Pagey again. Jimmy Page is being sued over writing credit (and, obviously, royalties) for the song Dazed And Confused.

Jake Holmes alleges that Pagey and Led Zeppelin infringed copyright by using his song, Dazed And Confused, as the basis for – well – Dazed And Confused which appeared on Zeppelin’s first album.

Holmes is an American folk singer and, back in 1967, he recorded his Dazed and Confused on his album, The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes. Cool name.

Here, have a listen.

Word is that Holmes supported Page-era Yardbirds when they played in Greenwich Village in 1967 and it’s supposed that Pagey first heard the song there. It’s certainly no secret that The Yardbirds gigged their own version of the song.

When Page finally got around to putting the song on vinyl, by then with Led Zeppelin, Page himself was credited as the writer. There was no nod to Holmes.

So now, quite a while later, Holmes is suing Page. Legally, it seems that even a win for Holmes will be limited to the previous three years’ royalties. I’m guessing that’s probably more than the last three years royalties for The Above Ground Sound though, so he’ll probably be ok with this. There’s also the future to consider and a writing credit on Zeppelin’s version can’t hurt.

This is not the most surprising news really. I think the only surprise is that this didn’t happen before now or that a number of the other ‘influences’ that show up on the first couple of Zeppelin albums haven’t tried their luck in the vein of Holmes now has and Willie Dixon did a few years back.

More information and some words from Holmes himself at Classic Rock.