Opinion: A proper settlement for 'Dazed and Confused'

Here's a fun little game called "The Dazed and Confused Payoff Game."

To play it, first go find yourself a Led Zeppelin bootleg with a 35-minute live version of "Dazed and Confused."

The Seattle '73 version would do.

Before you start listening to it, take 35 dollar bills in your hand -- one for each minute the song elapses -- and sit down at a table. Have two half-dollars or four quarters handy just in case you need them later in the game.

After each minute of the song passes, take one dollar out of your hand and place it on the table. If what you just heard for the past minute was written by anyone in Led Zeppelin, the dollar goes on your side of the table. If what you just heard for the past minute was written by Jake Holmes, the dollar goes on the opposite side of the table. You are the judge.

If you are stuck on which party wrote the music you just heard for the last minute, or if you think it might have been a part written by Jake Holmes but amended significantly by anyone in Led Zeppelin, then the dollar goes in the center of the table between the two stacks, to be divided evenly when the music's over. This is where that dollar's worth of change might come in handy.

When the music's over, count up the amount of money in each pile and compare. Which pile has more money? You'll probably be sitting right in front of it. Led Zeppelin always wins!

And that, kiddies, is how you play "The Dazed and Confused Payoff Game." Have you had fun?

Oh, you'd prefer the adult version? The drinking game is played with a friend. One of you will be Jake Holmes, and the other will represent Led Zeppelin. Every time a minute's worth of Jake's composition is heard, Jake takes a drink. Every time it's a minute's worth of Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin takes a drink. Every time it's a minute worth of both, social!!!

In the end, Led Zeppelin can always drink Jake Holmes under the table. Did you ever have any doubts about that?

Jake Holmes's greatest hits

Get to know Jake Holmes, the man who claims Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" is a copy of his song from 1967. Here are a handful of his more "commercial" efforts.



Finally, here's the song you know you wanted to hear.

Lawsuit alleges Jimmy Page infringed copyright on 'Dazed and Confused'

A lawsuit claiming Jimmy Page copied a 1967 song called "Dazed and Confused" on Led Zeppelin's debut album seeks reimbursement from the author of the original work under that title.

Jake Holmes confirms to Lemon Squeezings the authenticity of an eight-page document appearing on the blog Miss Tila OMG in which he claims Page "copied" his song "without authorization or permission."

Holmes's song called "Dazed and Confused" appears on his album The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes, released more than a year before Led Zeppelin's first album contained a song of the same name. Both songs received separate copyright entries from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Attorneys for the New York-based singer and guitarist filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Monday.

Holmes declined to offer any additional comments to Lemon Squeezings about the suit. In past interviews, he has explained that Page would have heard him play "Dazed and Confused" at a 1967 concert date in New York when Holmes closed his set with the tune. Page's band at that time, the Yardbirds, was headlining the concert.



Two other members of the Yardbirds, Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty, have said in interviews that both McCarty and Page liked the song so much when they heard Holmes perform it that, separately, both purchased copies of Holmes's album the following day. An adaptation of "Dazed and Confused" was added to the Yardbirds' live sets in 1968, the year that Page's new Yardbirds lineup became Led Zeppelin.

It was not until January 1969 that Atlantic Records released Led Zeppelin's first album, which contained a song called "Dazed and Confused" whose copyright was granted solely to Page.

Representatives for Page's management have so far not commented to Lemon Squeezings on the litigation. In the past, Page has denied any knowledge of having heard of the Holmes recording. This includes an interview published in the November 1990 issue of Musician magazine, in which Page denies any connection between his song and Holmes's.

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.