Iconic multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, born January 3, 1946, was Led Zeppelin’s sonic secret weapon. Whether playing bass, flute, or mandolin, Jones knew how to put the proverbial icing on a musical cake.

To wit, Jones wrote many of Led Zeppelin’s biggest songs, either co-writing with the whole band or just one or two members. Below, we will dive into a handful of those songs that Jones helped make legendary with his Hall of Fame classic rock band.

Yes, these are five songs you likely didn’t know John Paul Jones wrote for Led Zeppelin.

“All My Love,” a song from the band’s 1979 album Through the Out Door, was written by Jones and singer Robert Plant. Jones also plays keys on the song, including a solo. In fact, it was so uncommon that “All My Love” is only one of the two Led Zeppelin songs that were released without guitarist Jimmy Page contributing to the song’s composition (the other is “South Bound Saurez,” which is also on Through the Out Door).

The lead track from the band’s 1969 album Led Zeppelin needed to prove itself in order for playback of the opening track from their debut album, “Good Times Band Times,” to continue. Thanks to the song’s writers, drummer John Bonham, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist Jones—who claimed that the bass riff he composed for the song was among the hardest he had ever had to play—the song succeeded in doing precisely that.
“Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,” which was released in 1970 on the band’s third album, Led Zeppelin III, was composed in Whales while the group was staying at a cottage known as Montgomeryshire, which lacked running water or electricity, to compose new music. The song, which was written by Plant, Page, and Jones, is about hanging out in the woods with a dog.