"Black Dog" (Led Zeppelin)

So it's pretty widely known what inspired the song "Black Dog" from Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album: bassist John Paul Jones had been listening to the 1968 Muddy Waters concept album Electric Mud, which pairs the bluesman with young rockers to create acid-fried renditions of his old hits.  Jones wanted to do a funky electric blues in a similar vein, but one that wasn't too simplistic.  So he came up with the serpentine core riff, which wraps itself around alternating 4/4 and 5/4 time.

The song's start-stop vocal-instrumental sections were inspired by a different artist, however.  That aspect of the song is an homage to Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well," in which Peter Green shifts between a cappella vocals and electric, bluesy riffing.  (Yeah, kids.  Fleetwood Mac was a very different creature in the late 60s.)

Anyway, the first time I heard "Black Dog," it was by accident.

It was probably mid-December 1981.  To keep me from being underfoot while my mother was trying to bake Christmas cookies, she gave me the task of queueing up a couple of Christmas albums on my dad's turntable—a task I'd gotten pretty good at, even as a toddler.  I pulled a stack of albums off the shelf, and I saw this one that had an old fashioned depiction of Santa Claus on the cover.  (At least that's what it looked like to me.)  So I stacked the record on the turntable along with the Norman Luboff Choir, Henry Mancini, the London Philharmonic, etc.

Time passed.  "Jingle Bells," "Sleigh Ride," and the "Hallelujah" chorus played.  Then, out of nowhere, this banshee wail blasted out of the stereo: Hey, hey mama, said the way you move / Gon' make you sweat, gon' make you groove.

I thought it was hilarious.  To my ears, Plant's preternaturally high voice was the funniest thing I'd ever heard; I asked my mother if he was a Muppet.  She got a big kick, too, out of me thinking that The Hermit on the front cover was some sort of Olde English depiction of Santa. 

So, there you go.

As I got older, I came to appreciate the song for the flaming chunk of clever, raunchy blues fire that it is.  Although, I'll admit, I still chuckle at the thought of a felt puppet version of Robert Plant, belting out this song.