Black Dog

"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 Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Overview
Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones, who is credited with writing the main riff, wanted to write a song that people could not "groove" or dance to with its winding riff and complex time signature changes.

In an 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." Plant's vocals were recorded in two takes.

Built around a call-and-response dynamic between vocalist and the band, 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. Jones originally wanted the song recorded in 3/16 time but realised it was too complex to reproduce live. In live performances, Bonham eliminated the 5/4 variation so that Plant could perform his a cappella vocal interludes and then have the instruments return to together synchronised. If the volume is turned up loud enough, Bonham can be heard tapping his sticks together before each riff. Page made reference to this in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1993:

He did that to keep time and to signal the band. We tried to eliminate most of them, but muting was much more difficult in those days than it is now.

Page also discussed how he achieved his guitar sound on the track:

We put my Les Paul through a direct box, and from there into a mic channel. We used the mic amp of the mixing board to get distortion. Then we ran it through two Urei 1176 Universal compressors in series. Then each line was triple-tracked. Curiously, I was listening to that track when we were reviewing the tapes and the guitars almost sound like an analog synthesizer.

Page's solo was constructed out of four overdubbed Gibson Les Paul fills.

The sounds at the beginning of the song are those of 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.

Live performances
"Black Dog" became a staple and fan favourite of Led Zeppelin's live concert performances. It was first played live at Belfast's Ulster Hall on 5 March 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 the Knebworth Festival 1979 and the 1980 Tour of Europe. For these final 1980 performances, Page introduced the song from stage.

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. Also, the "ah-ah" refrains were sung in call-and-response between Robert Plant and the audience.

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 10 December 2007.

Plant sampled the song on his solo tracks "Tall Cool One" and "Your Ma Said She Cried In Her Sleep Last Night". Page and Plant performed an updated version of this song on their 1995 tour. "Black Dog" was the first song performed by Page and Plant at the American Music Awards, which kicked off their first tour together in almost 15 years. 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. Whitesnake overtly based "Still of the Night" on this song; later, when David Coverdale toured with Page in 1993, they played both songs together. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss regularly covered "Black Dog" during their tour of USA and Europe in April and May 2008. It also features on their appearance on the Country Music Television show CMT Crossroads, recorded in October 2007. CMT Episode Guide

Accolades
(*) designates unordered lists.

Formats and tracklistings
1971 7" single (US/Australia: Atlantic 45-2849, Angola/South Africa: Atlantic ATS 568, Argentina: Atlantic 2091175, Austria/Germany: Atlantic ATL 10103, Brazil: Atco 2091175, Canada: Atlantic AT 2849, Cape Verde: Atlantic ATL N 28-118, Ecuador: Atlantic 45-73502, France: Atlantic 10 103, Greece: Atlantic 2091 175, Holland: Atlantic ATL 2091 175, Italy: Atlantic K 10103, Japan: Warner Pioneer P-1101A, Mexico: Atlantic 2207-024, New Zealand: Atlantic ATL 88, Phillipines: Atlantic ATR 0033, Portugal: Atlantic N 28118, Singapore: Stereophonic 10103, Spain: Atlantic HS 775, Sweden: Atlantic ATL 10.103, Turkey: Atlantic 72 500)
 * A. "Black Dog" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56
 * B. "Misty Mountain Hop" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:38

1971 7" radio edit (Japan: Warner Pioneer P-1001A)
 * A. "Black Dog" [stereo] (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56
 * B. "Black Dog" [mono] (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56

1971 7" single (Poland: Atlantic X 87)
 * A. "Black Dog" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56
 * B. "When the Levee Breaks" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant, Minnie) 7:08

1971 7" single (Poland: Prasniewski N 677)
 * A. "Black Dog" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56
 * B. "Four Sticks" (Page, Plant) 4:44

1973 7" single (Venezuela: Atlantic 5-011)
 * A. "Black Dog" (Jones, Page, Plant) 4:56
 * B. "Rock and Roll" (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) 3:40

Single (Digital download)
Note: The official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005.

Album versions
• 2

Samples

 * 1985: Robert Plant ("Tall Cool One")
 * 1990: Daddy Freddy ("Daddy Freddy's In Town")