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"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.
"Black Dog" is built around a call and response dynamic between the vocalist and band, with its start and stop a cappella verses inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well", according to biographer Dave Lewis. The title is a reference to a nameless black Labrador Retriever that wandered around the Headley Grange studios during the recording of the album. The song was recorded with recording engineer Andy Johns at Island Studios on Basing Street in London.
Bassist John Paul Jones, who is credited with writing the main riff, was inspired by Muddy Waters' controversial 1968 album "Electric Mud". He added a winding riff and complex rhythm changes, that biographer Keith Shadwick describes as a "clever pattern that turns back on itself more than once, crossing between time signatures as it does." 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. In live performances, Bonham eliminated the 5/4 variation so that Robert Plant could perform his a cappella vocal interludes and then have the instruments return at the proper time. For his guitar parts, Jimmy Page used a Gibson Les Paul to record multiple overdubs.
"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 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 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.
In 2004, the song was first ranked number 294 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time before being ranked at number 300 in 2010. Music sociologist Deena Weinstein calls "Black Dog" "one of the most instantly recognisable Zeppelin tracks".
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