Black Dog (Led Zeppelin song)

"Black Dog" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the first track on the band's untitled fourth album (1971), which has become one of the best-selling albums of all time.<ref name="McCormick">Template:Cite news</ref> The song was released as a single and reached the charts in many countries. It is "one of the most instantly recognisable Zeppelin tracks", and was included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list (US), and ranked number one in Q magazine's (UK) "20 Greatest Guitar Tracks". The lyrics contain typical bluesman themes of lust, eroticism, and betrayal.Template:Sfn

Composition

Themes

The title is a reference to a nameless black Labrador Retriever the band used to see wandering the Headley Grange studio grounds.Template:Sfn The dog would disappear in the evening and return exhausted in the early morning, before resting all day and repeating his evening sojourns.Template:Sfn Robert Plant believed the lab was spending nights with his "old lady" (dog). Likewise, the lyrics are narrated by a man obsessed with a woman, "got a flaming heart can't get my fill", he "can't keep away" from her "honey drip";Template:RefnTemplate:Refn she reveals her true intention, spending his money, taking his car, "telling her friends she's gonna be a star", at which point the deception becomes clear and he turns cold, saying "a big-legged woman ain't got no soul".Template:Sfn The story of lust, eroticism, and ultimately betrayal echoes the traditional reputation of the blues as being the music of the devil, alluded to in the lyric "eyes that shine a burning red".Template:SfnTemplate:Refn

Music

The song opens with muted sounds of guitars warming up in the background, an idea by Jimmy Page, who also made curious opening sounds in "Immigrant Song" and "Friends"; he was fond of starting songs in an unexpected way. The sounds are actually recordings of various guitar track openings played simultaneously, creating a "sonic collage" in which the tape can be heard spinning up to speed. Robert Plant then begins singing in a high, strong voice, "hey, hey, mama" unaccompanied by music (a cappella). This sets the structure of the song, around a call and response dynamic, between the vocalist and the band, back and forth. Starting and stopping the music was Jimmy Page's idea, and he was inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well".Template:Sfn

Bassist John Paul Jones, who is credited with writing the main riff, said he was inspired by Muddy Waters' 1968 album Electric Mud. However he retracted this, in 2007, saying that he was confused, and that his main inspiration was actually The Howlin' Wolf Album by Howlin' Wolf, particularly the repeating riff in "Smokestack Lightning", which Jones and Page sped up.Template:Sfn

Jones added complex rhythm changes,Template:Sfn that biographer Keith Shadwick describes as a "clever pattern that turns back on itself more than once, crossing between time signatures as it does."Template:Sfn The group had a difficult time with the turnaround, but drummer John Bonham's solution was to play it straight through as if there was no turnaround.Template:Sfn As Jean-Michel Guesdon notes, the recording contains rhythmic coordination errors, such as between 0:41 and 0:47, when the guitars are not in sync with the drums. He says it was part of the band's "genius" to discount these "errors" as "curiosities", i.e., characteristic signatures of the song.Template:Sfn In live performances, Bonham eliminated the Template:Music variation so that Robert Plant could perform his a cappella vocal interludes and then have the instruments return at the proper time.Template:Sfn

For his guitar parts, Jimmy Page used a Gibson Les Paul and made a complicated series of overdubs through various compressors and other equipment. This caused so much distortion, Page later said it sounded like an analog synthesizer.Template:Sfn

Recordings and releases

The initial backing tracks of "Black Dog" were recorded on 5 December 1970 at Island Studios on Basing Street in London, with recording engineer Andy Johns.Template:Sfn It was the band's first recording at Island Studios.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Further tracks were made at Headley Grange (January 1971), and again at Island Studios (February 1971).Template:Sfn

Although played at live concerts since March 1971, its first commercial release was on 8 November 1971, as track number one, side one of the album Led Zeppelin IV, which became one of the best-selling albums of all time.<ref name="McCormick" />

The single followed about a month later, on 2 December 1971, in continental Europe, the United States (via Europe), and Australia. As was their practice, the United Kingdom did not receive the single.Template:Sfn "Misty Mountain Hop" is on the B-side.Template:Sfn

Live performances

"Black Dog" became a staple 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 live performance of "Stairway to Heaven".Template:Sfn 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 US concert tour. 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.Template:Sfn "Black Dog" was last performed at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in 2007, during Led Zeppelin's headline set.

Reception

In 2004, the song appeared on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list at number 294.<ref name="RS1">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2010, it was demoted to number 300.<ref name="RS2">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Music sociologist Deena Weinstein calls "Black Dog" "one of the most instantly recognisable Zeppelin tracks".Template:Sfn In 2007, Q magazine polled an "all-star panel", who ranked "Black Dog" as number one in a list of the "20 Greatest Guitar Tracks".<ref name="Q" />

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Classic Rock	United States	"The Top Fifty Classic Rock Songs of All Time"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	1995	18
The Guitar	United States	"Riff of the Millennium"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	1999	7
Q	United Kingdom	"1010 Songs You Must Own!"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	2004	*
Rolling Stone	United States	"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"<ref name="RS1"/>	2004	294
Blender	United States	"The Greatest Songs Ever!"<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2005	*
Bruce Pollock	United States	"The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2005	*
Q	United Kingdom	"The 20 Greatest Guitar Tracks"<ref name="Q">Template:Cite web</ref>	2007	1
Rolling Stone	United States	"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"<ref name="RS2"/>	2010	300

* designates unordered lists.

Charts and certifications

Original release

Template:Single chartTemplate:Single chartTemplate:Single chartTemplate:Single chartTemplate:Single chart

Chart (1971–1972)	Peak position
Australia (Go-Set National Top 40)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	9
Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	10
Danish Singles Chart<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	5
Japan (Oricon)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	24
New Zealand (RIANZ)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	10
Spanish Singles Chart<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	25
US Billboard Hot 100<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	15
US Cash Box<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	9
US Record World<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	10

Digital download

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Canadian (Canadian Digital Song Singles)<ref>Template:Cite magazine </ref>	59
UK Singles (OCC)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	119
US Billboard Hot Digital Songs<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	64

Note: The official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005. Template:Col-end

Personnel

Source:Template:Sfn

• Robert Plant – vocals
• Jimmy Page – guitars
• John Paul Jones – bass
• John Bonham – drums

See also

• List of cover versions of Led Zeppelin songs
• List of Led Zeppelin songs written or inspired by others

Notes

Notes Template:Reflist

Citations Template:Reflist

References

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite AV media notes
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Template:YouTube