The Black Sabbath song all about sperm: “Billions to one”
Black Sabbath are justifiably lauded for multiple reasons, effectively laying down the blueprint of heavy metal, a genre that is still celebrated and revered over 50 years after its creation. Discovering the sound somewhat by accident after guitarist Tony Iommi tuned down his guitar to relieve the tension on the tips of his fingers (which had been lopped off in an industrial factory incident), Sabbath, whether by accident or design, are true musical pioneers.
In the period where Sabbath were fronted by vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, a man who described himself to The Irish Times as “a very simple man that doesn’t take much to confuse,” their lyrics were written predominantly by bassist Geezer Butler. Whilst the majority of the songs during the Osbourne years concerned themselves with topics such as war, death, the occult and other such bleak topics, one song on the band’s 1973 fifth studio album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, stands apart in its lyrical content. Unlikely as it may sound, the second song on said album A National Acrobat, is about … well, we’ll let Butler explain.
Talking to Songfacts, he said, “It’s about sperm and all the lives that could have been. It’s like, billions to one. But that sperm becomes you and all the other sperms that could have been and never were, what their lives could have been.”
While the subject isn’t quite as seedy (pun absolutely and unequivocally intended) as it might appear on the surface, the author said it himself. Elaborating on the connection between title and subject matter, Butler added, “Sperm swimming towards the egg and being pushed away from the egg … I don’t know what drugs I was on at the time! In my mind, it was like an acrobat swimming away from the egg.”
Not as philosophical as that first quote perhaps, but you can see where he’s coming from … sort of. Either way, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is an absolute classic of heavy metal, as are the first six albums by the band, which is a hell of a run by anyone’s standards. The title track has been singled out by many of rock and metal’s greatest players as a classic, including Brent Hinds from Mastodon and Slash, who told Guitar World in 2008, “The outro to ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ is the heaviest shit I have ever heard in my life. To this day, I haven’t heard anything as heavy that has as much soul.”
The kings of the genre Metallica covered fourth track Sabbra Cadabra on their 1998 covers collection Garage Inc, and incorporated the first verse and chorus of A National Acrobat into their version to replace the a section that didn’t fit Metallica’s temperament. Despite choosing a song from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath as their cover of choice, drummer Lars Ulrich deemed Sabbath’s follow-up album Sabotage as the peak of their career.
Of the album, Ulrich said, “Side A, if you look at vinyl, is probably the strongest 20 minutes of Black Sabbath. And then ‘Symptom of the Universe’ – the simplicity in the riff, the down-picking, the chug – it’s obviously the blueprint for the core of what hard rock and metal ended up sounding like.”
