Black Mountain Side
Instrumental rock song performed by Led Zeppelin
title: "Black Mountain Side" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1960s-instrumentals", "led-zeppelin-songs", "1969-songs", "songs-written-by-jimmy-page", "song-recordings-produced-by-jimmy-page", "english-folk-songs", "raga-rock-songs"] description: "Instrumental rock song performed by Led Zeppelin" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain_Side" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Instrumental rock song performed by Led Zeppelin ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Black Mountain Side |
| type | instrumental |
| artist | Led Zeppelin |
| album | Led Zeppelin |
| released | |
| recorded | 15 October 1968 |
| studio | Olympic, London |
| * English folk{{AllMusic | class |
| * raga rock{{Cite book | last |
| length | 2:06 |
| label | Atlantic |
| composer | Jimmy Page |
| producer | Jimmy Page |
| :: |
::callout[type=note]
::
| name = Black Mountain Side | type = instrumental | artist = Led Zeppelin | album = Led Zeppelin | released = | recorded = 15 October 1968 | studio = Olympic, London | genre =
- English folk
- raga rock | length = 2:06 | label = Atlantic | composer = Jimmy Page | producer = Jimmy Page
"Black Mountain Side" is an instrumental by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, adapted, without credit, from Bert Jansch's original arrangement of the traditional Irish folk song "Down by Blackwaterside". It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London, and is included on the group's 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin.
Composition and recording
"Black Mountain Side" was inspired by a traditional Irish folk song called "Down by Blackwaterside". The guitar arrangement closely follows Bert Jansch's version of that song, recorded for his 1966 album Jack Orion. Al Stewart, who followed Jansch's gigs, taught it to Page, who was a session musician for Stewart's debut album. Page played the instrumental on a borrowed Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar which was tuned to D–A–D–G–A–D, a tuning that he had used for "White Summer". To enhance the Indian character of the song, drummer and sitarist Viram Jasani played tabla on the track.
The overall Eastern-flavour of the structure led writer William S. Burroughs to make a suggestion to Page: ::quote
::
| last = Burroughs | first = William S. | author-link = William S. Burroughs | year = 1993 | title = Interview with Jimmy Page | magazine = Guitar World | location = | publisher = | volume = | issue = | isbn = | issn = | page = 93
Personnel
According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:
Performances
In concert, "Black Mountain Side" was often performed with "White Summer". A recording from Royal Albert Hall on 9 January 1970 is included on the Led Zeppelin DVD (2003).
References
Bibliography
References
- {{AllMusic. Erlewine. Stephen Thomas
- Spicer, Daniel. (2018). "The Turkish Psychedelic Music Explosion: Anadolu Psych 1965–1980". [[Watkins Media]].
- Kennedy, Doug. (1983). "The Songs and Guitar Solos of Bert Jansch". New Punchbowl Music.
- Harper, Colin. (2006). "Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival". [[Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Lewis, Dave. (2004). "The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin". Omnibus Press.
- Lewis, Dave. (2010). "Led Zeppelin: The Complete Guide to Their Music". [[Omnibus Press]].
- Popoff, Martin. (2018). "Led Zeppelin: All the Albums, All the Songs". Voyageur Press.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::