You Need Love
Willie Dixon Lyrics

@brmoogma

whole lotta love is different enough to be a new creation.....

@NalaRichenbach

Led Zeppelin gave this song a Whole Lotta Love and made it very profitable for the original artist who probably made about 50 bucks on it at the time.

@timothylewis2450

@@NalaRichenbach When you don’t properly credit the composer, in this case Willie Dixon, the composer does not receive their royalties.

@James-ys6wm

The artist need to be credited to make money.

@NalaRichenbach

@@timothylewis2450 I'm sure the composer tried to make money with it himself... and how did he do? ONLY when Page re-created the song did it become profitable. That's why all the lawsuits always settled out of court for a meager sum.

@NalaRichenbach

@@James-ys6wm The song was completely changed around and didn't sound anything like the original. Nobody wanted to listen to the original. Then, Page re-created the song and made it a profitable song that people wanted to listen to.

@timothylewis2450

@@NalaRichenbach Your assumption that the song was not profitable before it was plagiarized is false and irrelevant. The law doesn’t operate like that.

Willie Dixon is a legendary musician/producer and one of the most successful blues composers of the late 20th century. What is relevant is that Willie Dixon was the composer and owner of the copyrighted property therefore rightfully due royalties. Dixon sued and eventually LZ admitted to the theft. They were ordered to pay $600K in back royalties and a share of all future royalties. Not exactly meager.

@stms.africa4690

Led Zepplin just took a huge DIVE in my book. What a shame. Was credit ever given to this original on any LP

@JohnTressell

Willie Dixon sued them successfully; it was an out of court settlement and after that he was added to the songwriting credits

@RamNezamo

Unfortunately this wasn't the only song they stole from black artists. And they aren't the only ones either. Several rock and roll artists stole from blues and jazz musicians. Back then Blacks had very limited rights. After the civil rights movement, in the 1970s, 1980s, and even 1990s, several black artists started suing these famous bands and received the money and recognition they deserved.

>>>> The Beach boys stole from Chuck Berry without batting an eye. He had to sue them to get his money and the rights to the song 'Surfing USA' . They rewrote his song "sweet little sixteen' and made millions from it.

@CharlesWalsh-r7p

Why did they take a dive though it still takes so much talent to do what they did with the song Also the original artist Willie Dixon didn’t care that much that they took his work he only sued them because it was a hit dong and he wanted money if he really cared he would’ve been mad at small faces to for covering his song

@RamNezamo

@@CharlesWalsh-r7p whether they made it better or worse, stealing is stealing. The band has been sued for several songs, including stairway to heaven.

@georgethebugeater7950

It sounds nothing like this

@kennethmassey534

I don't think I was trying to steal so much as everybody was so f**** stoned then.... Of course hindsight is 20/20 but it all worked out for the better Mr Dixon's up there somewhere smiling down looking at all this... He got it all straightened out before He left here him and his Daughter Diane WONDERFUL People I was blessed to be Befriended by Them... And The Best Is Yet To Come 🎶🎸🎸🎸🎶🌠❤️‍🔥👍🏽

@michaelmorrison6930

song was written by Willie Dixon

@GencGEGA

The greatest Muddy Waters cover!

@skelltenfredrick5183

Zepplin 100% knocked this off and bigged it up electronically and being a metal fan and not a blues fan I’ll always prefer that version coz it speaks way more to my taste BUT like dudes come on they deffo nicked one or two things here lads let’s not kid ourselves ahah

@skelltenfredrick5183

@@pmbbmp poor old sausage

@JustShootin

Zepplin wound up having to pay Dixon in excess of a million dollars because he sued them and won, and if you look at any copy of Led Zepplin II that was manufactured after 1985 Dixon is credited as one of the writers of the Zep version.

@skelltenfredrick5183

@@WeAmericansAreGullible my women? weird phrasing but aight aha

@skelltenfredrick5183

@@WeAmericansAreGullible I did figure it out you just left a really strange comment so I chose to ignore it and find a new angle

@georgethebugeater7950

@@skelltenfredrick5183a bit dramatic. Besides a few lines the whole rest of the song sounds nothing like it. Be realistic. People just want to cry about something like they just learned about plagiarism.

@miltonlevant2290

Led zeppelin now here is muddy water

@palg123

autorstvo je pripisované W. Dixonovi (u Zeppelinu) nie Watersovi.

@NalaRichenbach

Led Zeppelin put this song on the map. Every song they stole, they made profitable more than the original artist could ever do.

@NalaRichenbach

@@jamieflowers1493 Because the songs sound completely different. He took some of the lyrics but apparently, the lawsuits were settled out of court because high-award damages just weren't warranted. The songs were more profitable to the original writer than they ever were. Nobody even knew who they were or heard their songs until before Page made them known. He made them some money that they never would have made otherwise with those songs. They should be thanking Jimmy.

@marendur

@@NalaRichenbach Se dependesse inteiramente apenas deles, não daria lucro algum, pois eles não davam os créditos devidos ao autor original. Foi preciso ordem judicial para que isso acontecesse.

@topcat7903

Way done inside, you need love.

@mattwalker5129

"Way done?" Geez.

@etuheu

@@mattwalker5129 HAHAHAHAA

@jkotynek

Remarkable!

@alanandersen727

You do realize muddy waters had to sue led zep to get paid for them stealing his song it's the same song they just set it to metal music

@On_Dust

He made this. But Led Zep didn't ripped the song from him. Small Faces covered it before Zep. Check it out to see the similarities especially on the vocals.

@spearfisherman308

nope he just sued zep because it was a hit because small faces covered it without crediting dixon.

@ellethestar9951

I know. They thought they could just take genius,,typical

@ctrlshiftqq9846

In what way is WLL metal

@hebekid8540

@Fernando Cunha He sued Zep and won, big time! I knew his manager. Muddy bought 7 Cadillacs, one for each day of the week.

@12345682900

Originally this song, nor any parts of it, were uncredited to Dixon, a lawsuit in 1985 was settled with a payment from Zeppelin Inc. to Dixon and credit on subsequent releases. I love LZ, but the breath of their plagiarism is criminal, evidenced by the sheer volume of subsequent lawsuits.

@outis439-A

Nah Dixon shouldn’t have a credit: the Small Faced should.

@12345682900

@@outis439-A You're kidding, right? You realize the court awarded damages (monetary compensation) to Dixon.

@outis439-A

@@12345682900 so what? I can literally disagree with rulings. My torts professor’s first comment to the class was ‘you will see a lot of rulings you will disagree with’.

@timothylewis2450

@@12345682900 The royalties are due to the composer or owner of the copyright. The Faces, like Zeppelin would also owe these royalties.

@georgethebugeater7950

No need to be dramatic. “Criminal”? Most of these songs have snippets of something that can be considered plagiarism. 90% of the rest of these “stolen” songs are original. Name one song that they stole note for note and lien for line and didn’t give credit.

@byellisjohnson

Nice

@smokymountain4222

All due respect to muddy waters but zeppelin brought his song into history of rock..I personally would like to see acknowledge credit to the original creator

@alanandersen727

Wrong

@magneteye

Muddy didn't even write this song. Willie Dixon did.

@smokymountain4222

@@magneteye and willie got from mosses..

@dan10things

Nope!

@blackpilledchad1927

That's like saying Miley Cyrus cover of a Ramones song is better because it was brought to bigger audiences with better studio sound. GTFOH

@albertomaldonado4714

Muddy Waters 50% & Led Zeppelin 50%
I believe originality does not exist, because, we are made of the ideas that have travel since the beginning of time. We are destined to get inspire by it and molding it on our own interpretation. Some ideas are going to be great and other even much greater, depends on the talent of the Artists! Salutes from Tijuana, Baja California, México

@ExplorerOfTheGalaxy

Ok so I'm able to steal anyone's music now.. Thanks.. (And I'm a HUGE fan of Zeppelin, lol)..

@ExplorerOfTheGalaxy

@@AmericansAreGullible_ASF Don't put color of skin on it. There's TONS of white musicians who were plagiarized.

@timothylewis2450

@@albertomaldonado4714 I suggest you brush up on the basics of intellectual property and copyright law.

@patrickknight6027

And..............this is why we are currently wallowing in a morass of mediocrity.

None of the creative arts, from literature to lace doily making has produced anything original for the last 20yrs.
How many generations have been taught that "originality does not exist" and instead of trying to come
up with something new it's OK to just plagiarise. I swear, if I see another working class lad 'rapping' !...........
Cover band anyone ? There are thousands out there touring.
A new book ? I've just finished writing a rip off of 'Barry Trotter and the Golden rain.' exactly what my publisher asked for.
Why be scared of A.I. ? After all, it will only be regurgitating what it's been fed. But wait a minute, they say it will learn
and then - god forbid ! - it will produce something original !

@scottwoodworth7023

Zep made a totally new song out of a few words. I suppose they owe a small royalty, but pretty thin.

@lmaonow2489

are you mad

@TJ-xs5bn

Willie Dixon won a boatload of money when he sued those rats for trying to steal his music.

@RKfMaster

You’re out of your mind

@graciasmuchas5238

they nicked and featured this guitar riff too. Totally stolen! The whole song was stolen and re-arranged (leave some words out, add a couple of things, change the order of a few notes).

Would have been fine if they'd have just paid the royalties and not tried to pass it off as Led Zep.

Happens too much.

Glad they got sued and the creator compensated.
Does anyone know how long that took?

@josefernandez7840

Pretty thin??? Are you ears painted on. A complete rip-off.

@marcoevans2155

Below you will find otherwise intelligent people trying to convince themselves that Led Zeppelin was not a blue-eyed blues cover band, they will put up evidence such as record sale, tempo changes, instruments used, chords, etc. in order to discredit the late blues masters. None of them will be able to name a single song in Led Zeppelin's entire catelog that does'nt borrow from the blues (they all do immensly )_. Laffing Me...

@michelandrade6185

Mais está música não é do Willie Dixon ?

@alcorraalb6029

If Zeppelin didn’t borrow this song and make it a hit,none of us would even be here in the comments. I prefer Zeppelin’s version,I mean,seriously,you’re driving down the street with your stereo blasting….which version you playing?🤔

@alanandersen727

When someone has to sue you for using their song then yes you stole it if you want to cover a song pay the owner for the right to use their song first ok

@jeremiahjohnson1513

There's an idea that when white artists use songs by original black blues musicians, their songs aren't as good as the originals. That's probably true more often than not but this is one case where it is better. Not that Whole Lotta love is exactly the same song, it isn't, Zep just used the lyrics and a couple of vocal accents, not the melodic structure.
You Need Love is just kind of a mediocre rambling pop blues that doesn't come close to the great classic blues songs of the era. Zeppelin set the words to a blues and made something vastly better. They do owe the author of the song royalties for copping the lyrics but they didn't steal any melody.

@blackpilledchad1927

0:36 There's the whole fuck'n riff. You're delusional to think that way. There were a bunch of bands playing electric distorted sleazy rock n roll. They came out just in 1969, not in 1965

@ecoleman5690

In addition to introducing an entirely new generational audience to the “blues” there is the matter of innovation to be considered.

@graciasmuchas5238

@@ecoleman5690 does that make it right to try to pass off the originator's song and the recording artist's riff as your own and not pay any royalties then? I'm hearing 'it's all right to rip others' off'.

@graciasmuchas5238

@@ecoleman5690 and anyway...without crediting either Muddy's riff or Willie D's song they were only introducing listeners to Led Zep. That's actually HIDING the origins not raising awareness of the song's origin....I.e. rip-off.

Blues is a musical style, no need to put it
'in quotations ' as if it weren't ...

...a Whole Lotta racist overtones on this song's comments section... be aware.

@ecoleman5690

@@graciasmuchas5238 Firstly, theft, be it of the material or intellectual varieties, is morally destitute and base. Respect the creativity of the individual and assert your own. So, no theft. It’s wrong and bad and often difficult to recover from.
Secondly, the lawfully enacted statutes of a given locality are often sadly out date with emerging social trends. I.E. many of these original blues recordings had been permitted to pass into public domain. Thus they were often “appropriated” without proper accreditation. In fairness, credit should be given when due.
But that electrified guitar riff though!

@Boxscot49

How delusional do you have to be to say that Zeppelin didnt completely rip off this song? I swear its like people dont understand you can admit they plagiarized and still like the band and the song

@jeremiahjohnson1513

Problem is not crediting properly. However, Zep didn't really steal the song itself, the took the lyrics and set them to a blues grind and created something much better. Muddy's "you need love", is Ok, but it's just kind of a mediocre rambling pop blues that doesn't rank with his other all time great blues classics.
Even the great Bill Broonzy himself, in an interview with Studs Terkel, explained that blues artists take other blues songs and change them around to make new songs.
Musically, Whole lotta Love is not anymore a rip off than thousands of other blues songs that are rearrangement of other songs.
But Zep did steal the lyrics from You Need Love and they owed credit and royalties for that. The band blames the record company but since they did the same with other folk and blues songs I can't believe the band didn't realize they weren't crediting properly. The worst case was Dazed and Confused, which wasn't even a blues song, but that wasn't a re write but a straight up photocopy of another song.

@joshuablack8221

They did, and they admitted it, but they also made it way, way better, Brotha 💯

@CharlesWalsh-r7p

They didn’t completely rip off the song the riff is different there’s clearly a difference between the zep version and the muddy waters version

How delusional do you have to be to say that Zeppelin DID completely rip off this song? LZ version sounds almost nothing like this. Seems to me that black people are angry that white people highly modified their songs which then turned out to be 10x better and more popular. Spite and racism towards white people, that's what it is.

@peanutdom

This comment will get lost in a sea of Zep v Muddy bullshiz but does anyone know why Willie Dixon never recorded his own version?

@danielmelvin4525

Zep vs willy dixon , more so than waters. Probably cause Willie thought it would be a good song for Muddy.

@alanandersen727

Led zeppelin paid muddy waters 600,000 dollars after they admitted in court they had used his song whole lotta love and had not paid him his royalties don act like I don't know what the hell I'm talking about

@JSebastien94

I dont think they stole it. They didnt know better... They grew up with rock n' roll and blues music. Just like Clapton, Beck, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. They didnt know better about the music bizz. But They didnt steal from there heroes. If they ultimately did, it wasnt voluntary. They covered it and changed it to be more hard rock- they send the song into a new direction while keeping the base.

@TomWPalmer

Shows what sort of people Led Zeppelin were. Great musicians but not a lot of morals let's be real. Imagine being a fan of this music and happily stealing without giving any credit whatsoever. The lyrics have literally just been lifted and it took until a law suit in 1985 for Muddy Waters to get his due. A disgrace it really is. Leaves a bitter taste when thinking of Led Zeppelin it really does. Multi millionaires profiteering from pioneers who didn't get the level of recognition they should have. Sad as I was always such a fan and that is before we consider the deeply disturbing and unpleasant aspects with the band that was going on behind the scenes. At this point I am very much a conflicted fan.

@alanandersen727

Any musician will tell you you can take an arrangement and speed it up or slow it down doesn't mean it's not the same song Whitney houston cover of I will always love you sounds completely different from dolly Parton's but dolly wrote the dam song so she got paid she did not have to sue Whitney houston to get her dam money

@GandalftheWise

Zeppelin stole SO MANY songs!

@Jack-sn6oq

No they didn't

@GandalftheWise

@@Jack-sn6oq are you calling me a liar bro?

@Jack-sn6oq

@@GandalftheWise no

@skepticalsinik2412

@@Jack-sn6oq they actually did, though.

@willbthebassist539

@@Jack-sn6oq There’s literally an entire Wikipedia article listing each song they stole. I love Led Zeppelin, but they were the biggest thieves in music history, and anyone who thinks otherwise is simply in denial.

@zarni000

Zeppelins is a totally different song musically. This is good but no likeness to the Zeppelin version at all. Small Faces and Link Wray have a much more valid claim than Muddy Waters. Just few lines taken from MW. The iconic riff is Link Wrays and Jimmy's sound.
On top of it this was not Muddy Waters' original. He just stole it from Willie dixon...it's uncredited on his album. And his was not even much modified.. whereas zeppelins version only nicked the lyrics Muddy Waters just stole everything.. Dixon had to sue to force him to pay.

@haha-ye2dt

Is juste backwards....

@zarni000

@@haha-ye2dt everybody has their opinion. Zep sold way more of their version

@academyvsart

The "way down inside" part as well as the part that starts at 1:57 are clearly lifted by Led Zeppelin from this song.

@zarni000

@@academyvsart of course. There are some stretches that are same. However as a whole its mostly different from the muddy waters. Even the ones you point out are different notes

@ThomasFromTN

@@zarni000 You White Boys can talk yourselves into believing anything. Fine...it's a free world and you're free, White, and over 21 in it. But...just spare me trying to double talk a plausible perspective that Zeppelin didn't sit down, listen to this Muddy Watters song...and proceed to "write" Whole Lotta Love, but utterly disconnected from any extraction, much less influence, deriving from having listened to the Muddy Watters ORIGINAL. You irk me when you try to pull that crap.

@andreycardenetti483

O que séria de whole lotta love sem o solo de jimmy page?

@raulcarvalho6843

Uma música absurdamente foda ... com o page o bonham plant e jones

@graciasmuchas5238

Title: Whole Lotta Racist Overtones...in these comments...(You Need Awareness).
Without crediting either Muddy's riff (first thing you hear on the Led Zep version) or Willie Dixon's song they were only introducing listeners to Led Zep. That's actually HIDING the origins not raising awareness of the song's blues origin and its plethora of talent....I.e. it was a rip-off.

Blues is a musical style & tradition so no need for (some) people here to put it
'in quotations '
as if it weren't a (Afro-American) musical tradition.

@christianchilds4020

Led Zeppelin owes noone anything.

@Thingsthatmakemegohmmm

😂

@daaam-fy9lz

You are a🤡

@johnf.kennedy5387

Comment section's whacky.

@alanandersen727

You're wacky jfk

@VitorCarvalho-bn4si

Não tem nada haver com Whole Lotta Love do Led Zeppelin, o vocal do Plant é infinitamente mais agressivo, aliás tudo no Whole Lotta Love do Led Zeppelin é mais agressivo que esse blues, na minha humilde opinião não é um plágio, nem o riff se parece, só a letra que se parece um pouco (minha opinião)

@mattwalker5129

Ayyyyyy, ayyyyyy, yi-yiiiiiiiiiiiiii...
I am the Frito Banditoooooooooooo!

@mattwalker5129

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah, gimme three chalupas, a couple fish tacos, and a bean burrito with cheese, sour cream, and a whole lotta love.
Thank you, drive through...

@bojangles6444

It has everything to do with it. The lyrics are identical???? It doesn’t matter if the style and riff are different. It’s the words mainly. Too much similarity you can’t do that without calling it a cover and paying royalties. I really can’t respect zeppelin as people too much ever since I knew about this. Back then it was pretty unfair for Black people they thought they could just steal their music it’s sickening. The stones took their name from his music as well. At least as far as I know they always admitted it. At the end of the day that’s far more respectable, plus they didn’t copy his music just a word from a song title. Not sure if that translates to any royalties- I don’t think so. Song title and band name are different enough that it probably doesn’t violate any law especially if they had his approval. These days it usually means it’s a cover band.

@dominiksawadsky5545

This guy should be thankful to Led Zep

@kevinfrease6322

Doesn't surprise me that ZEP tried to rip off artists

@urbandebragreene665

Led zepplin did it million times better thoe ,came on lol

@timothylewis2450

@@urbandebragreene665 So that makes it ok to steal their money?

@@timothylewis2450 Steal whose money? Muddy Waters did not write nor record Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love. They share barely noticeable resemblance. MW don't deserve any significant amount of money for coming up with 0.001% of the song.

@pedrohass-l7z

Fuck it that Zeppelin stole their songs, I don’t even care they stole it, I am just grateful that they did. This version is just simply too raw, Led Zeppelin made it 100 times better and added a lot of their own features, them both can settle their own scores and I am glad they did, but I am not going to hear to the original song just because the “cover” version of Led Zeppelin was plagiarized and the Zep were whites and Muddy Waters was black and bla-bla-bla. You all act as if you were judges of the society when the ones you are judging are full-grown up adults and the ones judging them spent years of their lives studying law and justice.

@davidnoname6278

White people steal everything!

@adrianvscaesar2798

Led Zeppelin manteve a base musical e mudara apenas a letra . Plágio clássico .

@bobbykingly6676

Stop calling cover songs stolen songs

@mattwalker5129

Then why did someone superior, like MISTER Waters, have to sue Jimmy's plaguerizing ass?

@bobbykingly6676

@@mattwalker5129 MISTER Waters?? We're capitalizing mister?? Okay?? It's says that it was Willie Dixie who sued and not MISTER Waters..... Also I saw Otis Redding Stole? Covered? A Rolling Stones song... Stop the press

@mattwalker5129

@@bobbykingly6676 Redding covered it. MISTER Waters because of the respect he is owed, along with his harpist, Willie Dixon, not "Dixie"(use your spell check, kid), for inspiring British blues. Dixon /Waters both sued.

@joejosa8985

Then Led Zeppelin got money for a lot of cover songs/tributes 🙃

@dillonfriz

because led zeppelin had a private jet while muddy waters was painting the recording studio he was signed to pay rent. THATS WHY

@igorT487

The songs are completely different, also calling out "plagiarism" in a blues tune is at least moronic

@Lvdd

Ok lz fanboy

@igorT487

@@Lvdd arguments ?

@alanandersen727

Muddy did not give his song to zep the stole it

@timothylewis2450

@@igorT487 Not according to the law.

@weltmeisterbayernmunchen6308

Led zeppelin plays the blues,which is blackman music.That is for the musicians here not for those blind fanatics.Clearly blues riffs african drums going on.Its not a white thing.