The Evolution of Dazed and Confused

You know this tune from the first Led Zeppelin album, released in 1969.  An epic heavy tune showcasing the riffs for which Zeppelin came to be known.  The song's been incorporated into many TV shows and movies (it even became the title for a movie) and was one of the band's most popular live tunes.  On the album the composition of the song is credited to Jimmy Page, Zeppelin's lead guitarist.  But did Page really write the tune?

This is a song called Dazed and Confused from the 1967 debut album of a folk rock singer named Jake Holmes.  I saw Jake Holmes and his band play this song at two different shows in late 1967 and/or early 1968 at The Bitter End, a small club in Greenwich Village.  Holmes opened for Neil Diamond and then for Van Morrison (who was unbearable).  Holmes' band had an unusual lineup - lead guitar, acoustic guitar and bass with no drums.  The live version was just as intense as the recording.

And, here's the missing link!   The Yardbirds, March 9, 1968 (from French TV).  The music has moved towards Led Zeppelin land but the words remain from the original Holmes version (horrible vocal by Keith Relf, by the way).  

So, how did this happen?  From 1966 though 1968, Jimmy Page was the lead guitarist for The Yardbirds.  In August 1967, Jake Holmes opened for The Yardbirds at a show in New York.  The band liked the song and developed its own version for live shows.  In 1968 The Yardbirds broke up and Page started a new band, Led Zeppelin (originally Keith Moon was going to be the drummer but changed his mind - however, he did come up with the name for the band!).   

During the 1970s, Jake Holmes began a career as a jingle writer.  Among his credits are "Be All That You Can Be" for the US Army, "Be a Pepper" for Dr. Pepper, "Best a Man Can Get" for Gillette, and "Aren't You Hungry for Burger King Now?".

In June 2010, Jake Holmes finally sued Jimmy Page for copyright infringement.