It remains one of rock ‘n roll’s most famous anthems, complete with its own mythology as to how it was created, but now Led Zeppelin fans have had the rug pulled out from under their feet.

During the federal copyright infringement case over whether the guitar intro to the song was lifted from American band Spirit’s “Taurus” (listen for yourself HERE), Jimmy Page was required to take to the stand.

He did bring with him a guitar, but unfortunately for those in the courtroom he never plucked a string. Instead he shattered the famous song’s mythology, with this below from Mashable:

For 45 years the story was told — and occasionally corroborated via band-member interviews — that Page and singer Robert Plant conjured “Stairway” during a 1970 retreat to Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in the Welsh mountains where Plant’s family used to vacation when he was a boy.

One night during their extended stay at the stone cottage, in front of a roaring fire, “Stairway to Heaven” was born. Or so it was said.

That evocative origin story, which dovetails all too neatly with Zeppelin’s penchant for Celtic mysticism and J.R.R. Tolkein-esque landscapes and imagery, has made Bron-Yr-Aur a pilgrimage of sorts for fans.

In a snippet of a years-old interview played in court Thursday, Plant spoke of that fateful songwriting session: “Jimmy and I just sat by the fire … Hawkwind was probably humming in the background,” he joked.

What a tale, except for the fact that it’s all baloney:

But on the stand Thursday, Page remembered things differently:

Asked under oath about his own past statements regarding the ancestral birthplace of “Stairway,” Page said his memory had been “glitching,” and that “the statement that was made was incorrect.”

The attorney brought up statements from bassist John Paul Jones, who’d said Page and Plant returned from their time at Bryn-Mwar with the beginnings of “Stairway.”

“That’s what he might have thought,” Page said, “but that wasn’t the case.”

Instead, Page said, he had come up with “Stairway’s” three sections on his own, and first tried it out on his bandmates at Headley Grange, a private recording studio in Hampshire.

I’m sure the town of Bron-Yr-Aur is gutted too, there goes all that revenue brought in by Led Zeppelin fans wanting to witness a bit of history.

Ah well, I’m sure they’ll ramble on.

[source:mashable]