Origin of "Stairway To Heaven" goes back to 1659 !!??

Recently I came across a recording of Stephen Stubbs.

On the CD: "Teatro Lirico", there is a composition from the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Granata (1620-1687). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Granata

He composed it in 1659 and it called "Sonata Di Chitarra, E Violino, Con Il Suo Basso Continuo" and it is part of his work "Soavi concenti di sonate musicali per la chitarra spagnuola, Op. 4.

After 32 seconds in this composition we hear the characteristic guitar-part from "Stairway To Heaven".

Of course "Stairway To Heaven"has long been the subject of plagiarism.

Listen for example to "Taurus" by the American rock band Spirit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(instrumental)

Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit in an early American tour, leaving little doubt that Led Zeppelin had heard the Spirit song before "Stairway to Heaven" was written.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(instrumental)

Davy Graham also used a similar guitar riff in his version of Cry Me a River

The only common part is a broken chord of a minor triad repeated twice with a raising top note. I wouldn't call that plagiarism, even if it was on purpose. Anyone can come up with it. Yes , you recognize it immediately as Stairways To Heaven, but anyone can come up with these 12 notes. It's just the very beginning of the intro, not the intro itself.

I think you might be right, Mathieu.

But as we know Led Zeppelin has frequently "borrowed" riffs in the past.

"The Lemon Song" borrowed from Howlin Wolf's "Killing Floor".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lemon_Song

"Wholle Lotta Love" borrowed from Muddy Waters' "You Need Love".

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/8670/Led-Zeppelin-Whole-Lotta-Love-Muddy-Waters…

"Custard Pie" borrowed from "I want some of your pie"

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/287312/Led-Zeppelin-Custard-Pie-Blind-Boy-Fulle…

I could give more examples.

What I would like to say is Led Zeppelin were no virgins when they recorded some of their most beautiful songs. By using their riffs they honoured their influences.

JoJo greets

Awesome sone

There are SO many cases where classical music 'inspired' today's composers/musicians...

Just to take this to the next song: Of course it was blunt by Deep Purple to nick the main elements of It's A Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling (with a similar background as LedZep/Spirit) and not crediting the original writers - but does this really justify calling "Child In Time" an (entire) adaptation?

According to the SHS definition ("...is a musical work, which uses elements..."), the answer would be yes, but... then we should also call It's A Beautiful day's "Don and Dewey" an adaption of Deep Purple's Wring That Neck too . Just compare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=7kHFj8eWF4E

to

Quote from camembert electrique

According to the SHS definition ("...is a musical work, which uses elements..."), the answer would be yes, but... then we should also call It's A Beautiful day's "Don and Dewey" an adaption of Deep Purple's Wring That Neck too . Just compare

I agree that Don and Dewey is a musical work that uses elements of Wring That Neck.

There's more to say about the Deep Purple / It's a Beautiful Day connection.

David Laflamme remembers the first time It's A Beautiful Day headlined the Fillmore West (1968), Deep Purple was their supporting act. Both bands learned from each other that night:

http://www.originals.be/en/originals.php?id=650

And according to that same link co-author Vince Wallace wrote Bombay Calling in 1962.

David LaFlamme learned the piece from Wallace personally.

There is even an older version from 1967.

Jojo greets

Joop, the Fillmore east story is what I meant by saying 'a similar background as LedZep/Spirit' .

David Wallace may have written "Bombay Calling" in 1962. Although it would be very interesting to hear what his version sounded like, there is unfortunately no proof for that. In the end, he was lucky LaFlamme shared the credits with him.

The Orkustra version actually constitutes a new original (first recording)! Thanks for that!

Quote from Mathieu

The only common part is a broken chord of a minor triad repeated twice with a raising top note. I wouldn't call that plagiarism, even if it was on purpose. Anyone can come up with it. Yes , you recognize it immediately as Stairways To Heaven, but anyone can come up with these 12 notes. It's just the very beginning of the intro, not the intro itself.

The Dutch TV show De Kwis had a brilliant item on this endless discussion titled Elk lied lijkt op Stairway to Heaven, which translates into Every Song Sounds Like Stairway to Heaven................

Just hear them out, since it is so convincing and Mathieu is so right...........

They even have a name for this pattern: "minor line cliché". It's also very common in improvisation: it's a nice way to add some variation on a minor chord.

In my previous post I was rather refering to the composition of Giovanni Battista Granata, where the line cliche is not used, but the melody is more similar. So you need to combine both compositions to get the exact beginning of the intro of Stairway to Heaven... it's Frankenstein!

To get back to Jojo's post re Spirit's "Taurus": This is now an official court case with Page and Plant in the court room. See The Guardian article.

Here is an interesting article about the controversy.

Sometimes those law suits regarding parts used are actually nearly funny, especially if the parts in question date back many decades or even some centuries and the sueing artists may have been 'inspired' themselves...

This also with the many songs in mind borrowing characteristic rhythmic parts from Boléro - just f. ex.: Bombay Calling and subsequently Child in Time (see previous comments), but also How Many More Times or Stranglehold...

These lawsuits leave me scratching my head sometimes. I think the court got it wrong with He's So Fine . And it's a shame George had a cheat for a manager. At least the judge got that right.

The appeals court found in favor of Led Zeppelin. No need for a retrial.

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/03/09/16-56057.pdf