The Led Zeppelin version of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” was released in 1969. It appeared on the band’s debut album, Led Zeppelin, which was issued in January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March 1969 in the United Kingdom.
The song began as a folk composition by Anne Bredon in the late 1950s. Joan Baez recorded it for her 1962 live album Joan Baez in Concert, and Jimmy Page adapted the piece after hearing Baez’s performance. Led Zeppelin transformed the quiet folk song into a dramatic arrangement that moves between delicate acoustic passages and heavy electric-guitar sections.
A common mix-up is confusing the song’s composition date with the release date of Led Zeppelin’s recording. The original song existed years earlier, while the version associated with Led Zeppelin dates from 1969. Early credits listed it as traditional and arranged by Page; later releases credited Anne Bredon, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant.