‘Dazed and Confused’: The Led Zeppelin song Jimmy Page has been sued for twice
By the time Led Zeppelin had dropped their eponymous debut in 1969, guitarist Jimmy Page was already a seasoned veteran of the decade’s swinging music scene. Already playing London’s famous Marquee Club while still a teen, Page would cut his teeth in the industry boasting hundreds of session credits across records by The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and even incidental guitar on the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack.
Having declined the offer twice, Page grew tired of the voluminous muzak and commercial jingles that made up the bulk of his studio work and took up the third offer of joining psychedelic blues band The Yardbirds.
Stepping up to the lead guitar position following Jeff Beck‘s departure— who likewise had replaced Eric Clapton—Page became an official member for 1967’s Little Games. While critically underwhelmed, their lauded reputation was centred in their increasingly gripping live shows, incorporating innovative use of fuzzbox distortion and taped noise loops to ensure a heady performance. On tour in America that year, a headliner slot in August at New York’s Village Theater gifted rock with one of its most iconic pieces but embroiled Page with legal headaches ever since.
Supporting that night after The Youngbloods, folk-rock singer songwriter Jake Holmes’ set was caught by Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty and was struck by one number in his set for its dramatic heft. Buying his record the following day, Holmes’ ‘Dazed and Confused’ was reworked with The Yardbirds, maintaining its lurking bass descent and Page smattering the sketch with his distinctive riffs.
While never recording a studio version, ‘Dazed and Confused’ would stand as a mainstay of The Yardbirds’ live repertoire til their dissolution in 1968. On the first day of Led Zeppelin’s official rehearsals, ‘Dazed and Confused’ was resurrected and mooted for their prospective debut album.
Featuring on 1969’s Led Zeppelin, ‘Dazed and Confused’ would stand as one of the band’s most acclaimed songs and played on over 400 shows. However, Holmes never received a credit, let alone royalties. Reportedly reaching out to the band in the early 1980s, Holmes’ formal request for a shared writing credit was met with deafening silence.
In June 2010, Holmes sued Page for copyright infringement, claiming ‘Dazed and Confused’ as his original work and citing a 1967 registration for the song which had been renewed in 1995. Settling out of court, the case was dismissed in 2012 and peace between the two parties had seemingly been reached.
However, ‘Dazed and Confused’s inclusion on this year’s Becoming Led Zeppelin documentary prompted another case launched at Page, claiming further lack of crediting and lack of payment. Holmes’ lawyer stated: “By falsely claiming that the Holmes composition is the Page composition, … Page [and others] have willfully infringed the Holmes composition. Defendants…have ignored plaintiff’s cease and desist demand and continue to infringe”.
It’s legally early days for the new case, but one can’t help but sympathise with Holmes’ position, gifting Led Zeppelin with an essential slice of their musical legacy and commercial stature while barely remaining a footnote in their storied history.
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