First of all, Mad Props to Townsman Kcills for passing along the clip HVB just posted, which all ties into this thread I am posting now.

A little background: last weekend a handful of us were in attendance at the Bar Mitzvah for the son of a Townsman. As some of you know, I’m a big fan of almost any ceremony. I contemplate all the love in the room, the great people, the importance of the day, and our eventual deaths. Then I quickly well up at the first opportunity. Considering my history with this Townsman and his family, I was especially stoked for the day’s events. You can’t be too strong.

To be honest, though, as much as I love weddings, funerals, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, retirement parties, and even ceremonies much less grand, I do need to brace myself for the religious part of any faith-based ceremony. I’ve got nothing against anyone’s god or religion, just the potentially really long, boring parts of any faith’s service. Entering the synagogue, I took comfort in the fact that my friends are – how shall I phrase it – more earthly sorts, who probably wouldn’t feel the need to amp up the long, less-decipherable passages from the Torah. My family and I arrived a couple of minutes late and entered a small, friendly synagogue, with our friends’ son looking great and a warm cantor and rabbi conducting the ceremony.

The cantor was awesome. His pipes were strong, and he sang in a direct manner, making good eye contact with the audience, even those among us who hadn’t a clue what it was he was singing. I wished my little bit of religious exposure through my family’s religion would have included a good cantor, or in my family’s case, singing priest. Music is to mass as honey is to medicine.

The day’s featured mannish boy also got to sing along with the cantor, and he was on! I got to thinking of long ago, when my good friend – the father – had such a clear, innocent voice. Gosh, those of you who’ve heard him sing in public the last 25 years wouldn’t have recognized him before the Velvet Fog rolled in! Then my friend – our Townsman – sang a passage as well, and you could still make out a trace of his youthful voice. It must be like hearing Marianne Faithfull sing “As Tears Go By” today. I got to thinking that I need to incorporate more minor keys into the songs I write; it’s time I stop trying to whitewash my friend’s voice with all these songs written in G and E. It’s time his people came.

Then the rabbi put aside all ancient texts and spoke from his heart about our friends’ son. Then the jaws of all Townspeople in attendance began dropping. Continue reading »

So the other day my wife comes home from work and says “My boss says her brother wrote the Zeppelin song ‘Dazed and Confused’ and never got any royalties from it.” She and her boss must have been discussing the recent Zeppelin reunion show (I also know we got our nephew the new Mothership best-of Led Zeppelin collection for Christmas this year), and out of the blue the boss dropped this interesting bombshell.

My wife didn’t have many details and I was skeptical. Later that night I looked up the song on Wikipedia and sure enough there seems to be some controversy regarding the composer of this tune.

Jake Holmes was a folk singer type in the ’60s and wrote and recorded the song on his debut album in 1967. Later that same year he opened for The Yardbirds, who liked the tune and decided to work up their own version of the song. From the Wikipedia entry:

“It was never officially recorded by the band, although an unauthorized live version was included on the semi-legitimate Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page album under the alternate title ‘I’m Confused’.”

Later, Jimmy Page worked up an arrangement for Led Zeppelin, and it was recorded and released on their self-titled debut in 1969.

Holmes eventually sent a letter to Page essentially asking him to do the right thing and acknowledge “co-authorship” of the song, but he never heard back. Apparently Holmes has decided not to pursue legal action. Since the ’70s Holmes has been a successful jingle writer, penning such gems as “Be A Pepper” for Dr. Pepper, “Be All That You Can Be” for the U.S. Army, and my favorite, “Raise your hand if you’re sure!” for Sure Deodorant! Here is an interesting interview with Holmes from 2001 on the Perfect Sound Forever online music magazine.

So my fellow Townspeople, what do you think? Should Mr. Page acknowledge that Mr. Holmes did in fact contribute a fair portion to the writing of a tune that has now become clearly associated with the Led Zeppelin songbook?

[For more on Jimmy Page’s songwriting abilities, check out the two part article “THE THIEVING MAGPIES: Jimmy Page’s Dubious Recording Legacy” written by Will Shade on the Perfect Sound Forever online music magazine website. Part One | Part Two]