When considering the question of Led Zeppelin and plagiarism, the issue often (but not always) revolves around Robert Plant's lyrics. On a number of songs Plant pays homage to artists he admires, but at times his use of lyrics from classic songs is excessive. On "Rock and Roll" Robert Plant (as well as the rest of the band) does it right. He mentions early rock & roll songs and draws on their imagery in his lyrics without lifting any substantial amount from any one song. The lyrics of "Rock and Roll" evoke a sense of nostalgia for American rock & roll of the fifties by mentioning songs such as "The Stroll" by the Diamonds and "The Book of Love" by the Monotones, but the themes are clearly Led Zeppelin's&#151an effective response to critics who complained that the band had lost their hard rock edge on the largely acoustic LP Led Zeppelin III. Led Zeppelin took an early rock & roll rhythm and infused it with hard rock energy, and included a hook ("lonely, lonely, lonely time") that sticks in your mind. All this is impressive considering how quickly Led Zeppelin came up with the words and music for this song.

Will Shade suggests that Jimmy Page lifted part of the guitar solo for "Rock and Roll" that the Yardbirds had used for "The Train Kept a-Rollin'". [3] I'm not sure which version of "The Train Kept a-Rollin'" he's referring to, but it is possible in this case that Jimmy Page was reusing elements of his own solo from that song from his days with the Yardbirds&#151and this story also has implications of plagiarism. Jimmy Page joined the Yardbirds in 1966. At first he was assigned to play bass guitar, but it wasn't long before he began to play lead guitar alongside Jeff Back. Beck and Page were recorded playing twin lead guitars on only three tracks: "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" and "Psycho Daisies", released as a single in 1966, and on "Stroll On", which was recorded for the movie Blow-Up. Director Michaelangelo Antonioni had approached other bands about performing in this movie, but for whatever reason the Yardbirds landed the gig. Antonioni had apparently wanted the Yardbirds to perform "The Train Kept a-Rollin'" for the movie, but the copyright holder wanted too much in royalties for them to use this song. The Yardbirds' solution was to simply rewrite the lyrics and retitle the song, but there's no mistaking that "Stroll On" is "The Train Kept a-Rollin'". The songwriting credits for "Stroll On" are listed as "Jeff Beck/Chris Dreja/Jim McCarty/Jimmy Page/Keith Relf"—the five members of the Yardbirds—with no mention of Tiny Bradshaw, the composer of "The Train Kept a-Rollin'". Apparently this scheme worked, although it's a mystery to me why the copyright holder who was making a fuss about royalty payments wouldn't pursue legal action for such a clear-cut case of copyright infringement. There is some questions as to whether Jimmy Page was actually playing lead guitar on this track. In the scene of Blow-Up in which the Yardbirds perform "Stroll On", Jimmy Page appears to be playing bass guitar, as this was his still his official instrument at the time of the filming. Nevertheless, Jimmy Page had most likely played lead guitar alongside Jeff Beck for the actual recording of "Stroll On".

In 2004, General Motors began using "Rock and Roll" in its television commercials for Cadillacs. The opening drum line, despite being a lift from a famous song, is now clearly identified with Led Zeppelin. When the drums kick in, the song is instantly recognizable as "Rock and Roll".

Recommended Listening

		LittleRichard - The Georgia Peach
		Fleetwood Mac - Live in Boston Remastered Vol. 2
		Various Artists - 41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti Contains "The Stroll" by the Diamonds
		The Monotones - Who Wrote the Book of Love?

Compilations of Original Versions

"Keep a Knockin'" by Little Richard is included on Zeppelin Classics.