The credits for Led Zeppelin II were also the subject of debate after the album's release. The prelude to "Bring It On Home" is a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring It On Home" and drew comparisons with Willie Dixon's "Bring It On Back". "Whole Lotta Love" (sample ) shared some lyrics with Dixon's "You Need Love/Woman You Need Love", though the riff from the song was an original Jimmy Page composition. In the 1970s, Arc Music, the publishing arm of Chess Records, brought a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement over "Bring It On Home" and won an out-of-court settlement.[16] Dixon himself did not benefit until he sued Arc Music to recover his royalties and copyrights. Sixteen years later, Dixon filed suit against Led Zeppelin over "Whole Lotta Love" and an out-of-court settlement was reached.[81] Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon. Similarly, the "Lemon Song", from the same album, included an adaptation of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor". The band and Chester Burnett reached an out-of-court settlement to give co-credit to the author of the original song.[82]
In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993, Page commented on the band's use of classic blues songs:
| “ | [A]s far as my end of it goes, I always tried to bring some thing fresh to anything that I used. I always made sure to come up with some variation. In fact, I think in most cases, you would never know what the original source could be. Maybe not in every case -- but in most cases. So most of the comparisons rest on the lyrics. And Robert was supposed to change the lyrics, and he didn't always do that -- which is what brought on most of the grief. They couldn't get us on the guitar parts of the music, but they nailed us on the lyrics. We did, however, take some liberties, I must say [laughs]. But never mind; we did try to do the right thing.[83] | ” |
They were also accused of copying Bert Jansch's arrangement of "Blackwaterside" as "Black Mountain Side" without acknowledgement. Jansch says:
| “ | The accompaniment was nicked by a well-known member of one of the most famous rock bands, who used it, unchanged, on one of their records. |
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