In the Light

"In the Light" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. Most of it was composed by bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones on his synthesizer. It was based on an earlier song the band had written called "In The Morning".

Overview
The unique sound of the intro to the song was created by Jimmy Page using a violin bow on an acoustic guitar. This was one of three Led Zeppelin songs on which Page used bowed guitar, the others being "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times". The song "In the Evening" utilized several tremolo bar drops to mimic the bow sound.

In an interview he gave to rock journalist Cameron Crowe, Plant stated that this song was one of Led Zeppelin's "finest moments". Similarly, Page has stated that this is his personal favourite track on Physical Graffiti.

Live performances
"In the Light" was never played live at Led Zeppelin concerts. According to Jones, Robert Plant was emphatic about wanting to play the song onstage, but because Jones could not reproduce the synthesizer sound properly outside of the studio, he vetoed the idea.

Page performed this song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. Although not included on their original album Live at the Greek, a version of "In the Light" can be found as a bonus track on the Japanese version of this album, released in 2000.