In My Time of Dying - Led Zeppelin Version

Led Zeppelin Version

"In My Time of Dying"
Song by Led Zeppelin from the album Physical Graffiti
Released	24 February 1975
Recorded	January–February 1974
Genre	Hard rock, blues rock, heavy metal
Length	11:06
Label	Swan Song
Writer	Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham
Producer	Jimmy Page
Physical Graffiti track listing
"The Rover" (2) "In My Time of Dying" (3) "Houses of the Holy" (4)

Led Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying" was released on their sixth album Physical Graffiti; it is the third song on the album, and closes Side 1 of the album's original double-LP configuration. At 11:05, it is the longest studio track on any Led Zeppelin studio album, but contains no long instrumental passages despite its extended timing. As Physical Graffiti was exceptionally successful commercially, achieving RIAA 16x Platinum status, Led Zeppelin's rendition of the song is probably the most widely known.

Jimmy Page's guitar tuning for this song is an open A chord (E / A / E / A / C# / E from bottom to top), and (with "When the Levee Breaks" and "Traveling Riverside Blues") is one of the most recognisable instances of Page's slide playing on a Led Zeppelin recording. John Paul Jones played a fretless bass. Meanwhile, the distinctive, powerful drumming sounds of John Bonham were recorded in the same way as those on the track "When the Levee Breaks" from Led Zeppelin's fourth album.

Because of its improvisational nature the band never had a rehearsed ending for the song. The studio version ends with: "I'm going to make it my dyin', dyin', dyin'..." After a few seconds of silence followed by a dramatically feigned coughing fit (likely by John Bonham) is heard. Playing along, Plant quips "cough" as an apt final word for the song. Bonham can then be heard exclaiming, "That's gonna be the one, isn't it?", referring to that particular take. This is followed by a different voice (likely that of recording engineer Andy Johns) saying through the talk-back microphone "Come have a listen, then." Bonham then releases the clutch of his hi-hat and says (rather sheepishly) "Oh, yes. Thank you."

In the May 2008 issue of Uncut Magazine, Page elaborated on the humorous reaction in the studio which can be heard at the end of the song:

We were just having such a wonderful time. Look, we had a framework for "In My Time Of Dying", Ok, but then it just takes off and we're just doing what Led Zeppelin do. We're jamming. We're having a ball. We. Are. Playing.

Record producer Rick Rubin has remarked on the song's structure, "The bass line in the fast grooves is so interesting and unexpected. It keeps shifting gears, over and over."

"In My Time of Dying" was played during Led Zeppelin's 1975 and 1977 concert tours, where Robert Plant sarcastically dedicated the song to the British Labour Party's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey, for the tax exile issues the band was facing. When played live, the band tuned the song down by a tone. Although performed in 1977, Plant initially was not keen on singing the song after suffering a near-fatal car crash in 1975, due to its fatalistic lyrical theme. This was one of the few live songs where Page switched to his black and white Danelectro guitar, which he also used for "White Summer" and "Kashmir". One live version of "In My Time of Dying", from Led Zeppelin's performance at Earls Court on 24 May 1975, is featured on disc 2 of the Led Zeppelin DVD, and its promotional sampler.

In 1993, when Jimmy Page toured Japan with David Coverdale as Coverdale/Page, they performed this song on all seven of their dates.

Page performed this song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. A version of "In My Time of Dying" performed by Page and The Black Crowes can be found on the album Live at the Greek. Page also included the song as part of his solo Outrider tour.

"In My Time of Dying" was performed at Led Zeppelin's reunion show at the O2 Arena, London on 10 December 2007.