Yesterday the verdict in the case brought on by the estate of the late Randy Craig Wolfe of the band Spirit and against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement vis a vis the song Stairway to Heaven and its similarity to Spirit’s Taurus was reached and Led Zeppelin was found not guilty.

When I first heard a comparison between Spirit’s Taurus and Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, it was clear there were similarities.  Strong ones.  So strong that on an earlier post I was convinced Led Zeppelin must have swiped the material.

But listening to the longer clip above and reflecting (and reading) learned opinions regarding music creation and the use (and re-use) of certain notes over the years/centuries, my opinion changed.

There’s a saying that goes: “there’s nothing new under the sun” and, after so many years of civilization and artistic creation, this may well be true.

Any story you write will have echoes to others before it.  Any movie made will build on the history of movie technique which came before it.

And any song created, likewise, is bound to have echoes of things that came before.    While there are clear similarities between Taurus and Stairway to Heaven, it is equally clear, especially in the larger clip above, that Led Zeppelin and Spirit may have started their respective songs in a similar way but each song went in far different directions.

During his lifetime Randy Craig Wolfe, the man behind Taurus, didn’t bother to initiate a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin though he was the one who was most justified -if indeed he had perceived they had lifted his material- in doing so.

In the end, I believe the right verdict was rendered, even if initially I thought quite the opposite.  The entire case becomes a footnote in the history of Led Zeppelin and their most famous song.

Ironically, in some small ways the lawsuit has had a positive effect on the works of the late Mr. Wolfe.  Perhaps people will re-examine his career in light of this lawsuit, one he didn’t bring about himself.