Black Sabbath had a mysterious spiritual fifth member
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Credit: Daniel Zappe
The Black Sabbath song Ozzy Osbourne called a “gift”
On a couple of occasions throughout his career, Ozzy Osbourne has inexplicably landed upon a song which he can only call a “gift”, and one example he gave of this phenomenon is Black Sabbath’s break-out single, and arguably their defining anthem, ‘Paranoid’.
The track single-handedly put heavy metal on the mainstream agenda and changed the course of Sabbath’s career. Their debut album had already established the group, but the follow-up, Paranoid, was an evolution, and the titular track was the first time they succeeded with a single.
Astonishingly, it only took Sabbath “2 to 3” days to record their second album, according to Tony Iommi. ‘Paranoid’ was only a last-minute addition to the record, with the guitarist calling it “an afterthought”. He also admitted it was only written because they desperately needed a “3-minute filler for the album”.
For most people, ‘Paranoid’ is the first song that springs to mind when one thinks about Black Sabbath and a track that denies their DNA. It’s remarkable to consider that it was only written out of necessity and only took them moments to make.
From start to finish, ‘Paranoid’ took 25 minutes to make, according to Sabbath drummer Bill Ward, and after writing the song, the group knew they were onto something good. Straight from the outset, Osbourne felt they had a potential classic on their hands, and his first instincts were soon proved correct.
“I think it has to be ‘Paranoid’ from Black Sabbath. I still play that song live on stage, I end the show with it… I just call it my anthem,” he said during a radio interview in 2019.
Osbourne continued, “I remember when Roger Bain, the producer [of Paranoid], said, ‘Just jam something out, we need it to finish the album.’ We just jammed and ‘Paranoid’ came out, and it was a hit single. People would say, ‘That ‘Paranoid’ is great, it’s gonna be huge.’ When you’re in the bubble looking out, it’s a completely different view than from outside the bubble looking in. I mean, I’d become in my own way a Beatle, you know?”
He added: “Every now and then you get a song from nowhere, it’s a gift – that was one of them songs that came out of nowhere, the biggest hit earlier on.”
Osbourne has been playing ‘Paranoid’ live for over 50 years, and it’s something that never gets tiring to the singer. It’s followed him around for the entirety of his adult life and soundtracked significant moments that have cemented his legacy. Black Sabbath played it on their debut appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1970, and Osbourne also chose to perform ‘Paranoid’ at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in his hometown, Birmingham, which shows the journey he’s been on with the track you might call his greatest gift.
