Black Dog (song)

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"Black Dog"

Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album (Led Zeppelin IV)
Released	November 8, 1971
Recorded	December 1970 – March 1971
Genre	Hard rock
Length	4:56
Label	Atlantic Records
Writer(s)	Page/Plant/Jones
Producer(s)	Jimmy Page
(Led Zeppelin IV) track listing
	"Black Dog" (1)	"Rock and Roll" (2)

"Black Dog" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, which was released as the lead-off track of their untitled fourth album in 1971. It was 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.

The sounds at the beginning 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 riff.

Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones, who is credited with writing the main riff, got the idea for "Black Dog" after hearing Muddy Waters' experimental psychedelic-blues album, Electric Mud. He wanted to try "electric blues with a rolling bass part." The start-and-stop a cappella verses were inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well."

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.

Jimmy Page (left) and John Paul Jones playing "Black Dog" at Madison Square Garden, 1973

The song's title is rumoured to stem from a nameless black dog that wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording. He has little to do with the song lyrics, which are about desperate desire for a woman's love and the happiness resulting thereby.

Jimmy Page decided to record the song's rhythm guitar directly into a 1176 limiter preamp (manufactured by Universal Audio), distort the stages of it, and then send that to a normally operating limiter. The sound is very twangy, but in a hard-edge sort of way (similar techniques were used in the song "No Quarter"). The song's lead was captured with an amplified Marshall and a combination of close and distant miking techniques.

[edit] Trivia

If the volume is turned up loud enough, Bonham can be heard tapping his sticks together before each riff.

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 start and stop a cappella verses were inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well." Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes performed "Oh Well" on their 1999 tour and included it on the album Live At The Greek.

John Paul Jones wanted to write a song that people couldn't "groove" or dance to. The clever time signature does just that.

Robert Plant's vocal was recorded in 2 takes.^{[citation needed]}

Plant: "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."^{[citation needed]}

Page and Plant performed an updated version of this on their 1995 tour.

Led Zeppelin usually played the beginning of "Out on the Tiles" as the introduction for "Black Dog".

Led Zeppelin 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.

Missouri metalcore band Coalesce recorded a version of this song for their Led Zeppelin cover album There is Nothing New Under the Sun.

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

[edit] External links

Review: All Music Guide

[edit] 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