"Black Dog" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, which is featured as the lead-off track of their fourth album, released in 1971. It was also released as a single in the US and Australia with "Misty Mountain Hop" on the B-side, and reached #15 on Billboard and #11 in Australia.

In 2004 the song was ranked #294 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Inspiration and recording

In the December 2007 issue of Mojo magazine, Jones credited Howlin' Wolf with the inspiration for the beat:

The riff to 'Black Dog' started the same way [as 'Trampled Underfoot',] a jam based on something I'd heard on a new release by Howlin' Wolf, a blues lick that went round and round and didn't end when you thought it was going to. My dad had taught me this very easy notation system using note values and numbers, so I wrote it on a bit of paper on the train coming back from rehearsal in Jimmy's house in Pangbourne.

Between the years 1968, when Led Zeppelin was formed, and 1971, when the album Led Zeppelin IV was released, Howlin' Wolf was nearing the end of his professional career and his output was limited, but a few new songs of his did hit the market, and have the heavy beat that Jones was struck by.

In another interview, Jones explained the difficulties experienced by the band in writing the song:

I wanted to try an electric blues with a rolling bass part. But it couldn't be too simple. I wanted it to turn back on itself. I showed it to the guys, and we fell into it. We struggled with the turn-around, until [John] Bonham figured out that you just four-time as if there's no turn-around. That was the secret.

The song's title is a reference to a nameless black labrador retriever that wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording. The dog has nothing to do with the song lyrics, which are about desperate desire for a woman's love and the happiness resulting thereby. Regarding the lyrics to the song, Plant later said, "Not all my stuff is meant to be scrutinized. Things like 'Black Dog' are blatant, let's-do-it-in-the-bath type things, but they make their point just the same. Robert Plant's vocal was recorded in 2 takes..

The start and stop a cappella verses were inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well." (Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes would later perform "Oh Well" on their 1999 tour and included it on the album Live at the Greek.)

Despite the seeming simplicity of the drum pattern, the song features a complex, shifting time signature that the band has sometimes claimed was intended to thwart cover bands from playing the song. If the volume is turned up loud enough, Bonham can be heard tapping his sticks together before each riff.

The sounds at the beginning of the song are those of Jimmy Page warming up his electric guitar. He called it "waking up the army of guitars" — which are multitrack recorded in unison with electric bass guitar to provide the song's signature

"Black Dog" became a staple and fan favorite of Led Zeppelin's live concert performances. It was first played live at Belfast's Ulster Hall on March 5, 1971, a concert which also featured the first ever live performance of "Stairway to Heaven". It was retained for each subsequent concert tour until 1973. In 1975 it was used as an encore medley with "Whole Lotta Love", but was hardly used on the band's 1977 concert tour of the United States. It was recalled to the set for Knebworth in 1979 and the 1980 Tour of Europe. When played live, Led Zeppelin often played the first few bars of "Out on the Tiles" as the introduction for "Black Dog", except for the 1973 tour where the riff from "Bring It on Home" introduced the song.

Page's guitar playing prowess is well demonstrated in different recorded performances of the song from Madison Square Garden in July 1973, as seen in the group's concert films The Song Remains the Same and Led Zeppelin DVD. There is also a June 1972 live recording of "Black Dog" which can be heard on the album How the West Was Won, and another live version on Disc 2 of Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions.

"Black Dog" was performed at the Led Zeppelin's reunion show at the O2 Arena, London on December 10, 2007.

Other versions

• Page and Plant performed an updated version of this song on their 1995 tour. Robert Plant also played a version of the song during his solo tour in 2005, as is included on the DVD release Soundstage: Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation.
• Led Zeppelin parody cover band Dread Zeppelin did a version of this mixed with Elvis' "Hound Dog" called "You Ain't Nuthin' But A Black Dog". Their lead singer is an Elvis impersonator.
• Australian music legend John Farnham released a powerful version of Black Dog on his Anthology 3 album in 1997.
• Missouri metalcore band Coalesce recorded a version of this song for their Led Zeppelin cover album There is Nothing New Under the Sun.
• Debbie Harry covered the song on her "Domination" tour of the UK in July 1991.
• Songs which sample "Black Dog" include "Shut Up Already" by NOFX and Robert Plant's solo hit "Tall Cool One". The opening riff of the song was re-recorded in "Trapped in the Drive Thru" by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The chorus to Kid Rock's 2000 song "My Oedipus Complex" samples Black Dog.
• German power-metal band Masterplan covered the song on their 2002 EP, Enlighten Me
• Whitesnake overtly based "Still of the Night" on this song; later, when David Coverdale toured with Page in 1993, they played both songs together.
• Brazilian jazz musician Eumir Deodato recorded an instrumental version of the song for his 1975 album "First Cuckoo".

References

Sources

• Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
• The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9

External links

• Review: All Music Guide