes’ take on the song, which appeared on his 1967 debut “The Above Ground Sound” of Jake Holmes, is above; you can hear the Led Zeppelin version below if you’re far away from a radio station that gets the Led out on a semi-regular basis.

For his part, Page — who’s credited as the track’s lone writer — thinks that these long-simmering accusations are a pile of rubbish; “What’s he got, the riff or whatever?… I haven’t heard Jake Holmes so I don’t know what it’s all about anyway. Usually my riffs are pretty damn original,” he told Musician in 1990. Although some people who were playing with Page at the time might disagree about those assertions:

“We played with Jake in New York and I was struck by the atmosphere of ‘Dazed and Confused.’ I went down to Greenwich Village and bought his album and we decided to do a version,” [Yardbirds drummer Jim] McCarty said. “We worked it out together with Jimmy contributing the guitar riffs in the middle. Don’t you think he’s the riff-master?”

Apparently, Page also bought the album the same day. According to Yardbirds historian Greg Russo, a certain John Alusick witnessed Jimmy Page purchasing it at Bleecker Bob’s Record Store on Bleecker Street. The Yardbirds quickly set about adapting the song that had captured their collective imagination.

Yardbirds singer Keith Relf tinkered with the lyrics while drummer Jim McCarty and Jimmy Page expanded the song structure itself. The song stuck to the original arrangment until the bridge. Even at this point, the fret-tapping acknowledged Holmes’ original. Then Page threw in some eerie effects, bowing his guitar like a violin. Whereas a violin’s neck is curved, a guitar neck is flat. Consequently, Page was only able to bow a couple strings at a time to produce an bizzare melody. When he bowed all six strings, the effect was startling. Strange moaning and whooping sounds were produced. This was a gimmick he had incorporated into his bag of tricks back in his studio days. He had first used it on two tracks on the Little Games LP, “Glimpses” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor.”

To be fair, Page was a rock and roller in the 1960s, so maybe he just doesn’t remember all that. And you have to admit that adamant self-glorification is a better defense than mewling about mixing up research notes!