diff --git a/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el b/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el
index 5111a0c2f..bcd41be0a 100644
--- a/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el
+++ b/lisp/org-babel-tangle.el
@@ -66,34 +66,42 @@ file into their own source-specific files."
                       blocks))))
     ;; blocks should contain all source-blocks organized by language
     ;; and session
-    (message "block = %S" blocks)
+    ;; (message "block = %S" blocks) ;; debugging
     (mapc ;; for every language create a file
      (lambda (by-lang)
        (let* ((lang (car by-lang))
+              (lang-f (intern (concat lang "-mode")))
               (lang-specs (cdr (assoc lang org-babel-tangle-langs)))
               (ext (first lang-specs))
               (she-bang (second lang-specs))
               (by-session (cdr by-lang)))
-         ;; if there are multiple sessions then break out by session
-         (if (> (length by-session) 1)
-             (mapc (lambda (session-pair)
-                     (org-babel-tangle-specs-to-file
-                      (format "%s-%s.%s" base-name (car session-pair) ext) (cdr session-pair) she-bang))
-                   by-session)
-           (org-babel-tangle-specs-to-file (format "%s.%s" base-name ext) ext she-bang))))
+         (flet ((to-file (filename specs)
+                         (with-temp-file filename
+                           (funcall lang-f)
+                           (when she-bang (insert she-bang))
+                           (comment-region (point) (progn (insert "generated by org-babel-tangle") (point)))
+                           (message "specs=%s" specs)
+                           (mapc #'org-babel-spec-to-string specs))))
+           ;; (message "lang=%s lang-specs=%s ext=%s she-bang=%s by-session=%s" lang lang-specs ext she-bang by-session) ;; debugging
+           ;; if there are multiple sessions then break out by session
+           (if (> (length by-session) 1)
+               (mapc (lambda (session-pair)
+                       (to-file (format "%s-%s.%s" base-name (car session-pair) ext) (cdr session-pair)))
+                     by-session)
+             (message "by-session=%s" by-session)
+             (to-file (format "%s.%s" base-name ext) (cdr (car by-session)))))))
      blocks)))
 
-(defun org-babel-tangle-specs-to-file (filename specs &optional she-bang)
-  "Take a list of source-block specifications in SPECS and write
-it out to FILENAME."
-  (with-temp-file filename
-    (when she-bang (insert she-bang))
-    (insert (mapconcat #'org-babel-spec-to-string specs "\n"))))
-
 (defun org-babel-spec-to-string (spec)
   "Return the string version of spec suitable for inclusion in a
-source code file."
-  (message spec))
+source code file.  SPEC has the form
+
+  (link source-name params body)"
+  (flet ((insert-comment (text)
+                         (comment-region (point) (progn (insert text) (point)))))
+    (insert-comment (format "\n\nlink: %s" (first spec)))
+    (insert-comment (format "\nsource-name: %s" (second spec)))
+    (insert (format "\n%s\n" (fourth spec)))))
 
 (provide 'org-babel-tangle)
 ;;; org-babel-tangle.el ends here