Jake Holmes' "Dazed and Confused" has had a life. The song was originally penned and, most importantly, copyrighted by the American singer-songwriter. He opened for Jimmy Page's Yardbirds and played his music, and the Yardbirds drummer, Jim McCarty, was a fan.
So much so that he and the Yardbirds created their version of the tune, which became a staple in the band's concerts. When Page left the Yardbirds to help form Led Zeppelin, he took "Dazed and Confused" with him. The song became a part of the band's debut album in 1968.
Holmes initially took no action against Page for borrowing the song. Zeppelin changed the lyrics and many of the guitar parts, but the tune's structure remained Holmes'. But when the band released their debut, the songwriting credit for "Dazed and Confused" was assigned to Page with no mention of Holmes.
Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page sued again over "Dazed and Confused"
In the early 1980s, Holmes wrote to Page about being added to the songwriting credit, but was seemingly ignored. Not until 2010 did Holmes take legal action. The case was settled out of court, but Zeppelin's debut record now has the song credited to Page with an added, "inspired by Jake Holmes."
Led Zeppelin has a new documentary about the band called Becoming Led Zeppelin. In the doc, a snippet of "Dazed and Confused" is played, which appears to be from the Yardbirds. As Holmes' initial lawsuit seems to relate directly to Zeppelin's debut, the singer-songwriter has sought legal action for the Yardbirds cover, as Holmes has not been given a songwriting credit.
According to Reuters, Holmes is seeking $150,000 per instance of infringement of the song's use. This includes, of course, the use of Holmes' tune in the Zeppelin documentary.
The issue is that the song has become synonymous with Led Zeppelin, so the band cannot exclude it from films about the group. One might wonder if the use of "Dazed and Confused" will be deleted in later releases of the document.