Originally Posted by Fdemetrio
Guys, make me happy, SOMEBODY please acknowledge this! He has a case against both artists, if we go there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWeejHJxGjs



I listened and yes, there's similarities, and I see your argument. "If Spirit can sue Led Zep then why can't Graham sue Spirit" --and then perhaps no one sues anyone because it becomes apparent that the 2-3 bars of music is fairly common.

There are probably hundreds more, post Spirit/Led Zep, like this Dolly Parton song from 1975:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGt0fvYadLQ


Ultimately, Spirit will probably lose because there are tiny differences between the two. If this receives more argumentative weight than intention (on Page's part) then Spirit probably won't sway a jury.

But I do think weight should be on if there was opportunity, motive, an acknowledgement on the part of Page, at the time, etc.

Look..Spirit has a right to feel bitter--there was opportunity and motive, and given the lack of Page ever even acknowledging it, I can understand that bitterness. It's like Paul Simon's blatantly ripping off Martin Carthy's intro to Scarborough Fair and never acknowledging he did so, though he was in England and saw Carthy playing the song live, when "Scarborough Fair" wasn't even on Simon's radar. Rita Coolidge has a right to be bitter over Stigwood/Gordon and eventually Clapton for ripping off "Time" and using it for the second (instrumental) half of Layla.

Bitterness can be damaging--the fame, the money, goes to someone else....and so wanting recompense seems organic in all of the above.

I wonder if Page had had a conversation with Randy California such as, "hey mate, I like that little arpeggiated part of that instrumental you do Capricorn is it? Taurus? Can I nick it for this frankenstein of a song I'm writing, with like, ten parts in it? Just a few bars? I'll maybe change it a little." ... I wonder--would we be here today with this lawsuit?

I think part of the reason there can be sustained bitterness is that Simon, Page, Gordon, etc..did not AT LEAST attempt SOME FORM of friendly attribution, after their songs changed their careers (in Simon's case*) or made them a bunch of money (in Clapton's and Page's)...


Mike


*Simon would eventually acknowledge his deed and offer retribution to Carthy, decades later.


Last edited by Michael Zaneski; 06/13/19 11:53 AM.
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice

-The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon)
from the song "Songs of Love"
from the album "Casanova" (1996)