To play piano by ear is to play with creativity. Click on this rare song to listen while you’re reading this. It’s better than Zepplin, lasts half as long as the original and uses the art of imitation and creative license.
The overall affect is for the listener to say “Hey, they ripped the theme from Gilligan’s Island. I thought I heard that before . . . ” but it’s not the truth. Far from it. It’s the nature of music to be misleading and this song really takes you on a fun ride.
The cadence to the Gilligan lyric is easily altered to conform to the meter of Stairway. The Gilligan Theme style is a sea shanty that easily conforms to the slow-burn chord progression of Stairway.
Outside of a common chord progression,
the songs are nothing alike.
The nature of music says you can take any song’s lyric, rhythm and chord progression, modify it slightly and spit out a completely different version of the same song. While transforming “Heaven” to “Gilligan” is exaggerated, the concept of “covering” a hit by different artists is much the same. Each rendition is infinite and unique.
Led Zeppelin sued Little Roger and the Goosebumps over this song to cease and desist. It’s funny to note however, that Robert Plant called this his favorite cover of their famous song.