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 I saw a link this morning to this article at Esquire.com called "10 Protest Songs to Remember Richard Nixon", marking the 40th anniversary of his resignation. It starts out well with an overlooked Stevie Wonder song and the obvious Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young one before going off the rails with Elton John's nostalgia piece for his early career and a love song to George Wallace which happens to mention Watergate in passing. (I'll even admit the James Taylor one isn't half bad).

Top 5 for May 15, 2014

In my time of dying – Led Zeppelin, from Physical Graffiti

Oh let's see here, the label says this is an original composition by the four members of the band from 1974. Um, wait, didn't Bob Dylan record this song twelve years earlier? I mean this song was probably 100 years old, but by this time Jimmy Page's habit of putting his name on other people's songs was well ingrained. And, after all, you get paid a lot more for writing a song than for arranging one. This is what Homer Simpson is talking about when he call Page “one of the greatest thieves of American music” (And to think he was recently honored by the institution that once granted me a degree in composition.)

(Sure, Dylan's capable of this too, but he's usually pretty blatant about it, as if he wants to get caught in order to promote the source. His recording says “traditional arr. Dylan” but he probably copped the arrangement from Dave van Ronk or somebody).