THE BASICS
Written by: John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
Run time: 4 minutes 55 seconds
Recorded at: Headley Grange, Hampshire, 1971
In a nutshell: Led Zep IV’s colossal, deceptively offbeat opening salvo, with one of Jimmy Page’s most widely celebrated and imitated riffs.Allegedly inspired by an old labrador at Headley Grange, but basically it’s a song about fucking.
Noted cover versions by: Debbie Harry (1994), Keith Emerson (2008)
BLACK DOG IN MONOSYLLABLES
Ah’s - 39 ‘Oh’s - 10 ‘Yeah’s - 9
THE BAND
John Paul Jones (on the black Labrador at Headley Grange that inspired the title): “There was an old black dog around the Grange that went off to do what dogs did and came back and slept. It was quite a powerful image at the time, so we called one track Black Dog.”
“He was an old dog. You know when they get the white whiskers round the nose? [When he vanished one night]
