Credit: Jorgen Angel

The gospel songs Led Zeppelin took as their own

Fri 9 September 2022 17:30, UK

The history of Led Zeppelin taking inspiration from other artists is well-documented. Unfortunately, what is equally well-documented is their chequered history of failing to give proper credit to the responsible parties. Many Zeppelin songs simply don’t tell the entire story if someone was just looking at the original songwriting credits. This is evident from Jimmy Page “borrowing” elements of Jake Holmes’ ”Dazed and Confused’, not giving Willie Dixon his proper credit on ‘Whole Lotta Love’, or not crediting either Howlin’ Wolf or Robert Johnson for the elements of their songs used in ‘The Lemon Song’.

Occasionally the band pled ignorance, like when ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ was mistakenly thought to be a traditional song thanks to Joan Baez’s original recording lacking a songwriting credit. Other times, the band simply reworked a song enough to justify sharing credits, as they did on Memphis Minnie’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’. However, Led Zeppelin tried to pull the same stiff trick twice when it came to one specific influence.

Blind Willie Johnson is a name known to all true blues disciples. As a key link between the hardened southern blues of the early 20th century and the religious-fueled gospel of the same era, Johnson fused both genres into one potent amalgamation. Johnson’s songs are better known today through modern interpretations by the likes of Lucinda Williams, The White Stripes, Eric Clapton and Tom Waits. But Johnson’s influence was also notable in two Zeppelin songs that started as covers of Johnson’s material.

The first was ‘In My Time of Dying’, the eleven-minute blues-rock epic that closes side one of Physical Graffiti. Featuring some of Page’s most intricate guitar work, the version of ‘In My Time of Dying’ performed by Zeppelin is only barely recognisable as the classic blues track performed by Johnson. But it still was Johnson’s track, as evidenced by Robert Plant’s dedication to the song’s central melody and lyrics.

The most famous version of ‘In My Time of Dying’ prior to Zeppelin’s rendition was by Bob Dylan, who recorded the song as a part of the sessions for his self-titled 1962 debut album. Now both devoted blues fanatics and folk disciples were aware of the song, but that didn’t stop Zeppelin from crediting the four members of the band as the only writers for ‘In My Time of Dying’. It’s unknown whether Johnson was the true author of ‘In My Time of Dying’, and with that uncertainty still hanging around the credits, Zeppelin have continued to credit themselves as the authors on subsequent reissues.

While Johnson’s authorship of ‘In My Time of Dying’ is disputed, he is undoubtedly the credited writer of another Zeppelin classic, ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’. Scores of musicians had recorded the track prior to Zeppelin’s version that appeared on 1976’s Presence, including renditions from the likes of Nina Simone and the Grateful Dead. Once again, that didn’t stop Page and Plant from listing themselves as the sole writers of the track in the credits for Presence.

Check out both Blind Willie Johnson covers below.