A History: Led Zeppelin Stealing Songs, Lyrics, Guitar Riffs, and anything they could get away with! [View all]

As much as I don't like it, one of the rock groups that I grew up listening to, been influenced by, and even drew poster sized pictures of in art class, are thieves. This isn't just merely being influenced by a song that happens to sound like it, but stealing it, note for note and word for word! Sometimes, it's just a small part of an obscure song written by old blues artists and other times, outright stealing the entire thing! I can't imagine how I would feel if somebody stole one of my songs! I really can't imagine how these old blues musicians, some living in poverty, would feel if they knew that these four people were making millions ripping off their stuff. I'll never play another Led Zeppelin song, except to very vocally give credit to the artists who actually wrote the song. Here are some examples of the theft:

When the Levee Breaks (Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie)


27 April 1927. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Greenville, Mississippi. The river stage was at 46.8 feet. From: "The Floods of 1927 in the Mississippi Basin", Frankenfeld, H.C., 1927 Monthly Weather Review Supplement No. 29. Archival Photography by Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS

Kansas Joe McCoy, Memphis Minnie:

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break.
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break.
And the water gonna come in, have no place to stay.

Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan.
Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan.
Thinkin' 'bout my baby and my happy home.

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