Ritchie Blackmore - Interesting little interview

unclewalt
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Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:58 am

Well, Pagey is a special case. In several cases, he wasn't merely influenced, but just outright stole stuff, including from old bluesmen who could have used the royalties (or at the very least, the credit). Plant is also responsible, because he often lifted lyrics nearly wholesale without crediting anyone.

I agree that in many cases, there's a thin line between being influenced and just stealing, but Page, as much as most of us love him, clearly crossed that line on several occasions, and got sued as a result, paying out unknown amounts to several people. Give a listen to, just for one example, "Black Mountain Side," then go listen to "Blackwater Side" by Bert Jansch. That's outright theft. From what I've read, Jansch considered suing, but when he saw the giant piles of cash that were arrayed against him, he decided not to. Perhaps he could have gotten a settlement, as others did, but I'm not at all sure of the details. Willie Dixon got a payout for "Whole Lotta Love," I think.

In many cases, especially with old blues tunes, the people Page "stole" from themselves "stole" the material from someone else. But in a case like "Black Mountain Side" (and, to a slightly lesser extent, "Stairway"), there's no real defense for it. (Black Waterside is an old folk tune, but Jansch's arrangement of it was highly original and singular.)

I haven't read this page for a while, but I think it has, or links to, most of the details surrounding Zep's history of lifting stuff...

http://www.turnmeondeadman.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=28


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Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:31 pm

Walt:

Interesting read. I am always amazed to find background info on things that are just taken for granted. The other night, I was fumbling around with a few chords in alternate voicings, and my wife asked me what the name of that song was, and I told her it was just something I had come up with. She told me I was full of crap, cause she had heard that song before......lol I probably had too, just could not remember.

I have read other articles, and watched a few other youtube interviews with musicians that had either "borrowed" ideas, or had them "borrowed". It was very enlightening. I think it is fine to use previously written music, as long as one pays homage. No different than using footnotes in a research paper really. Plus, with all of the money some of these artists make, I think they could afford to kick down some royalty money from time to time.

Good points!

MJ


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