Led Zeppelin: Black Dog Meaning

Song Released: 1971

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Black Dog Lyrics

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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.  

   anonymous

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   Jun 2nd, 2017 6:47pm report

   
   

   The story Robert Plant told in an interview was an old black dog was hanging round the recording studio. They fed her and she made the place her home. Occasionally she went down the street to visit her male dog friend. They knew where she was & in the afternoon they had to go down the street & carry her back. They wrote the song a few weeks before she started hanging round, but didn't have a name for the song. They thought it would be funny to name the song after her. That is if he didn't lie in the interview.

   
   
   
   

2.  

   anonymous

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   Nov 27th, 2016 11:00am report

   
   

   You got to be kidding me it's about heroine honey driP when you burn it loosing his car long leg women ain't got no soul syringe

   
   
   
   

3.  

   anonymous

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   Nov 22nd, 2016 11:48pm report

   
   

   Read your English history. Winston Churchill named his depression moods the Black Dog. It became common parlance to refer to depression or the blues as the Black Dog.

   
   
   
   

4.  

   anonymous

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   Apr 24th, 2016 4:49pm report

   
   

   Black Dog is from Clapton is God photo, Clapton =Plant Co. Big legged woman ain't got no soul

   
   
   
   

5.  

   anonymous

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   Mar 16th, 2016 3:49am report

   
   

   Once again, they practiced black magic rituals.. Stinging and burning are both feelings when being demonically possessed.. i have delt with this, if u listen to a zep song on the right night the right time of year, the demons they are singing about will appear, as they are doing a ritual in the song! Let the music be your master, hail satan? you think they are kidding? Lol

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
   
   
   
   

6.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 24th, 2016 2:36am report

   
   

   Clapton=Plant CO. It is a ploy on the Black Dog on the Clapton is God picture. Eric Patrick Clapton, Patrick = A Trick P. Eric was born Straight east of Stonehenge and the ancient Dog Head at Last Mountain Lake-Big Arm Sask. Canada, Rev22:15 where the bible ends at the Stairway to Heaven

   
   
   
   

7.  

   anonymous

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   Feb 24th, 2016 2:35am report

   
   

   Clapton=Plant CO. It is a ploy on the Black Dog on the Clapton is God picture. Eric Patrick Clapton, Patrick = A Trick P. Eric was born Straight east of Stonehenge and the ancient Dog Head at Last Mountain Lake-Big Arm Sask. Canada, Rev22:15 where the bible ends at the Stairway to Heaven

   
   
   
   

8.  

   anonymous

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   Jan 24th, 2016 1:53pm report

   
   

   Black Dog is a dark souled bitch.
   
   She's a narcissistic bitch a jezebel witch trying to hijack his car, money and soul.
   
   Think Courtney Love. She is a "Black Dog". A liar and a thief.
   
   In Celebration Day
   "Her name is Brown or White or Black, you know her very well,
   You hear her cries of mercy as the winners toll the bell."
   
   "Didnt take too long fore I found out
   What people mean my down and out.
   Spent my money, took my car,
   Started tellin her friends she wants to be a star.
   I dont know but I been told
   A big legged woman aint got no soul.

   
   
   
   

9.  

   anonymous

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   Sep 14th, 2015 9:43pm report

   
   

   The lyrics here are open to the history of the song and Robert Plant's intention, as is the template for many blues tunes, to lay a little basic truth out there for an inside yuk-yuk with the band as well as leaving a broad palette for the world to interpret as it chooses. In this typical blues tale, man is obsessed with the flesh only to once again fall its hold and torture on the mortal soul. Faustian. Papa Legba come to call.

   
   
   
   

10.  

    anonymous

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    Dec 20th, 2014 12:28pm report

    
    

    Actually, the reason it is called Black Dog is because wherever they were recording, a black dog came everyday. So, whoever it was decided to call the song Black Dog. About ten years ago, they came out with a DVD, and on this DVD, there is interviews, with the group, and they explain how they got the name of the song.

    
    
    
    

11.  

    zepkat

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    Sep 25th, 2013 9:04pm report

    
    

    The meaning of the song and the song title are totally unrelated. In addition to the radio interview most LZ literature (Hammer of the Gods, etc.) report the story of the dog who hung around HG during the recording. Like most blues based rock there will be a note of melancholy.... that's what it means to have the blues.... "someone done somebody wrong song," so to speak. Personally, I think several of RP's bluesy lyrics about lost loves and bad/sad/evil women are based on the regular groupies that hung around. But B.D. was an earlier hit, so I'm not sure they had a bunch of regulars at that point. So, I think I agree up to a point on some of these previous interpretations, save for these weird interpretations of the title being in any way related to the lyrics, since JP and RP have repeatedly confirmed the title came after the song was already completed, and in the can.

    
    
    
    

12.  

    anonymous

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    Aug 5th, 2013 8:00pm report

    
    

    It's about a sexual relationship between a man and a woman. The lyrics scream it. Sorry if I'm wrong but don't hate me on this. :)

    
    
    
    

13.  

    TheSecretWords

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    Apr 5th, 2013 4:16am 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.

    
    
    
    

14.  

    anonymous

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    Feb 19th, 2013 2:20pm 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.

    
    
    
    

15.  

    anonymous

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    Feb 17th, 2013 2:48pm 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...)