Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant has told a court hearing the Stairway to Heaven copyright dispute that he has a dim memory of the time it was written.

He said he could not remember meeting the band Spirit, who claim the band stole their guitar riff for Stairway to Heaven in the 1970s.

“I don’t have a recollection of almost anyone I’ve hung out with,” Plant said, causing roars of laughter in the court.

The case was brought on behalf of Spirit’s late guitarist, Randy Wolfe.

His estate claims the opening riff of the 1968 song Taurus is fundamentally the same as the iconic opening bars of Stairway to Heaven. Defence lawyers argue the chord progression in question is very common and has been in use for more than 300 years.

The prosecution has argued Led Zeppelin became familiar with Spirit’s song after the two bands played on the same bill in Plant’s hometown at the Birmingham club Mother’s in 1970.

Spirit’s bassist Mark Andes testified last week he met Plant at the show and played snooker with him afterward.

Plant insisted he had no memory of that night, saying that in all the “hubbub and chaos” it would be hard to remember a one-off meeting 40 years ago.

“I can’t actually recall Spirit or anyone playing there with the passing of time,” he said.

Plant partially attributed his lack of memory to a bad car crash on his way home from the club. Both he and his wife suffered head injuries in the accident, he told the court, after the windshield of his Jaguar was left “buried” in his face.

Acoustic demos
The singer-songwriter also spoke at length about the creation of Stairway to Heaven.

He reiterated the assertions made by his bandmates Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones that the song began at the country estate Headley Grange and not the Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur, contradicting decades of Led Zeppelin mythology.