John Paul Jones on plagiarism: 'People were suing us that I'd never even heard of' (interview part 15 of 22)

This is the 15th part of the transcript of my interview with John Paul Jones, conducted Dec. 10, 2001.

SPS: When you were recording "Dazed and Confused," did you know that it previously existed in songs?

JPJ: Yeah. The Yardbirds did it.

SPS: And also Jake Holmes.

JPJ: I didn't know that then. I knew it was a Yardbirds number. But basically, we didn't have many songs, but we had to do some shows. So Page came in with a bunch of Yardbirds [songs].

SPS: When did you become aware of the Jake Holmes version?

JPJ: Much later.

SPS: I’m not gonna grill you about that.

JPJ: You can! You can. I didn't … People were suing us that I'd never even heard of. [laughs] A name would come in -- "Who's this?" "Oh, really, great!"

SPS: Long after Led Zeppelin?

JPJ: No, not long after. Well, I mean, during the lifetime of Led Zeppelin.

On to part 16: John Paul Jones on journalists.