THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME

Jury finds Led Zep’s ‘Stairway’ original

Thank heaven, Led Zeppelin has been cleared of plagiarism.

Every Zep fan knows the band liberally borrowed from loads of artists. In the past, they have settled suits over a half-dozen songs. But “Stairway to Heaven” is completely their own.

That’s what a Los Angeles jury decided yesterday when it ruled Led Zeppelin did not steal from Spirit’s “Taurus” when writing “Stairway.” Led Zeppelin opened for the American group in 1968 when Jimmy Page and Co. made their U.S. debut.

The jury made the right decision.

Deliberate or accidental, plagiarism has always been part of rock ’n’ roll. Musicians have successfully sued the Beach Boys, John Lennon, Rod Stewart and others for plagiarism. And when artists profit off another’s work, they should be sued.

But, as bottomless as we think rock is, with thousands of writers penning millions of songs, inadvertent overlap will happen.

Last year, Sam Smith discovered his monster hit “Stay With Me” resembled the Tom Petty classic “I Won’t Back Down” so much that, out of court, Smith decided he would share royalties with Petty (and his co-writer Jeff Lynne). Petty said about the issue: “All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen ... A musical accident, no more, no less.” And that seems about right. In 2008, guitarist Joe Satriani filed suit alleging Coldplay’s smash “Viva La Vida” hit lifted “substantial original portions” of his song “If I Could Fly.” The thing is, Coldplay has probably never heard a Satriani song — the case was dismissed. And Coldplay, like many modern thieves, are often honest: the band sampled Kraftwerk’s “Computer Love” (with Kraftwerk’s permission) for “Talk” and willingly admitted the drum beat in Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” inspired “Speed of Sound.”

Although I back Led Zeppelin, I’m surprised the band won. History, wrongly in my opinion, often sides with accusers in the strangest way. The Chiffons won a case against George Harrison when he was found guilty of “subconsciously copying” “He’s So Fine” for “My Sweet Lord.” Marvin Gaye’s family won against Robin Thicke for “Blurred Lines” and all Thicke did was do a killer job of imitating Gaye’s style — the melodies’ of “Blurred Lines” and Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” are completely different.

The Beatles’ “Let It Be,” Adele’s “Someone Like You” and Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (and a hundred more hits) use the same four-chord progression. Katy Perry and Sara Bareilles had nearly simultaneous hits with nearly identical melodies in 2013 (“Roar” and “Brave”).

As Petty says, “These things can happen.” As I say, imitation is flattery, but it’s not worth suing over when it’s accidental.