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LED ZEPPELIN'S INFLUENCES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Since I've Been Loving You | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Since I've Been Loving You" is a slow blues number on Led Zeppelin III, which was released in 1970. The common perception of Led Zeppelin's blues tracks is that they were plagiarized from an older African-American artist. That is not the case with "Since I've Been Loving You," though. On this track Robert Plant drew on the work of Moby Grape, a roots-oriented psychedelic band from San Francisco who were active in the late-1960s. Moby Grape's song "Never," on the 1968 album Grape Jam, is an extended blues workout with a tempo and meter similar to "Since I've Been Loving You." More importantly, "Never" features some of the same phrases and lyrical theme that Robert Plant uses in "Since I've Been Loving You." Compare the opening verse of "Never"
Working from 11:00 to 7:00 every nightto the opening verse of "Since I've Been Loving You" Working from 7:00 to 11:00 every nightAlso, both songs include the turn of phrase "the best of fools," plaintive cries of "I love you, baby" and references to crying, though the lyrics appear in somewhat altered form in "Since I've Been Love You." This means that the opening and closing verses as well as the bridge of "Since I've Been Loving You" draw heavily from "Never." Despite the obvious lifts, however, Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" is far superior to Moby Grape's track. "Since I've Been Loving You" has a much more varied dynamic range, more memorable hooks, and Led Zeppelin display greater musicianship than Moby Grape do in "Never," even though the members of Moby Grape were accomplished musicians themselves. Also, Led Zeppelin adds an original refrain, "Since I've been loving you/I'm about to lose my worried mind," that gives the song a more satisfying structure. This phrase is not entirely original, though. Lucille Bogan's 1934 recording "Sweet, Sweet Man" contains the lines, "And if he don't come back/I will lose my worried mind." This may just be coincidental, but the lifting of lines from "Never" is unmistakable. It has to be said, though, the Robert Plant doesn't seem to have a good grasp of what it's like to work in the wage labor force. Where Moby Grape lament working the graveyard shift ("working from 11:00 to 7:00 every night"), Robert Plant turns the numbers around ("Working from 7:00 to 11:00 every night") what is probably a haphazard attempt to alter Moby Grape's lyrics. He's either spending pretty much every waking hour at work or else he's complaining about working a four-hour evening shift. While the music of "Since I've Been Loving You" is original, it's interesting to note that the opening guitar lick in this track is identical to the one in the Yardbirds' "New York City Blues," which was recorded in 1965. Jimmy Page had been a member of the Yardbirds before forming Led Zeppelin, but he didn't join the Yardbirds until 1967. The intro to "New York City Blues" was Jeff Beck's. To keep things in perspective, though, "Since I've Been Loving You" and "New York City Blues" share only those five notes, so this isn't really all that significant. Moby Grape, however, should have received some sort of acknowledgment for "Since I've Been Loving You."
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The Blues and Folk Roots of Led Zeppelin's Music. Are They Plagiarists? |
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