Black dog
The black dog of European folklore: a spectral, demonic canine that haunts graveyards, moors, churches, and roads across the British Isles. Known by regional names including Black Shuck (East Anglia), the Grimm (Northern England), Padfoot (Northern England), and Horny Jack (Lindisfarne). Generally appears with red or yellow eyes, guards the dead, and howls with a blood-curdling scream. The black dog has been used since at least the medieval period as a symbol of depression, melancholy, and spiritual oppression.
Depression, melancholy, and spiritual oppression made physical: the unshakeable companion that follows the sufferer everywhere. Also carries the register of demonic possession (the Malleus Maleficarum tradition of driving out the black dog spirit) and death/guardianship of the dead (the graveyard guardian tradition). The figure can represent the speaker's internal state or an external person who has become a demon in the speaker's life.
Appears in 1 song
“'Cause tail between your legs, you're leavin'”
The black dog operates as an omnipresent figure throughout the poem, as folklore archetype of depression and death, as the pub name, as the demon to be exorcised, and as the creature whose tail-between-legs departure closes the song. Uncle Jerry: 'the dog is omnipresent in the poem. So nice job. It's not just a title.'