Taurus vs. Summer Rain

[Jeff Leites]

Has anyone else noticed that the melody of "Taurus", starting at 45 seconds, sounds a heck of a lot more like "Summer Rain" than "Stairway to Heaven"?

 

Taurus (Spirit) -

 

Summer Rain (Johnny Rivers) -

 

Summer Rain (James Hendricks (the writer)) -

 

[1001gear]

Taurus is a buncha bull.

[davd_indigo]

"My Funny Valentine", the intro to "Michelle" and many many more. Lawyers should be barred from this silliness.Ignorant juries could award in their favor in totally baseless cases. Oops, that's already happened.

 

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-unoriginal-originality-of-led-zeppelin

 

Around 32 seconds into the piece the pattern begins:

[video=youtube;zKpbJ5Kjy2I]

 

 

 

[bookumdano4]

While "Summer Rain" has always come to mind for me in the case, this 1963 MFQ track is .... so far in my mind.... the grandpappy of the reason why the riff should be as public domain as playing E-A-D-A real fast (or real slow). Not even considering the aforementioned "Michelle" etc stuff

 

In general though, to me, the Taurus breakdown is sec1=Summer Rain, sec2="This Feeling Inside" by the Searchers, sec3 (the descending lines)=a couple of 1965 tunes that can be interchanged. All that packed into a 2 minute section whose string intro could easily have William Shatner speaking "Space, the final frontier" while the mornful answer lines of the two violins form around Brenda Lee singing "I'm Sorry".

 

As an aside, dunno why, but after hearing the MFQ thing, I'm a little surprised Spinal Tap hasn't figured a way to stick a claim in all this somewhere or other.

 

 

[Notes_Norton]

The melody of Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"

 

Eric Carmen did a couple of Rachmaninov melodies

 

Brian Wilson's "I Get Around" took the melody from a chewing gum commercial and put it as an instrumental counter-melody (or the Wrecking Crew did that).

 

Listen to the intro to Mary Wells' "My Guy" and you hear "Canadian Sunset" - figure and melody both

 

Barry Manilow's "Could This Be Magic" is basically a Chopin Prelude

 

And so on.

 

Notes

[Notes_Norton]

Of course some of these are in PD

[Anderton]

People bought "Stairway to Heaven" because of Plant's vocals, Page's leads, and the arrangement. Copy all those - then you'll have a lawsuit worth pursuing.

[Phil O'Keefe]

The melody of Dan Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne" is Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"

 

Eric Carmen did a couple of Rachmaninov melodies

 

Brian Wilson's "I Get Around" took the melody from a chewing gum commercial and put it as an instrumental counter-melody (or the Wrecking Crew did that).

 

Listen to the intro to Mary Wells' "My Guy" and you hear "Canadian Sunset" - figure and melody both

 

Barry Manilow's "Could This Be Magic" is basically a Chopin Prelude

 

And so on.

 

Notes

 

 

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody was inspired by Paganini... although he did give credit where credit was due.

[Notes_Norton]

I think the "Blurred Lines" decision opened up a can of worms.

 

I do believe in copyright protection, but I do think sometimes things go too far. But isn't that the way of the world?

 

How many jazzers quoted a copyrighted song melody in an improvised solo on a recording? Is that next?

 

Example Joe Newman quoted Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" in a famous Count Basie recording of "Corner Pocket" and when Manhattan Transfer sang "Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)" Janis Siegel (I Think) actually sang the words to "Cherry Pink" during that part..

 

The "James Bond" theme was in "Spies In The Night" from the same Manhattan Transfer album.

 

I think if the 'copy' can hurt the sales of the original a copyright settlement is valid. I also know that judging whether the copy hurt the sales of the original is difficult to judge.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[daddymack]

But it is possible that the 'quotes' you cited were licensed. Most major labels have people just to get 'clearance/licenses for anything that could be construed as infringement.

In the case of 'Summer Rain', I think not, it is fairly generic sounding.

But admittedly, LZ has been sued and lost over infringement in the past. They did tour with Spirit, and Spirit was performing Taurus ta that time. I could see Page asking California backstage one night, 'what is that opening line in the guitar part of Taurus? I like that...' Since Randy is no longer with us, we only have Page as a live witness as to any possible interaction, and let's face it, it is in his best interest to deny any interaction with Randy California vis a vis Taurus. That said, why wasn't this brought up sooner [when the first record came out?]? Because I'm pretty sure Randy didn't care that much. Taurus wasn't a major hit, heck, that one little piece of a minor descending line with a counter point ascension? Meh...

[MikeRivers]

Looks like Stairway to Heaven is Led Zep's, and both bands got a lot of good publicity, which is bound to be good for sales.

 

Wanna sell your record? Go sue somebody.

[Notes_Norton]

Personally, I think the suit could have come about after the "Blurred Lines" settlement, which I personally disagree with (of course my opinion doesn't count).

 

There was a tune in the 1600s on guitar that had basically the same riff. So if Page did steal it, he stole something that was already in public domain.

 

The chord progression itself is not uncommon and "My Funny Valentine" is as close as "Taurus" in structure (but not the lick).

 

Furthermore I think "Stairway" is different enough not to have damaged "Taurus" sales any.

 

Like I said, my opinion really doesn't count anyway.

 

I believe in copyright protection, and have quite a few myself, but I think sometimes they get too nit-picky with it.

 

I don't think the Joe Newman quote of the Perez Prado song in the Count Basie tune was cleared, as that wasn't an issue back then. It was considered cool for a jazzer to be able to quote something in an appropriate part of an improvised solo.

 

Deep Purple's "Hush Hush" quotes a line from The Beatles "A Day In The Life" (The na-na-na-na) part, and I certainly hope the Beatles did not ask for compensation.

 

I think winning a suit for quoting a line out of contest in another song opens up a huge can of worms.

 

Insights, incites, and personal opinions by Notes

[1001gear]

Looks like Stairway to Heaven is Led Zep's, and both bands got a lot of good publicity, which is bound to be good for sales.

 

Wanna sell your record? Go sue somebody.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/23/media/stairway-to-heaven-trial-verdict/index.html