The recent case in which Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were cleared of stealing the opening riff of their massive hit Stairway to Heaven reminded me of the first time I heard a Thai band play the song in Bangkok.
It must have been 1972 at the Las Vegas bar, one of many establishments on the "Golden Mile" of New Petchaburi Road, catering for GIs taking a break from the Vietnam war which was winding down.
I was with an English friend who was a useful guitarist. He had spent hours the previous week teaching the band's lead guitarist how to play that same opening riff to Stairway and was keen to see how he handled it.
The Thai guitarist did a pretty good job, although the singer left a bit to be desired, especially with the screaming bits towards the end. But it was a good effort and I felt lucky to be hearing such music in a run-down Bangkok bar. It was just a shame there were probably more rodents in the place than customers.
Given the song's title, it would have been more appropriate if the band had been playing just across the road at the much larger and aptly named Thai Heaven, an enormous place with hundreds of "waitresses" who weren't exactly angels, on hand to ensure the GIs wouldn't forget Bangkok in a hurry.
No doubt many of the girls could relate to those opening lines of Stairway: "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold/And she's buying a stairway to heaven."
Heaven on Earth
Thai Heaven, which was arguably the most popular club on the strip, had its own band, their unquestionable enthusiasm at playing songs like Sunshine of Your Love and Sky Pilot making up for lack of musical skills. The GIs weren't too bothered about the music quality as long as it was loud and there was an angel to dance with ... and there were plenty of those.
One feature of Thai Heaven was a quirky strip show that looked decades out of date, even in those days.
It usually featured a mature and slightly plump lady wearing an unappealing bikini. She would prance around the dance floor to ancient tunes like Besame Mucho or Tea For Two Cha Cha. It was more campy than naughty, but the GIs loved it. In the more sophisticated places further down the road, the song to strip to at that time was Je t'aime. Remember that?
Blimey, I had intended this column to be discussing the murky world of musical plagiarism, but somehow we have got waylaid.
Sounds familiar
Plagiarism of music is quite widespread and perhaps not surprising considering there are only a limited number of chord progressions available.
It's not uncommon to listen to a guitar riff and sense that you've heard something very similar before.
But you don't read too much about it primarily because litigation costs put off most musicians.
Led Zeppelin have been involved in quite a few cases, especially involving songs of old blues artists like Willie Dickson and Howling Wolf, most of which were settled out of court.
Someone who had a lot of his songs lifted was Chuck Berry, although he rarely sued.
However, his company did take notice when the Beach Boys released Surfin' USA, with Brian Wilson credited as the sole composer.
Surfin' sounded uncomfortably like Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen and Wilson later admitted he had simply put surfing lyrics to the tune.
Berry was duly credited on all issues of the song.
Good Lord!
Perhaps the most famous case was that of George Harrison who was found guilty of pinching the Chiffons song, He's So Fine, for his biggest hit, My Sweet Lord.
Although the judge said he believed Harrison did not intentionally steal the song, he ruled the former-Beatle had "subconsciously" copied the Chiffons melody and Harrison lost the case.
Not even those "Hare Krishna" lyrics could save him.
Rod Stewart also got into a spot of bother when Brazilian singer Jorge Ben Jor pointed out that the 1978 hit Da Ya Think I'm Sexy bore a close resemblance to his song Taj Mahal.
Stewart apologised, admitting he was guilty of "unconscious plagiarism" and they settled out of court.
The song made the tabloids again in 1995 in slightly different circumstances.
Mourners at a funeral in All Saints church in Gravesend were shocked when at a solemn moment, the church PA system suddenly launched into Da Ya Think I'm Sexy, instead of the expected subdued organ music.
Thai soul
Back to Led Zeppelin and guitarist Page, who is no stranger to Thailand. Returning from a concert tour of Japan in 1971, he shot a home video of mainly temples from the back of a Bangkok taxi.
On the cab's radio you can hear an advertisement for a Sombat and Petchara movie, the two big stars at the time. Page clearly enjoyed his stay.
When he returned to Thailand for a holiday in 2011 he commented on his website, "Boy, has the skyline changed in 40 years, but the soul remains the same."
There was also an intriguing moment in the recent Stairway hearing when Page was asked if he had heard something on the internet.
His response was most refreshing: "I don't do internet." There's not many who can say that.
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