You needed … me! That’s the allegation made by an American folk singer in documents filed against Led Zeppelin in a US Court on Monday. An affidavit filed by the troubadour claims more than $1 million in damages from Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin’s record companies for plagiarism. Holmes has cited a 1967 copyright registration for ‘Dazed and Confused’, in the suit which renewed in 1995. The song which is universally regarded as a Zep classic was actually released by Holmes on his debut album in 1967, while Page was still in the Yardbirds.
Indeed Holmes supported the Yardbirds in New York City in August 1967. “That was the infamous moment of my life when ‘Dazed and Confused’ fell into the loving arms and hands of Jimmy Page,” Holmes recalled of the gig in an interview. Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty also mentioned going to a record shop the next day to buy a copy of Holmes’s album. “We decided to do a version,” he said. “We worked it out together with Jimmy contributing the guitar riffs in the middle.” Page has been credited as the sole writer of the song on all Zep releases. The Tone Deaf jury reckons that Holmes has every right to a co-credit based on our listening to Holmes version below, but why the hell did he wait so long to sue?
