NEW: STAIRWAY TO MIND BLOWN [VIDEO]

Most humans know Led Zepplin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” If not, familiarize yourself with it here.

For years, friends of Randy California of Spirit claimed that after they opened a number of concerts for Led Zeppelin back in the day, Jimmy Page lifted his signature licks from their song “Taurus.” Listen to that remarkable ‘coincidence’ here:

While no lawsuits were issued over the years, Mark Andes, bassist for Spirit thought that Randy California should at least get credit for his part in one of the most remarkable and popular songs in the world. Recently, a Los Angeles judge said a trial could move forward this May and the lawyers and barristers are salivating over billable hours. Not so fast.

Now, DigitalMusicNews reports:

“Spirit has long felt that their 1967 song ‘Taurus,’ was lifted by Zeppelin for the 1971 release ‘Stairway To Heaven,’ without proper credit or payment.  Now, a jury is going to decide if Zeppelin lifted a critical guitar sequence from that track, based expert forensic musicology and analysis of the two songs. These are the two songs that will be compared in the coming days and weeks, with a decision potentially crushing Led Zeppelin with massive infringement penalties.”

And then they pondered:

“But what if Zeppelin ripped that track from someone else?  It now looks like Spirit’s claim could be trumped by an earlier work from the late 50s, as performed by Davey Graham.  The song, ‘Cry Me a River,’ appeared in BBC broadcast in 1959”

Jimmy has been successfully sued for lifting licks from other artists and was made to pay and give credit where credit is due. Jimmy has also said in the past that like many other players, he was influenced by Folk player Davey Graham, who died in 2008. If true, it seems to me that would be cause to stop the Spirit lawsuit but could open one up for the Graham estate.

It could also show that the riff is not so unique and that it’s just lawyers trying to shake the money tree. I always thought the progression was unique and that it was one of a kind.

Apparently, I was wrong. WATCH THIS VIDEO and see how it is not as one-of-a-kind as I thought. (give it 30 seconds to get over the language barrier and be amazed.)

Mind blown.