"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-200acoustic guitar which was tuned to D–A–D–G–A–D, which he had used for "White Summer". To enhance the Indian character of the song, drummer and sitarist Viram Jasani played tablaon the track. The overall Eastern-flavour of the structure was to lead writer William S. Burroughs into a suggestion to Jimmy Page about Led Zeppelin's music:
Performances
When the song was played at Led Zeppelin concerts it usually featured as part of Jimmy Page's instrumental "White Summer", with the combined arrangement "White Summer-Black Mountain Side" typically running at 11 minutes. Page would sit on a stool for the duration of the two songs and usually played them on a 1959 Danelectro DC "Double Cutaway" guitar, tuned differently from his favored Gibson Les Paul. These songs were used by the band to showcase Page's skills as a guitarist, because he played them almost entirely by himself, with drummer John Bonham adding some fills later in the song. The "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side" combination was first performed as part of their first-ever concert at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, on 10 January 1969; the Spokane show from 30 December 1968 features the arrangement without "Black Mountain Side". This song was a component of Led Zeppelin's live set list until their fifth US Tour in 1970. Years later it was restored to their set for the 1977 US Tour, the 1979 concerts and 1980 European tour. "Black Mountain Side" was also used to lead into "Kashmir" on this latter tour. A live version of this song can be seen on the Led Zeppelin DVD, during Led Zeppelin's 1970 Royal Albert Hall appearance. A similar version can be heard, most likely from the Playhouse Theatre sessions from 27 June 1969, on the expanded version of Coda, an album of outtakes released in 1982. This arrangement has the "White Summer" segment being played for around eight minutes, and "Black Mountain Side" is heard somewhere in the middle. Page later played versions of this song when he was with the Firm, the group he founded with Paul Rodgers.
