minneapolisgenius said:

The melody's the same too. Lennon was sued for that. But Come Together IS funky, and you Can't Catch Me is Rock 'n' Roll

NDRU said:

Really? I was just listening to it and I never noticed I guess. What year was he sued?

I thought Zeppelin were the only ones sued for that sort of thing.

theglamorouslife said:

Co sign! Add Alicia Keys to that list.

bublebath said:

One word: "Taxman".

minneapolisgenius said:

But like many of Led Zeppelin's rip offs, the end result is that the songs are completely different on the whole--just those lines are very similar.

It was an ongoing thing, and the song was owned by someone else (typical). According to Albert Goldman, it was resolved by Lennon recording the Rock & Roll album in 197(5?)--songs that this publisher owned and would therefore make money off of. It's sick to think Lennon would do a whole album for that reason, though. I'm sure he enjoyed doing those standards.

Shakira (tough maybe she thinks the opposite)

NDRU said:

Wow, I had no idea. I'm reading a Beatles book (one of the hundreds I suppose ) right now, and I haven't got to that part yet.

minneapolisgenius said:

It's amazing that that's not common knowledge when Come Together is such a classic. We all know about My Sweet Lord, though. Maybe it never went to court, so it wasn't as well publicized, I forget the details.

NDRU said:

See, this is what really gets me then: Zeppelin are hated, HATED by a lot of people for their thievery, and yet the Beatles can get away with it and still be heroes. The book I'm reading also cites a couple of other instances where lyrics and melodies were pinched. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE The Beatles. One of my top 5 artists actually, But they were media darlings, and Zeppelin never were. I think that has a lot to do with it. Zeppelin weren't appreciated by anyone but their fans until recently.


But whatever, that's a WHOLE nother thread.

WTF! Such blasphemy ..

minneapolisgenius said:

Really? I never knew that. I didn't grow up listening to Zeppelin, but I always thought they were considered one of the greatest rock bands ever by everyone.

On a related note, I just heard the Wolfmother single "Woman" for the first time recently. Can that song be any more Zeppelin? Sheesh.

minneapolisgenius said:

This is from http://warr.org/beatles.html


"Not a second time: Plagiarism and the Beatles
In the interest of fairness to Led Zeppelin, I want to point out that Zep wasn't the only band to, um, borrow chords, melodies and lyrics from other artists. Here are the Beatles' brushes with suspicious similarity:
"Come Together" - the first two lines are adapted from Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me."
"Fixing A Hole" - Mal Evans cowrote the song with Paul, but took a one-time payment rather than a songwriting credit. Not plagiarism, because Evans was a willing party to the arrangement, but it sure is weird.
"Free As A Bird" - when the Threetles revived this 1977 Lennon demo in 1995, they added a middle section. Unfortunately, they added the middle section from the 1964 Shangri-Las hit "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)."
"Golden Slumbers" - lyrics adapted from a 17th Century poem by Thomas Dekker.
"I Feel Fine" - main guitar line borrowed from Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step."
"Run For Your Life" - first line comes from "Baby Let's Play House" as recorded by Elvis Presley.
"Something" - first line is the title of a song by then-Apple recording artist James Taylor
"The Inner Light" - lyrics were lifted, uncredited, from the Tao Te Ching.
And I think there was some George Harrison solo song that was similar to an early 60s girl group hit, but I can't remember the details. (Just kidding.) (DBW)"

minneapolisgenius said:

I remember THAT thread! My feeling on stealing is "is the end product original?" With Zep it is, and with the Beatles, it is, too (Run For Your Life takes a line from Baby Let's Play House, but the songs are completely different). With a lot of hip hop it is, too. I think every artist steals a bit (some more than others) and sometimes they cross the line.

But it's silly to think that an artist creates completely original work that's not influenced, borrowed & stolen from those who came before.

But to add to the subject; Joni Mitchell, not too funky.

NDRU said:

And Dylan said: "Love & Theft"

sextonseven said:

I always did, too, until recently I found that the press hated them at the time. Music must have been much better then for a band as good as Zeppelin to be hated by critics. Nowadays it would be hard to ignore their musicianship despite what they may represent to you.

sextonseven said:

Nope. They were panned almost unanimously by every "legit" rock magazine back in the day, first and foremost Rolling Stone. Jimmy was very bitter about it, that they weren't taken seriously because they put so much work into their albums, especially as they evolved throughout the years. He didn't even show up for their cover shoot in '75 when they finally made the cover. They had to track him down and drag him in. Of course, once and a while they would get good reviews, but in almost every review I've read from back then, it always ends with something snide, and they were called "noise" and "music that only kids stoned out of their minds would want to listen to."


The only two mags that ever really praised them were Creem and Melody Maker. I also think that the negative press had to do with the fact that they hardly ever did interviews, they shunned the media, and they didn't want to release any sinlges off their albums. So the media's way of getting back at them for not cooperating, was to treat them not so nicely.

bublebath said:

Wow. Thanks for posting that.

NDRU said:

I'm shocked Jimmy Page didn't steal a line from "Baby Let's Play House" because he said that was the first song ever that inspired him to get into rock and roll.


And what was this thread about originally?

minneapolisgenius said:

I'm sure he stole it at some point, the bastard...

NDRU said:

Anyone mention Barry Manilow? Not too funky.

Andrea Bocelli is not funky
(I besides I hate that man)

minneapolisgenius said:

minneapolisgenius said:

That's hilarious.

theglamorouslife said:

Back to the topic at hand.....

Again, if we are talking about entire careers Madonna is not devoid of the funk...("Get Into The Groove," and "Holiday" alone has the funk...)

Usher, while annoying at times, showed a some funk with his work with the Neptunes ("You Don't Have To Call" is funky as hell; it's a great song...)

I do however agree with J Lo....No funk; lightweight pop/R&B; but she's still a hot ass chick...


My list...

Bon Jovi
Fall Out Boy
Celine Dion
Beach Boys
The Carpenters (although "Superstar" comes close...LOL)
Kenny G
Lionel Ritchie (Think: his whole damn solo career!!!)...Great call Tony...
[Edited 5/18/06 12:21pm]

sextonseven said:

And Rolling Stone was quite fond of the Dead somehow!

Ooh Pat Boone! He removed the soul from every song he sang--and by design!

murph said:

You are absolutely wrong about the Beach Boys. Listen to the album Wild Honey, and especially their cover of Stevie´s "I was made to love her".

Listen also to their album "Sunflower" also.

dammme said:

Oh, don't get it twisted...I respect Brian Wilson; but the Beach Boys don't exactly scream "funk"....But I dig "God Only Knows" and a few other joints; I even brought Pet Sounds....

there's more to life and music than funk(iness).