‘Stairway to Heaven’ creator Page rebuffs lawyer at trial
This Oct. 9, 2012 file photo shows, from left, Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham; singer Robert Plant; bassist John Paul Jones; and guitarist Jimmy Page at the “Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day” premiere in New York. Generations of aspiring guitarists have tried to copy the riff from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” Starting Tuesday, June 14, 2016, a Los Angeles court will try to decide whether the members of Led Zeppelin themselves ripped off that riff. Page and Plant are named as defendants in the lawsuit brought by the trustee of late guitarist Randy Wolfe from the band Spirit. AP FILE PHOTO
LOS ANGELES — Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page demonstrated a deft touch Thursday in deflecting questions aimed at showing he might have lifted a passage for the introduction to the 1971 hit “Stairway to Heaven.”
Testifying in his defense for a second day in a copyright infringement case, Page showed little interest in comparing his composition with the obscure earlier instrumental work in question, “Taurus,” by the late Randy Wolfe, founder of the band Spirit.
Page was reluctant to discuss the tempo of the two songs or the structure, thwarting the lawyer representing Wolfe’s estate in the case against Led Zeppelin, Page and singer Robert Plant, as well as several music companies.
“You want to step through it?” attorney Francis Malofiy asked as he tried to get Page to discuss the “Taurus” sheet music, which is the work protected by copyright.
“Not necessarily,” Page replied, sending a ripple of comic relief through the gallery during an otherwise dull day of testimony in the case.
Page, 72, had entered the courtroom carrying a guitar, but wrapped up testifying without playing a note. The closest he came was during a break when he briefly struck a jamming pose and played air guitar and laughed with Plant in the courtroom.
Jurors and a packed audience did get to hear the familiar opening chords of “Stairway,” but they came not from Page, but from an expert who played an acoustic guitar and said he found it was strikingly similar to “Taurus.”
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Kevin Hanson, a guitar instructor and former member of Huffamoose, played passages from both songs on acoustic guitar and says they are virtually identical. When listening to videos of the two played simultaneously, he said there was nothing discordant about them.
“To my ear, they sound like they are one piece of music,” he said.
On cross-examination, however, Hanson, who doesn’t have a college degree and is not a musicologist, said he can easily tell the two songs apart.
Another plaintiff expert, Alexander Stewart, a music professor at the University of Vermont, said he found five categories in which both songs had significant similarities, including a descending chord progression, notes lasting the same duration and a series of arpeggios and similar pairs of notes.
Stewart said the descending chord progression and other elements have been found in songs dating to the 1600s. But he testified that of more than 65 songs the defense has said have a similar construction, including “My Funny Valentine,” the Beatles’ “Michelle,” and “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from the movie “Mary Poppins,” none contained all five elements shared by “Taurus” and “Stairway.”
“Not one of them came close,” Stewart said, though he acknowledged on cross-examination that the notes in both songs didn’t all line up in the same places.
The plaintiffs are expected to wrap up their case Friday with the estate trustee, Michael Skidmore, concluding his testimony and a financial expert.
Malofiy tried unsuccessfully to introduce evidence of a $60 million deal Led Zeppelin signed for the rights to its catalog, but the judge wouldn’t allow it because it was from 2008 and extends beyond the statute of limitations.
Page, wearing a suit, tie and his white hair pulled back in a ponytail, was asked about several contracts. Peering through his reading spectacles, he was asked to read the title on the document.
“Confidential,” he said as the courtroom erupted with laughter.
Before concluding his testimony, Page was played “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” and Malofiy asked if it was the inspiration for “Stairway.”
He smiled as the recording sung by Dick Van Dyke was played and said he was familiar with the ditty but said it wasn’t his inspiration.
“I think I have said that the chord sequence is very similar because that chord sequence has been around forever,” he said.
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