Black Dog on My Shoulder Lyrics

There's a black dog on my shoulder again
Licking my neck and saying she's my friend
Solitude the one thing that I really miss
Guess my life is a compromise

There's a black dog on my shoulder again
I'm playing with it but it's gone to my head
Like Carlito's Way there are no exit signs

Freeze me there until I am numb
My mouth is so dry
My eyes are shut tight
There's a black dog a coming tonight
Black dog's a coming tonight

My dilemma but not my choice
Winston Churchill can you hear my voice
Melodrama there in my kitchen sink
Double vision the way it is

Am I coming home to you again
Or am I stupid just by design
Does it matter if you really ever know

This black dog is out of control
My mouth is so dry
My eyes are shut tight
There's a black dog a coming tonight
Black dog's a coming tonight

Am I coming home to you again
Or am I stupid just by design
Does it matter if you really ever know

This black dog is out of control
My mouth is so dry
My eyes are shut tight
There's a black dog a coming tonight
Black dog's a coming tonight
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Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

I'm the first one to comment? Cool. I love this song. :)

The first time I heard this and read the lyrics, I thought it was stupid, and one of the Manics' worst pieces. I liked the tune, but at the time, the lyrics meant nothing to me. Then I read in an interview/article somewhere that Winston Churchhill called his depression a "black dog", and that's where the song title came from. Now I feel dumb for not looking deeper into it, as the Manics almost always have a deeper, sometimes implied, meaning.

I too love this song, best on the album, so well written and the orchestral part is superb. I have only ever understood these lyrics to be about someone with a drink problem.Black dog being alcohol. Why do we all look deeper into the lyrics than this? Read the Lyrics , written with basic symbolism and symptoms of an alcoholic.

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Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

Winston Churchill suffered from Bipolar disorder, and his depression was described by him as his black dog. "Winston Churchill, can you hear my voice?" basically says it all.

Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

I feel that the line "Winston Churchill, can you hear my voice" is a bit too forced to work in this song. He obviously wanted to leave a clue as to what the song was about. The problem is that the clue is not likely to lead anyone to the answer, but if you know about the Churchill Black Dog quote it is not necessary to include the line. A bit like using a hammer instead of using subtlety like the rest of the song.

Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

The song kind of reminds me of the phrase "hair of the dog that bit me" as well - when he sings "there's a black dog on my shoulder again" it implies a sense of continuity, as if he dislikes the black dog/depression, and yet still keeps coming back to it.

Bradfield went to Australia to clean himself up after almost becoming an alcoholic following Edwards disappearance. The song is about an alcoholic - black dog is drink, 'licking my neck saying she's my friend"

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Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

well, I never knew about winston churchill and his depression, so actually the winston churchill line did help me to learn a bit more knowledge about the man.

my appreciation and love for these lyrics have increased so very much in the past couple of years. i really hope it's not an underappreciated song.

Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

My favourite song off the album. Also: "Does it matter if you really ever know?" Can that be about anything other than Richey?

Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

Until I learned the Winston Churchill depression thing, I thought it was about anorexia.

"Licking my neck and saying she's my friend" "I'm playing with it but it's gone to my head" "My dilemma but not my choice" And such.

Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

I read a bizarre folklore tale about black dog apparitions that supposedly appeared to people in times of trouble as either warnings or as protectors. These stories go back a long way, so I suppose the black dog labelling of Churchill's condition was related to that. The song was to me the most obvious on the album as far as meaning goes... The depressive is anticipating his imminent down swing, or he's 'seen he ghost of the black dog' as those folklore stories stated.

Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

This song is about depression, nothing more and nothing less. There are several references that point this out.

"Black Dog on my shoulder", yes. Winston Churchill referred to depression being the black dog on his shoulder, and this has to many become a way of referring to the illness.

"My mouth is so dry" Dryness of the mouth is a common symptom associated with the use of SSRI and other anti-depressant mediciation.

"Double vision the way it is", again, another common symptom of this medication.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Black Dog on My Shoulder lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

Isn't there a Led Zeppelin song called Black Dog? The two could be similar?

@manic4manics Have you ever heard Zep's Black Dog? Nothing similar...