Outside Woman Blues

[mjzee]

I was listening to "Outside Woman Blues" by Blind Joe Reynolds on a Yazoo compilation. Very scratchy, great fun. So I was wondering: where did Cream hear this? Yazoo wasn't around then. Were there blues compilations in England, and, if so, which labels released them? And if the cleaned-up Yazoo version is scratchy, what must've the older versions sounded like?

[Noj]

I'm very interested in this topic as I really enjoyed digging up a bunch of songs which Led Zeppelin ripped off.

Jake Holmes - Dazed & Confused

Bert Jansch - Black Water Side

Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie - When The Levee Breaks

Lead Belly & Josh White - In My Time Of Dying

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - My Mama Don't Allow Me

Big Bill Broonzy - Trucking Little Woman

Blind Boy Fuller - I Want Some Of Your Pie

Blind Willie Johnson - Nobody's Fault But Mine

John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chicken

Lead Belly - The Gallis Pole

Oscar "Buddy" Woods & Black Ace - Lone Wolf Blues

Sleepy John Estes - The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair

St. Louis Jimmy Oden - Going Down Slow

Kokomo Arnold - Milk Cow Blues

Bukka White - Shake 'Em On Down

Hambone Willie Newbern - Roll & Tumble Blues

There's more which I've yet to find. I've also found tracks which the Stones covered, like Robert Wilkins - That's No Way To Get Along. Awesome song!

[John L]

Yazoo is a great label, but it didn't come up first with the idea of releasing old blues 78s on LPs.

English rock musicians, including Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, were eating up as much blues as they could find in the 60s. Clapton had a particular interest in old country blues. The English fad for obscure country blues at the time also had a manifestation in the name of Pink Floyd, which was based on the names of two very obscure country bluesman: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Origin Jazz Library released a number of LPs in the 60s that were in every hard core blues lovers collection. I remember that one of them was called "Really the Country Blues." A few others were devoted only to Delta blues. There was a two-volume release of Charlie Patton.

A lot of those Led Zeppelin covers were most likely covers of covers. Their Rollin' and Tumblin,' for example, is most likely a cover of Muddy Waters' version, not Hambone Willie Newbern. Their Going Down Slow most likely got its inspiration from Howlin' Wolf, not St. Louis Jimmy.

[John L]

I found this informative link on the subject.

Pete Whelan interview

[Hot Ptah]

To say that Led Zeppelin ripped off these artists is right. I don't remember many songwriting credits given to the original songwriters on their albums. Clapton seems to have always tried to give original credit when he covered older blues material, but not Led Zeppelin.

Oddly, I have read that Robert Plant has spent more time in the past fifteen years than any other single person, in the leading blues museum and library in Mississippi, doing research on decades old blues artists and recordings.

[B. Clugston]

This article tells of Jimmy Page's exploits in appropiating other peoples' songs. The theft of "Dazed and Confused" is quite shocking.

http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/jimmypage.html

[PHILLYQ]

This article tells of Jimmy Page's exploits in appropiating other peoples' songs. The theft of "Dazed and Confused" is quite shocking.

http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/jimmypage.html

I had heard that Page paid Wilie Dixon for robbing his tune, but I didn't know the full extent of his theft- holy cow, he's a great guitar player but a thief!!

[7/4]

This article tells of Jimmy Page's exploits in appropiating other peoples' songs. The theft of "Dazed and Confused" is quite shocking.

http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/jimmypage.html

I had heard that Page paid Wilie Dixon for robbing his tune, but I didn't know the full extent of his theft- holy cow, he's a great guitar player but a thief!!

That was Whole Lotta Love. From the PSF article:

"Whole Lotta Love" is obviously, as Steve Marriott pointed, a direct nick of the Small Faces take on "You Need Love." The lyrics are basically the same as the Muddy Waters version. Further, Robert Plant's vocal stylings are indeed modeled directly on Marriott's delivery. One listen to the Small Faces version will lay any doubt aside. Unfortunately, the Small Faces songwriting credits made no mention of Willie Dixon. Of course, neither did Led Zeppelin.

Interestingly enough, Willie Dixon's own daughter, Shirley, brought it to her father's attention. As reported in the October 8, 1994's edition of The Los Angeles Times by Steve Hochman, Shirley Dixon first heard Led Zeppelin's version when she was thirteen. She played it for her father, who agreed it was his song. Willie Dixon was receiving no royalties from it. In 1985, Dixon sued Led Zeppelin for royalties to "Whole Lotta Love." The case was settled out of court two years later, with a generous settlement to Willie Dixon. Today, Shirley Dixon heads the Blues Heaven Foundation (established by her father), which helps blues artists recover their royalties and rights.

Another blues classic on Led Zeppelin II became famous as "The Lemon Song." Derived directly from Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," there is also the infamous quote about squeezing lemons that comes from Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues." Chester Burnett, a.k.a. Howlin' Wolf, received no credit for "The Lemon Song." In the early '70s, Arc Music sued Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement. The suit was settled out of court.

The album closed with a song credited to Page/Plant, "Bring It On Home." Discerning listeners realized it was the old Sonny Boy Williamson song of the same name, albeit with a furious Page solo. Once again, the song's author, Willie Dixon, won a settlement.

[Kalo]

This article tells of Jimmy Page's exploits in appropiating other peoples' songs. The theft of "Dazed and Confused" is quite shocking.

http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/jimmypage.html

I had heard that Page paid Wilie Dixon for robbing his tune, but I didn't know the full extent of his theft- holy cow, he's a great guitar player but a thief!!

And he's not even that great as a guitar player.

This article tells of Jimmy Page's exploits in appropiating other peoples' songs. The theft of "Dazed and Confused" is quite shocking.

http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/jimmypage.html

I had heard that Page paid Wilie Dixon for robbing his tune, but I didn't know the full extent of his theft- holy cow, he's a great guitar player but a thief!!

That was Whole Lotta Love. From the PSF article:

"Whole Lotta Love" is obviously, as Steve Marriott pointed, a direct nick of the Small Faces take on "You Need Love." The lyrics are basically the same as the Muddy Waters version. Further, Robert Plant's vocal stylings are indeed modeled directly on Marriott's delivery. One listen to the Small Faces version will lay any doubt aside. Unfortunately, the Small Faces songwriting credits made no mention of Willie Dixon. Of course, neither did Led Zeppelin.

Interestingly enough, Willie Dixon's own daughter, Shirley, brought it to her father's attention. As reported in the October 8, 1994's edition of The Los Angeles Times by Steve Hochman, Shirley Dixon first heard Led Zeppelin's version when she was thirteen. She played it for her father, who agreed it was his song. Willie Dixon was receiving no royalties from it. In 1985, Dixon sued Led Zeppelin for royalties to "Whole Lotta Love." The case was settled out of court two years later, with a generous settlement to Willie Dixon. Today, Shirley Dixon heads the Blues Heaven Foundation (established by her father), which helps blues artists recover their royalties and rights.

Another blues classic on Led Zeppelin II became famous as "The Lemon Song." Derived directly from Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," there is also the infamous quote about squeezing lemons that comes from Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues." Chester Burnett, a.k.a. Howlin' Wolf, received no credit for "The Lemon Song." In the early '70s, Arc Music sued Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement. The suit was settled out of court.

The album closed with a song credited to Page/Plant, "Bring It On Home." Discerning listeners realized it was the old Sonny Boy Williamson song of the same name, albeit with a furious Page solo. Once again, the song's author, Willie Dixon, won a settlement.

And people say that Elvis stole from black folks!

[BruceH]

Hell, Elvis commissioned at least one black songwriter.

Edited June 6, 2007 by BruceH