Stairway to Heaven
Taurus
Stairway to Heaven- I love that song- Four generations of
people have loved that song. You can’t think of Led Zeppelin without thinking
of the song. It was recorded 43 years ago and has been wildly popular ever
since. No doubt that the song made the band millions of dollars through the
years. It is surprising to learn that another band says that Zeppelin stole the
opening chords of the song from one of their songs.
The controversy was sparked when Zeppelin decided that they
would release a re-mastered version of the song. A lawsuit was filed to stop
the re-master until the case was heard in court. Lawyers for a guitarist in the
band Spirit are suing for copyright infringement. The guitarist is now dead;
however, his survivors have decided to bring the suit up. The lawyers contend
that the group brought up the infringement in an interview the guitarist did in
1997. Other than that mention, there was no public dispute about it and fans
had no clue that ill feelings were brewing behind the scenes.
I don’t know what irks me more right now. Despite the fact that
I would rather it not be true, the beginning of Stairway to Heaven does sound
eerily like the song by Spirit. Spirit recorded the song in 1968 and Zeppelin
released Stairway to Heaven in 1971. That irritates me to no end for many
reasons, but we’ll get to that in a minute. The other thing that irritates me
about it is that all of a sudden, after 43 years of silence about it and after
four decades and generations falling in love with the song, someone decides to
get their dander up about it. Don’t you think it would have been really cool if
you had done something about it at the time instead of waiting until now?
As for stealing someone else’s work, whether an opening riff
or an entire song, it is just pure laziness. No artists should have to worry
that another artist is going to rip him off, especially those who already have
millions of dollars in their bank accounts. Give credit where credit is due.
Actually, that credit is one of the things the lawyers are asking for on the
re-release. That shouldn’t be such a hard thing for Zeppelin to do and it is
the right thing for them to do if the allegations are true.
What is really bothersome is that it was never brought up
before and now is not the time to tarnish the song with a lawsuit. I’m not so
worried about the name of the band being tarnished. They didn’t build their
name on a squeaky clean image, after all. The song is a different story because
it means many things to many people and, well, I don’t know, just leave it
alone now! The time would have been 43 years ago.
Maybe I simply don’t want to believe that Zeppelin ripped
anyone off… Never-mind… of course it could have happened, it happens all the
time with artists, even if it is one of the lowest and most disgusting things
an artist can do. The truth is I just don’t want to hear about it at this late
hour. Let sleeping dogs lie and move on.
I doubt that a single soul ever thought that any of the
members of Led Zeppelin were innocent little boys. Things happened and more
things happened and then John Bonham died and then nothing else happened for
decades. I doubt wagging a finger at them will make them feel bad about any of
the music that they did, including the opening riff from Stairway to Heaven. Robert
Plant is credited with writing the lyrics while Jimmy Page is credited with
writing the music.
A number or rumors followed the release of the song
including one that said if you played the song backwards, it had a satanic
message. Robert Plant noted in interviews that while they were writing the
song, he just started writing the words and when he read them back he jumped
up, apparently surprised that it came from him. People said that it was because
Page and Plant sold their soul to the devil in exchange for Stairway to Heaven.
Indeed, they may have, but not in the way that many people thought. Maybe
setting the record straight now would release them from their contract with the
devil? That is, if they really did steal it.
Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
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