A spectral presence loomed over the making of Led Zeppelin’s IV, with Jimmy Page convinced that ghosts haunted the house of Headley Grange where the band did much of the recording for their classic album. But it was a very real-world guest who influenced the title of Black Dog, IV’s exhilarating opener named for an elderly Labrador that kept wandering in and out of the grounds.
The track originated from a searing blues riff by John Paul Jones, the bassist influenced by Tom Cat, a song on the Muddy Waters album Electric Mud that similarly revolves around a lithe, repetitive lick.
