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Like many Led Zeppelin songs, this borrows from an old Blues tune, in this case a song of the same name also known as "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" which was performed by Blind Willie Johnson. Blind Willie Johnson recorded the song during his first recording session on December 3, 1927, as "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" and the second take was released as his first single in 1928.

The lyrics "Jesus goin' a-make up my dyin' bed" appear in historian Robert Emmet Kennedy's Mellows – A Chronicle of Unknown Singers published in 1925, on Louisiana street performers, and also listed in the Cleveland Library's Index to Negro Spirituals. The variation "He is a Dying-bed maker" appears in the song "When I's Dead and Gone" as transcribed in 1924 or 1925 in the south-east. A close theme in English hymnary is found in Isaac Watts, and many derivative hymnals. In October 1926, Reverend J. C. Burnett recorded "Jesus Is Going to Make Up Your Dying Bed", but it was never issued. Blind Willie Johnson may have heard Burnett's song or otherwise learned some of his lyrics.

Bob Dylan recorded an adaptation of the song on his first album, which Led Zeppelin used as the basis for their version of "In My Time Of Dying."