Chords for LED ZEPPELIN vs SPIRIT Lawsuit | Stairway To Heaven Comparison

Hi everyone, I'm Rick Beato.
Led Zeppelin is back in the news after the verdict in the Stairway to Heaven copyright infringement case has been thrown out
following a finding that the district court judge gave faulty jury instructions in the case.
This ruling reopens a battle over whether Led Zeppelin borrowed from the
1968 song Taurus when they composed Stairway to Heaven for their
1971 release Led Zeppelin IV.
Michael Skidmore, the trustee for the Randy Craig Wolf Trust, sued the band in
2014 arguing that Stairway to Heaven stole elements of Wolf's composition.
Wolf died in
1997.
A jury ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin in 2016 finding that the two songs were not substantially similar.
Okay, let's actually take a listen to both songs.
Now if you've ever heard any comparisons between the two
you probably don't know that the Spirit's tune starts out like this _
with strings.
_ It's an orchestral piece here, right?
And then there's a flute that comes in here [Em] with this bluesy line.
But about 30 seconds [E] in, this.
_ [E] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [B] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
[D] That's it.
That's what they claim Led Zeppelin stole.
Let's actually listen to Stairway to [Am] Heaven.
_ [G#] _ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ Okay, the first thing right off the bat that you may notice is they're both in the same key.
They're both in A minor.
The Spirit
line goes like this.
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ Then it goes to a D chord.
So that's really where it changes.
Stairway [Am] to Heaven goes like this.
_ [E] _
_ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ They are both what we call line cliches.
A line cliche is when you have a chromatic line that leads between the chords.
The
chromatic line is this.
_ _ _ [F] _ Right?
You could say, oh these riffs are similar,
but they're actually not similar at all.
Because if you were to say that, you'd have to say that
hmm, how about My Funny Valentine is similar too.
[A] Let's see here.
My [G#] Funny Valentine
[C] _ [F#] Sweet Comic Valentine
[F] _
_ [Am] Let's see or
I'm fixing a hole [Em] where the rain gets [Am] in
And stops my mind from wandering.
Which came out in
1967, a year before the Spirit song Taurus came out.
Or
I don't want to [G#] leave her now
[C] You know I believe [F#] in hell.
I could play the Spirit thing over that or I could play Stairway to Heaven.
I don't want to leave her now
[C] You know I [D] believe in hell.
[F#] _ _ Or I could play Spirit.
I [E] don't want to leave her now
[F#] You know I believe in hell
[Am] _
_ [A#] _ [C] You
_ Can just go back one year after Spirit then and say well then
Michelle LeGrand and Alan and Marilyn Bergman [F#] stole
What are you doing the rest of your life from it?
Because it starts out.
What are [Em] you doing the [Am] rest of your life?
[E] _ _ [Em] _ North and south and [Am] east and west of your life.
[D] That's the same thing too.
Or we could go back and say that maybe both of these guys
Were influenced by Duke Ellington in a [A] Sentimental Mood.
That was written in 1935.
[C] It goes like this.
Let's see
[Am] In a sentimental mood
[E] _ _ [C] _ I can see the stars [Dm] come through my [F] room
It uses two [E] line cliches in a row.
I could do in a sentimental mood
[E] _ _ [C] _
[D] I can see the stars come through
[A] I _ [F] _
_ [N] could actually go on and probably play about 25 more songs that use this line cliche.
It's
Incredibly common.
This lawsuit is totally bogus.
You can't sue someone for something
That's not even close that uses one small segment of a chord progression.
It doesn't matter if Spirit and Led Zeppelin played together.
These people grew up hearing these tunes.
Jimmy Page was born in what?
1944?
He heard in a sentimental mood.
So did Paul McCartney.
So did George Harrison.
They heard My Funny Valentine on the radio when they were kids.
They heard these chord progressions over and over.
They were used in jazz all the time.
They were used in big songs.
Jerome Kern songs.
They were used in songs like My Funny Valentine by Rodgers and Hart.
All the great songwriters used that line cliche.
It was not uncommon.
It was very common, which is why it's in so many songs.
So to say that Led Zeppelin stole that riff from Spirit is ridiculous.
It was not uncommon.
It was incredibly common.
If you're gonna say that then you can say well Eric Clapton stole the 1-4-5 from Robert Johnson and
Robert Johnson stole the 1-4-5 from Mozart and
Mozart stole the 1-4-5 from Bach.
These are chord progressions.
If [Am] Led Zeppelin loses this it's outrageous.
There's actually a melody over Stairway to Heaven.
There's a lady [C] ashore.
All that glitters is gold [F] and she's buying a [Bm] stairway to [E] heaven.
There is no melody over the Spirit tune.
It's just a few chords.
One, two, three, [F] four, five chords in a row.
So I hope Zeppelin does not lose this.
That's all for now.
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[C] _ _ [F] _ [A#] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _