How Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Was Influenced by ‘Mary Poppins’
“Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin is a seven-minute classic rock ballad that is often regarded as one of the greatest songs ever. However, many Led Zeppelin fans would be surprised to learn that the track has a connection to a famous song from Disney’s Mary Poppins.
Led Zeppelin was taken to court over ‘Stairway to Heaven’
In 2014, Led Zeppelin was taken to court over a copyright dispute on behalf of the estate of the late frontman of Spirit, Randy Wolfe. According to the BBC, Wolfe’s lawyers argued that the band had stolen “Stairway to Heaven”’s opening riff from a song called “Taurus” by Spirit.
Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page denied being aware of the song. Spirit’s bassist Mark Andes testified that he had met plant one evening, but Plant said he was foggy on the events of that evening after being in a car crash on the way home. Page said he was unaware of the song until people started sharing comparisons in the early 2010s. The jury rejected their arguments but did find evidence that the pair did not steal from “Taurus” through another source.
‘Stairway to Heaven’ has a surprising connection to a ‘Mary Poppins’ song
The aspect of “Stairway to Heaven” that some thought was stolen was the use of a descending chord progress while an ascending verse is sung over it. During the trial, an attorney for Led Zeppelin played a fragment from “Chim-Chim-Cheree” from 1964’s Mary Poppins. This is a common writing technique, and Page even admitted prior that the song had been influenced by “Chim-Chim-Cheree.”
“I liked the idea of music going at counterpoint, and I used that and similar ideas in my music,” Page said via The Hollywood Reporter. “For example, as stated above, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ has a descending chromatic line over which there is also an ascending line, so that the music is going in two different directions.”
“Chim-Chim-Cheree”, performed by Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews, was written by The Sherman Brothers, a songwriting duo responsible for many of Disney’s most memorable tunes. The pair also incorporated the supposedly stolen technique in “A Spoonful of Sugar.” A scene from 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks portrays the brothers incorporating the technique when they sing the line, “helps the medicine go down.”
‘Chim-Chim-Cheree’ is not the only influence for Jimmy Page
Page didn’t only find this riff from Mary Poppins. The riff has been used in songs that came before “Stairway to Heaven.” According to Inside the Magic, some of these songs include “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles, “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys, and “Dream On” by Aerosmith.
After a six-year-long battle between Spirit and Led Zeppelin, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the band did not steal from “Taurus” for “Stairway to Heaven.” While Page was influenced by the technique, it’s a riff that has been used in so many songs that it’s hard to pinpoint where he could have gotten it from.
