June 26, 2016 — It’s a quiet week, ironically given the global political turmoil what with “Brexit”, the vote of Britain to leave the EU, which I still can’t seem to read enough to truly understand. What I do understand is the Zeppelin case. I was going to read the actual pleadings from a service I have where they are, but frankly the news gave me my answers that have bothered me. I wanted to know why this case was filed now, not in 1971 when Stairway to Heaven came out, but turns out, it was just a plain vanilla copyright infringement case where the plaintiff held a copyright on some sheet music, not even the sound recording, so they sought damages for the past five years, something allowed for infringement of sheet music. So that’s the simple answer, the statute of limitations keeps going in that instance for as long as the copyright exists, with the ability to get money cut off from time to time.

I was entertained by this news too. What entertained me most was Robert Plant’s testimony, and his outlandish, albeit believable sort of, testimony that he didn’t remember the ‘60s. Dude! Who does? Okay, I was very little child then, so I have a better excuse. But I do remember, sort of, and I’m pretty sure I heard Led Zeppelin. We had one radio station, this hard rocking FM thing. I would take my dad’s transistor radio and listen as much as I could get away with it. Zeppelin played then. Zeppelin played then a lot. So I find it a bit sad that Robert Plant doesn’t remember it because, while my memories aren’t that pointed or direct, I know his music, their music,; I remember it, and it was a huge influence on me.

I mentally picture the jury too – four women and four men charged with reaching a unanimous verdict (the requirement in federal court where this case was heard). The key theme for Zeppelin’s defense was that the chord progression at issue was centuries old, that it is even in the Beatles song Michelle, and it isn’t unique or original – the legal standard for a protectable copyright in such notes. Chord progressions, huh? Music theory, huh? Okay, sure. I have chord books. I have chords charts, even a wheel. I understand their relationship. You point the wheel, and all the matching chords show up in the windows. That wheel thing is fun. Granted, I’m not the best at this stuff, but there are chords that go together, something about harmonics and such. I pretty much can hear it now, even if I’m not sure what I’m hearing. But that’s the theory. It’s not a song. And I’ve never sat down and played anything that sounds as remotely interesting as Stairway to Heaven. I don’t think many of us can say we have. So what is it? What is it that’s bothering me about this?

There’s a song out right now. Probably it peaked a few weeks ago. I hear it on the pop station; I hear it on the alternative station, and every time I hear it, not that it’s the best song, I nod my head to its message:

I wish I found some better sounds no ones’ ever heard

I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words

I wish I found some chords in an order that is new.

That last one… I wish I found some chords in an order that is new. And that’s it. That’s what makes a song. I’m not sure anyone argued this, plaintiff or defense, but this is it. I don’t care how old the chord progression is, if the chords are in some special order, thinking notation, beats, counts, then those centuries old chords become new; they become unique and original  Indeed, that’s the nature of rock, of rock riffs. We all know them. They are instantly recognizable. Those of us who play, play them. Jailbreak Is my favorite, mostly because I can do it. Okay, and Sometimes it sounds like Jailbreak.

So if that’s it, if the chords aren’t special simply because they are old, perhaps there was something else at play. Personally, I think it was time – my original buggaboo. I think the jury knew something of the ‘60s and thought this case should have been brought by the actual guy in Spirit, not the heirs of that dude, in like 1971 or at least some year after that when Stairway to Heaven was consistently the favorite song of the year in those New Years Eve rock radio countdowns. Or if it’s not time, perhaps the jury was enamored with Robert Plant’s loss of memory about the ‘60s in general, but his crystal clear memory of sitting by the fire while Jimmy Page strummed the chords inspiring Robert to pen some of the most iconic words – his “better voice”, his “better words.” Perhaps they felt just a tiny part of something that was very amazing. Perhaps it was the Hammer of the Gods; seriously, I couldn’t resist that one.

Any way it went, I’m actually happy for Led Zeppelin. And it makes me want to play. It’s great to play the riffs of the greats who influenced us. We all do it. We all, and I mean all the way to movies and other rock stars, channel our inner Zeppelin:

And really, you never know when you might sit down one day and truly think of some 300 years old chords in an order that is new.