"Dazed and Confused" by Jake Holmes court case

What happened with the lawsuit against Jimmy Page by "Dazed and Confused" songwriter Jake Holmes?
I see that on "Celebration Day" "Dazed and Confused" is credited as "Jimmy Page; Inspired by Jake Holmes”.
But Holmes still has no songwriting credit.

 

By now everyone should know, Jimmy Page is a genius. Everything he has ever touched or retouched or remixed shows his pure genius.

As for sharing his songwriting credits, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should open a special wing for Jimmy Page Songwriting. Here he can show all of those who “Song by Jimmy Page; Inspired by …….” Here's where Jake Holmes, Willie Dixon and Randy California etc., can have their proper place in the sun.

 

As far as I know, it was settled out of court, hence the weird credit.

 

http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2:2010cv04789/476306/27/

 

Yeah, the case was dismissed in 2012 at the request of Holmes obviously pursuant to a settlement, but the terms of any settlement were never made public. I hope Holmes got some kind of huge payday because he really deserves the bulk of the publishing royalties that song has generated over the years.

 

Holmes agreed to an out-of-court settlement. He got less than he deserved but I think he was happy to finally see some recognition for his work.

 

Not blaming Holmes, but he waited a million years to bring the action--could have made a boatload more if he had brought this suit years ago--the similarity is undeniable and Page's access, knowledge of and appreciation for Holmes' song are all a matter of record

 

maybe, if everyone page ever ripped off, would sue him, he would be motivated to do some new music to pay off all of his lawsuit losses.

 

Or open the Led Zeppelin vaults and release some real rarities....studio and live material.

 

That might just result in more lawsuits.

 

Didn't at one point Holmes say (before he brought suit), "He can have it" (referring to Page) and in that case he was referencing the bass line (which to what I hear, is the only thing I similar that the two songs have in common).

I guess $ became an issue at some point. Go figure.

 

Indeed. Dazed And Confused is Jake Holmes' song, lock stock and barrel.

More than that, I don't think we'd have a Led Zeppelin without that song. D&C was the platform upon which Page developed LZ's sound in the later-day Yardbirds. Plant's vocal timber sounds remarkably similar to Holmes. Page should have given Holmes 100% of the publishing earnings and another million for the inspiration it gave his career. What a cheap cocoanut.

I'm glad Holmes finally got something... I'd be curious to hear what it was.

 

You're kidding, right? The entire construct/concept of the song with the descending melody (the "bass line" as you refer to it) the primary lyrical line and entire mood is all directly STOLEN from the Holmes song. You honestly don't think a neophyte who'd never heard of this debate wouldn't immediately recognize that Page STOLE the song?

Led Zeppelin apologists are a very odd breed.

 

Pretty much everyone Page ripped off has sued him and received an out of court settlement.

Why is everyone so anxious for Page to release new music? Won't he just rip it off, perpetuating the situation y'all are so pissed at him about?

 

Fighting the International Led Zeppelin machine back in the late-60's or early-70's would have been a daunting and very expensive enterprise. I don't think lawyers typically worked for an "only if we win" percentage back then. Peter Grant probably would have had Holmes whacked.

 

Holmes is quoted as saying "Let him have it" variously. I think it first appeared in the Hammer Of The Gods book. It was presented as a direct quote, supposedly from an interview but I don't know the source. Obviously that was Holmes' attitude for many years because he was aware of the misappropriation from the beginning but took no action. It's good that he got his settlement but it was foolish of him to wait so long.

 

Everybody knows Page STOLE the song. Everybody else also knows that Holmes has made some pretty odd statements about it over the years.

 

It worked out OK for Willie Dixon and Anne Bredon.

 

I'd hardly call myself a LZ "apologist" as I'm not *that* big of a fan. I don't hear a ton of similarities, no. One sounds like a folk tune (though quite good, IMO) and the other a doom laden, angsty rocker with a blistering middle section. Is there a tie in with the Holmes tune? Sure, but it's not as blatant as you make it out to be, IMO.

 

Blame the victim, etc.

I think "Let him have it" is a quote that was also ascribed to Bert Jansch for Page's appropriation of Jansch's transcription of Black Waterside as Zep's Black Mountain Side. And of course there are different meanings to the phrase "Let him have it" - perhaps Holmes wanted the interviewer to plug Page with a Glock.

 

So you don't hear similarities in the arrangement. The SONG is the same... not IMO, but in point of fact. A guitar solo is not a song.

 

It's pretty blatant. When the Yardbirds did it, they didn't even change the lyrics. It's a hard rock arrangement of Holmes' folk tune with different lyrics. Page shoulda known better, but Holmes shoulda nipped it in the bud.

 

I'm not "blaming the victim." Page was wrong to steal it, Holmes was wrong to wait around for Page to hand him a pile of cash out of the goodness of his heart.

Anyway, there's a buncha other threads about this issue, one big-ass long one about the lawsuit where all the grievances have been aired over and over. You may need to go read that before rehashing them for the 100th time.

 

Regardless of what Holmes said, he deserved to be paid for the money the song earned. Like a couple getting divorced, one could say "just let them have the house" because they don't want to fight, but in legal terms they are entitled to half the house.

Page made the song way better, but it is still Holmes' song, and the "inspired by" credit is just because they didn't want to keep paying him, just a one time settlement.

 

Lawsuits that were also waged decades after the release of LZI and LZII

Has Jimmy Page ever actually written a song? I know he comes up with riffs, but a whole song... is that in his bag of tricks?