Led Zeppelin: Black Dog Meaning

Song Released: 1971

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Black Dog Lyrics

Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.
Oh, oh, child, way you shake that thing
Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting.
Hey, hey, baby, when you walk that way
Watch your honey drip, can’t keep...

1.  

   TheSecretWords

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   Apr 5th, 05:16 report

   
   

   This song title can have 2 interpretations but knowing Plant it will be a a double play on words.
   
   The song is about a very sexy woman that the narrator is having a relationship with. Blinded by her sexual prowess he suddenly finds that she has used him for his money and belongings.
   
   Having being fooled, he is now suffering from The Black Dog (depression) and prays to some day find a good woman.
   
   Remembering that the band members are English and the term Black Dog is a British slang phrase.
   
   
   However this song is an American blues-based style song - musically and lyrically.
   
   Being a song about a nasty female, the song title can also refer to an African American woman that he considers to be a bitch (which is the correct terminology for a female dog).
   
   The black dog living at the place they recorded the album may no doubt have inspired the song. Just from its simple description as a black dog Plant would have taken it from there.

   
   
   
   

2.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 19th, 15:20 report

   
   

   Its about a black dog. The dog is a Labrador. It is nice and friendly and wants to belong to Jimmy Page. It is about how Page felt about the Labrador, whom he named Bonzo, after his friend, John Bonham, the drummer.

   
   
   
   

3.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 17th, 20:48 report

   
   

   i think how the song got its name and what it is about are two different things.
   
   also, besides the obvious literal meaning
   this can also be viewed as a song about worshipping a black "god" or devil..
   (opposite of god: devil...god backwards: dog)
   "eyes that shine burning red, dreams of you all through my head" refers to the women's demonic possesion of the narrator
   (not, as suggested, the narrator's eye red with lust...)

   
   
   
   

4.  

   anonymous

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   Jul 28th 2012, 15:55 report

   
   

   The meaning of this song is about an actual black dog known as the black shuck in english folklore, anyway the black shuck is a giant black dog and get this, it has eyes that are blazing red hence the part of the song describing that. So this song is basically about this black dog haunting this guy but yet the guy seems fascinated by this entity. The are many people who have experienced this entity in the conscious state and the dream state hence ''dreams of you all through my head'' just search on the web for 'Black Shuck' and you can make your own assumptions.

   
   
   
   

5.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 30th 2012, 00:09 report

   
   

   I have come up with the following interpretation of Black Dog.
   
   The first two verses of the song is about lust. The narrator of the song picks himself up a woman in his local bar and the two go back to his place and have casual sex. The man is purely mad with lust which is shown through the lyrics "eyes that shine burning red/ dreams of you all through my head."
   
   Following a midsection the song returns to it's third verse. This time, it is one of bitter regret. Having got his "fill" the narrator has been left "down and out" and the woman has stolen his car and his money.
   
   Realizing his mistake the narrator of the song decides to stop seeking out one night stands with women he meets at the local pub but rather opts for a long-term relationship with a woman who will "hold is hands" and won't "tell me no lies/ make me a happy man."
   
   The title of the song was inspired by an old, black dog that hanged around Headley Grange where Zeppelin was recording their number. Black Dog is also another name for depression, interestingly enough.
   
   The riff to the song was written by John Paul Jones and was inspired by Muddy Waters' album Electric Mud. The call-response style was in turn inspired by the Fleetwood Mac song "Oh Well."

   
   
   
   

6.  

   anonymous

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   Jan 19th 2012, 02:46 report

   
   

   song called Black dog because when they were recourding this song black dog always came there. That is why song called black dog

   
   
   
   

7.  

   anonymous

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   May 28th 2011, 01:12 report

   
   

   This song was recorded on location at Headley Grange in London. There was a black dog that lived in the house where ZEP was recording and the animal died in one of the rooms. This dog died the day they finished this song so they decided to name the song Black Dog as a tribute.

   
   
   
   

8.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 17th 2011, 04:13 report

   
   

   The song is about wanting to get laid, it is called Black Dog because a lab kept showing up at rehearsals.

   
   
   
   

9.  

   anonymous

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   Jan 24th 2011, 11:03 report

   
   

   a big leg woman is what we would consider a slut.simple as.a really hot looking woman basically taking the piss.sex is great but he would prefer a good honest woman.but big legged woman are just so damn saucy,cant get enough man.they have no soul and no consideration for others.
   go on,tell me im wrong.

   
   
   
   

10.  

    anonymous

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    Jan 24th 2011, 11:03 report

    
    

    a big leg woman is what we would consider a slut.simple as.a really hot looking woman basically taking the piss.sex is great but he would prefer a good honest woman.but big legged woman are just so damn saucy,cant get enough man.they have no soul and no consideration for others.
    go on,tell me im wrong.

    
    
    
    

11.  

    anonymous

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    Nov 20th 2010, 13:57 report

    
    

    The title "Black Dog" has absolutely no hidden meaning. When the band was in the studio,they saw someone bring in a black dog. They didn't have a name for the song yet so That's how they got the name.
    

    
    
    
    

12.  

    anonymous

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    Jun 16th 2010, 13:28 report

    
    

    I think the title "Black Dog" either refers to an evil omen of some sort, or, more likely, the dirogatory term for a female dog. I think the evil omen adressed is when the narrator falls in love with a girl, then begins to feel like she's taking his life away.
    "Didn't take too long 'fore I found out what people mean by down and out.
    (She)spent my money, took my car, started telling her friends she's gonna be a star.
    I don't know but I've been told, a big legged woman ain't got no soul."

    
    
    
    

13.  

    MusicI_Life

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    Sep 17th 2009, 20:58 report

    
    

    Okay, this isn't what it's about but this is about how it was written. Jimmy was on an acid trip and saw a black dog ....yeah that's it. It may have some other deeper meanings but that's the story of how it was written.

    
    
    
    

14.  

    lazur

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    Sep 11th 2009, 03:46 report

    
    

    A lot of Zep stuff started as jams, and Plant had to be quick with some words to be part of the jam, (or they'd end up as instrumentals!) "Black Dog" sounds like the ultimate proof of this system of song-writing: Bluesy, sexy lines spat out, that don't connect to one another all that much, don't add up to one story, don't really have a beginning, middle, or end, but work quite well, as they're sung in the same spirit that the music is being played: "Let's get DOWN!"

    
    
    
    

15.  

    har0462

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    Aug 28th 2009, 01:19 report

    
    

    Black Dog can also mean depression. Churchill often spoke of his black dog following him around.

    
    
    
    

16.  

    LetThereBeLight

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    Jun 3rd 2009, 08:03 report

    
    

    Maybe its about a stripper and he feels frustrated and then cheated because he cant have her or sex her. Maybe if he does eventually get her she takes things from him because she doesn't care about love.
    Instead of the obvious, down and out could mean, you go down the stairs into the club and then leave unfulfilled.
    And maybe the big legs is because she can dance (really well).
    And black dog would have been a perfect name for the song especially since people didn't know what the dog was really like or because it smiled so nicely but was actually a fat batch.

    
    
    
    

17.  

    Roxxi

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    Jul 1st 2008, 03:47 report

    
    

    What the fuck is wrong with you people? this song is so about getting laid (and probably losing your virginity.)

    
    
    
    

18.  

    BP01

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    Apr 16th 2006, 20:35 report

    
    

    Jimmy Page and Robert Plant on Black Dog during an interview on Radio Perth, West Australia, Australia, February 16, 1972:
    
    
    Now listen, can you tell us what Black Dog is all about?
    
    J: It is about a dog that was fourteen years old.
    
    R: A black Labrador.
    
    J: You see, the thing was, we, we did some from of those tracks from that LPs at a big house with a mobile recording unit, a truck that actually is the Stones truck. But there used to be this, there used to be a team of dogs, actually, there were a couple of lurchers and this huge great Labrador, that used to sort of, that looked as though it was grinning at you, see, it would bare it's teeth, but it looked like a smile, and we used to pick it up and
    play with it and everything, apparently, it was the most
    ferocious dog, that was really known for biting everybody, you see, and they couldn't believe that we had uh, could even be near it you know. So, anyway it was just called, it was one of the first things that we started to do at the house, the first week we started to play, and we just called it "Black Dog" and stuck. That's right isn't it?
    
    R: Yeah, he used to go in the garden for a walk, and he'd find he couldn't get back so we had to carry him back, you see (laughter). He was really doddled, but he was an amazing character. Well that's it. But he couldn't, he didn't sound like anything on the lyrics at all, he wasn't parading about.

    
    
    
    

19.  

    LedZeppFreak

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    Mar 4th 2006, 23:38 report

    
    

    When they were recording the song, a black dog walked in the studio room, I do not know what the song was supposed to really called

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway