Dead Man

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Member Since: 8/25/2003
Total Mixes: 96
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In My Time of Dying

Side A
Artist Song Buy
1. Blind Willie Johnson   Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed
The Complete Blind Willie Johnson (1927) 
buy on itunes
2. Ch arley Patton   Jesus Is a Dying-Bed Maker
Complete Recordings 1929-1934 (1929) 
buy on itunes
3. Josh White   Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed
Josh White Vol. 1 1929-1933 (1933) 
buy on itunes
4. Gabriel Brown, John & Rochelle French   Tone The Bell Easy
Field Recordings Vol. 7: Florida (1935-1936) (1935) 
buy on itunes
5. Mitchell's Christian Singers   Jesus Goin' Make Up My Dyin' Bed
Mitchell's Christian Singers Vol. 3 (1938-1940) (1938) 
buy on itunes
6. Norfolk Jazz and Jubilee Quartet   Jesus Is Making Up My Dying Bed
Norfolk Jazz and Jubilee Quartet Vol. 6 (1937-1940) (1938) 
buy on itunes
7. Golden Gate Quartet   Toll the Bell Easy
Golden Gate Quartet Vol. 4 (1939-1943) (1941) 
buy on itunes
8. The Soul Stirrers   Well, Well, Well
Roots & Branches (1950) 
buy on itunes
9. Dock Reed   Jesus Goin' to Make Up My Dyin' Bed
Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 2: Religious Music (1951) 
buy on itunes
10. Horace Sprott   Jesus Going to Make Up My Dying Bed
Music from the South, Vol. 4: Horace Sprott, 3 (1955) 
buy on itunes
11. Bob Dylan   In My Time of Dyin'
Bob Dylan (1962) 
buy on itunes
12. Harry Belafonte   Tone the Bell Easy
Ballads, Blues and Boasters (1964) 
buy on itunes
13. Mississippi Fred McDowell   Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed
Amazing Grace (1965) 
buy on itunes
14. Fear Itself   In My Time of Dying
Fear Itself (1969) 
buy on itunes
15. John Sebastian   Well, Well, Well
The Four of Us (1971) 
buy on itunes
16. John Fahey   Jesus Is a Dying Bedmaker (version 1)
America (1971) 
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17. Shocking Blue   In My Time of Dying
Ham (1973) 
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18. Led Zeppelin   In My Time of Dying
Physical Graffiti (1975) 
buy on itunes
Side B
ArtistSongBuy
1. Spacemen 3   Come Down Easy
The Perfect Prescription (1987) 
buy on itunes
2. Lydia Lunch & Rowland S. Howard   In My Time of Dying
Shotgun Wedding (1991) 
buy on itunes
3. Big Sugar   In My Time of Dying
Big Sugar (1992) 
buy on itunes
4. Pops Staples   Jesus Is Going to Make Up (My Dying Bed)
Father Father (1993) 
buy on itunes
5. Pride and Glory   In My Time of Dying
Pride and Glory (1994) 
buy on itunes
6. Stevens Sisters  In My Time of Dying
Sisters (1996) 
buy on itunes
7. John Mellencamp   In My Time of Dying
Rough Harvest (1999) 
buy on itunes
8. Josh White Jr.   Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed
In Trubute to Josh White: House of the Rising Son (1999) 
buy on itunes
9. Still on the Hill   In My Time of Dying
LIVE Folkstage WFMT Chicago (2002) 
buy on itunes
10. The Be Good Tanyas   In My Time of Dying
Chinatown (2003) 
buy on itunes
11. Martin L. Gore   In My Time of Dying
Counterfeit 2 (2003) 
buy on itunes
12. Liz Janes   Jesus Is a Dying Bed-Maker
Liz Janes & Cre ate (!) (2005) 
buy on itunes
13. 3 Stages of Pain   Jesus Gonna Make My Dyin' Bed
Blackheart Blues (2005) 
buy on itunes
14. Ben Godwin   In My Time of Dying
Lighter Than the Atom/=shinyshiny= (2006) 
buy on itunes

Comment:

I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin and I can't remember when I first heard about all the accusations of plagiarism against them. I remember seeing a list several years ago on somebody's Led Zeppelin website FAQ page with all of the alleged infringements, and in the last few years I've tried to track down all of the songs that have been cited as having been plundered by Led Zeppelin. A long time ago I posted a sort of "overview compilation" (part 1 and part 2) of those songs, and other mixes devoted to "When the Levee Breaks" and "Dazed and Confused." A lot of the accusations are overblown, but that is not to say that Led Zeppelin hasn't failed to cite their sources a time or two. By my count 13 tracks should have or already have had a change to the songwriting credits (you can check out my website if you're curious about which ones fall into this category). One of those songs that should have different songwriting credits is "In My Time of Dying," which is credited to all four members of Led Zeppelin on Physical Graffiti. By all rights, the credits should be "Traditional, arr. Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant," because this song has roots that go back before the twentieth century and had been recorded many times under a number of different titles well before Led Zeppelin took it up. This compilation includes recorded versions of "In My Time of Dying" (also known as "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed," "Well, Well, Well," and "Tone the Bell Easy" among other titles) by artists from a variety of genres over the years, presented in chronological order. Led Zeppelin's version draw most heavily on Josh White, Bob Dylan and Fear Itself, who turned the song into an exte nded blues rock jam. Also it's interesting to note how you can hear Led Zeppelin's influence in almost all of the tracks that followed their version.

I didn't set out to write such a lengthy piece on my website about Led Zeppelin's influences when I first starting looking into this issue. The reason I've spent so much time on it is that I've discovered a wealth of great music in the process. Say what you will about Led Zeppelin, they had great taste in music. And just for the record, I'm still a big Zep fan. They always brought something original to everything they recorded, except maybe "Boogie with Stu," but I'll save that for another mix.

Download disc 1

Download disc 2

Feedback:

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fritz1
Date: 8/19/2008
wow, this looks really interesting! i'm going to go ahead and check this out without knowing the first thing about it.
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doowad
Date: 8/19/2008
Great overview and even greater to have you back. Funny that you bring Dylan into this mix though while he did not profit quite as much as the Led Zeppelin boys from his pilfering, he stuck his songwriting credits on many a traditional tune. I like your summary that yes, they did have good taste. I am hoping that Plant and Alison release a live album because I didn't get to hear them, but have heard great things about the shows.
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Mr. Mirage
Date: 8/19/2008
Excellent mix, and better commentary. I fell out of love with Led Zep due to an unfortunate situation here. A local radio station played them SO much I called in, said I was with the 70's Preservation Society, and asked the DJ if he knew that eventually, if a CD is played too often, it, like vinyl, will eventually wear out. The DJ (hook, line, sinker and 40' of shore line) became concerned, and that is when I begged him for a 1 week moratorium on Zep...He hung up on me... frankly, I quit listening to that station around that time, and when a rival station started up, I called in a request from some Ramones...<p?"Which Ramones song do you want to hear?""Any. If I hear any Ramones in the next hour, I will take (the other station) off my radio immediately, and replace it with yours."The KKK Took My Baby Away, and I ain't nebber bin back....
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Mr. Mirage
Date: 8/19/2008
oh, and the inclusion of Pops is always worthy of attention, and I am eagerly awaiting the download to finish. thanks for the tunes, mi amigo!
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Darth Pazuzu
Date: 8/19/2008
Really good song, and while I knew that it was a very old traditional, I honestly had no clue that so many people had performed it! (For instance, I never knew that Shocking Blue, John Mellencamp and Lydia Lunch had all done cover versions.)

The two that I'm very familiar with are, of course, Dylan's and Led Zep's.
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Sean Lally
Date: 8/19/2008
As always, a great educational experience. And a good choice for analysis! Hope all is well down south.
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p the swede
Date: 8/19/2008
What Sean just said
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Mr. Mirage
Date: 8/20/2008
Just finished listening to this... amazaing, simply amazing!
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vandaleyes
Date: 8/20/2008
This is fascinating. Thanks for posting!
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anthony lombardi
Date: 8/20/2008
what an absolutely, knock-out, fantastic idea - i seem to shimmy between thinking they're mind-blowingly overrated & absolutely brilliant each week (the truth probbaly falls somewhere in between). anyhow, all this talk of "plagiarism" has been, as you rightfully pointed out, blown out of proportion: that's kind of the point of any type of art, taking an idea (sorry, but there's no such thing as an "original" idea, & there never will be again), & adding your own unique spin on it. by those standards, zep did a fantastic job interpreting blues & english folk, & cranking the amps to 11 in the process. you've illustrated this brilliantly here. MOTW, for sure - can't wait to sink my teeth into this.
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njr
Date: 8/21/2008
Just as Shakespeare rewrote older material, and Hollywood has remade almost every screenplay, so have Page, et alia, with music. Doesn't make the results any less valid or pleasing. It's wonderful that this musical journey brought many new songs into your life. I second Anthony on the MOTW for this mix.
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MarkSmith
Date: 8/21/2008
as good as "Who wrote that Zep song? Vols. 1 & 2"... and to think I'd found the LZ version plodding! shame on me :(
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sammyg123
Date: 8/21/2008
Another very impressive Labour of Love, Todd. I'll third Anthonys MotW comment, If only I had the option of giving it this time around..
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musicgnome
Date: 8/21/2008
Remarkable.
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Salman1
Date: 8/24/2008
Loved the commentary and the mix. Fantastic work.
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jonpoi
Date: 8/25/2008
A very good study.

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