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Song: In The Evening
Album: In Through The Out Door [released Aug 15, 1979 (US) | Aug 20, 1979 (UK)]
Single: N/A
Credited to: Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant
Related Songs:
In The Evening, When The Sun Goes Down - Leroy Carr (reference?)
Tomorrow's Clown - Marty Wilde (reference?)

Lyrics:

In the evenin', when the day is done
I'm lookin' for a woman, oh, but the girl don't come
So don't let her play you for no fool
She don't show no pity, baby, you know that she don't make no rule

Oh, I need your love, I need your love
Oh, I need your love, I've just gotta have

So don't you let her, oh, get under your skin
It's only bad luck and trouble, oh, from the day that she'll begin
I hear you cryin' in the darkness, don't ask nobody's help
Oh, ain't no pockets full of mercy, baby, 'cause you can only blame yourself

Oh, I need your love, oh, oh, I need your love
Ooh, yeah, I need your love, I've gotta have

Ooh, it's simple, all the pain that you'll go through
You can't turn away from fortune, fortune, fortune, 'cause that's all that's left to you
Hey, it's lonely at the bottom, man, it's dizzy at the top
But when you're standin' in the middle, oh-ho-oh, ain't no way you gonna stop, oh, babe

Oh, oh, I need your love, oh, oh, I need your love
Oh, oh, I need your love, I've gotta have

(Guitar Solo)

Ooh, whatever that your days may bring
There's no use hidin' in the corner, ah, oh, no, honey, that won't change a thing
If you're dancin' in the doldrums, one day soon it's got to stop, it's got to stop
You're master of the off-chance when you don't expect a lot, oh

Oh, I need your love, oh, oh, I need your love
Ooh, yeah, I need your love, I've gotta have, I've gotta have

Oh, baby, I've gotta have your love, I've gotta have
Oh, baby, I've gotta have your love, oh-whoa, I do, girl
Ohh, ohh, I've gotta have your love
Just got, I've just got to, I've just got to, oh, love
Ohh, ohh, ohh, ohh, ohh

Influences: There exists an old blues song by Leroy Carr titled In The Evening, When The Sun Goes Down, that was recorded by many artists, including Leadbelly, as can be found on his Last Sessions, recorded in 1948. There is not much similarity between this song and Led Zeppelin's In The Evening, but it's possible that Led Zeppelin may have vaguely based their song on this old blues tune.

Then again, in an interview available here, Robert Plant cites the song Tomorrow's Clown by Marty Wilde as an influence. The song happens to contain the opening line, "In the evening..."