Re: Bonzo songwriting credits

["Richard Mackey" <richard.mackey@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 02/08/07, Steve Thomson <zeppelin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I thought I'd post a quote from the opening message of a thread started
> today on the Steve Hoffman forum concerning Bonzo's writing credits on
> Zeppelin songs:
>r Moby
> Dick and Bonzo's Montreux because those are obvious.
>
> Some of them can be reasoned because of the distinct grooves that only
> Bonham could have presented. But does than mean that he /wrote/ the drum
> part? That would be something that was never credited as part of the
> /writing/, no?

It depends on what you mean by writing the drum part.  I very much
doubt if Jimmy ever told him 'these are the drum rolls and fills I
want you to play' on any song.  But looking at the Wanton Song as an
example, perhaps Jimmy comes up with a riff, PJ and Bonham base their
parts around that riff.  As they aren't coming up with the original
melodies and song structure, they don't get a credit.

It's very difficult to say how much any member contributed to the
songwriting process unless you were actually present when someone had
the original idea for the song, and then again in the recording
studios.

Another point is that they all became very wealthy soon after the band
formed so I think it's quite likely that Bonham didn't really care how
many songwriting credits he got as long as he got some recognition and
had enough spare cash to buy dragsters.

Richard

> Was he a lyricist at all?

NB - We've done four already but now we're steady...