Don't get me wrong, I like the Zep. A lot. I like their versions of the songs they did. If 'Whole Lotta Love' had just said Willie Dixon on it instead of Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant there would be no problem. It's far and away the best version of the song, at least as far as I'm concerned.
To be fair, George Harrison was also successfully sued over 'My Sweet Lord', which was a note-for-note copy of 'He's So Fine', written by Ronald Mack for The Chiffons. It happens.
John Lennon was sued by Big Seven Music and Morris Levy, who held the rights to Chuck Berry's music, over the use of the line "Here come Old Flattop..." on 'Come Together'. Berry himself said he didn't mind, and liked Lennon's song.
But that's not what this was meant to be about. It wasn't just the Beatles, as much as I love them. It's about the 50th anniversary of a whole lot of great music, starting with their first album. They were influenced by those who came before, so I could have started anywhere. I started with the Beatles because it was seeing them in a movie that started me playing, and seeing them live that cemented it.
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“Never do anything you can't take back.”
—Rocky Russo
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