“I wrote Black Dog on a train. There was a Muddy Waters song with a riff that never ended...” How John Paul Jones wrote Led Zeppelin's Black Dog

John Paul Jones with his 1962 Fender Jazz Bass

Armed with years of experience as a session bassist and arranger, John Paul Jones was the ultimate addition to Led Zeppelin, a rhythm and blues supergroup formed in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant, and drummer John Bonham. Despite being overshadowed as a songwriter, Jones once penned a true Led Zeppelin classic while on a train ride home.

“I wrote Black Dog on a train,” said Jones in the February 08 issue of Bass Player. “My Dad taught me how to write musical notation without using manuscript paper – just with numbers and note values – and I wrote that riff on the back of a train ticket coming back from a rehearsal at Jimmy Page’s house.”