‘Patient Number 9’: Ozzy Osbourne’s song about madness that drove Jeff Beck insane
There are countless crazy stories from throughout Ozzy Osbourne’s career. That’s his whole brand. The Black Sabbath singer made a name for himself through a series of insane antics, meaning that his music almost comes second to his general cultural presence when it comes to his legacy. It seemed to follow him wherever he went, including into the studio and into the lives of his collaborators, as the process of making one song almost drove Jeff Beck mad.
It might be expected that this would be a story of one of Osbourne’s drug-fuelled wild days from his early career. But actually, this tale is a recent one from when the musician was working on his 2022 solo record, Patient Number 9. It was his second album released during his 2020s comeback, following Ordinary Man. Before that, it had been ten years since any new music had come out from the artist.
It seemed like Osbourne was relaunching with a new sense of dedication. So when it came to recording the record’s title track, he called in the big guns. For a man whose music has always been defined by incredible guitar riffs, Osbourne himself can’t play a note. So for ‘Patient Number 9’, he brought in one of the world’s favourite players, Jeff Beck.
The song is a seven-minute-long music odyssey. It’s a slice of theatrical rock chaos imagining a scene where Osbourne is being held against his will at a mental institution and wants to escape, spiralling into a horror-tinged rock opera of sorts. When it came to giving the track the high-octane energy it needed, Beck was called up to deliver not one but two guitar solos.
“We created these two kind of solo sections, one which is the really heavy part, the first one, and then the one that’s over the acoustic guitar at the end,” the song’s producer, Andrew Watt said. Beck asked him for pointers on how to deliver the solos and the instruction was relatively simple. He was told, “Rip on the first one, melodic on the second.”
But whether it was the leftover chaotic energy exuding from Osbourne or whether it was merely the energy of the track, something took hold of Beck and wouldn’t let him go. He kept recording the solos over and over. “He kept doing it, sending it back to me and would be like, ‘No, I can make this part better,’ and he kept pushing himself,” said Watt.
Caught up in a frenzy as he attempted to please the Prince of Darkness or attempted to channel the heavy rock talent of Tony Iommi, Beck rerecorded the solo more times than he ever typically did on his own music. “I didn’t have to say anything to him. It was all from him saying, ‘I’m gonna do another one, I’m gonna do another one, I’m gonna do another one’”, Watt recalled.
But it all paid off as with each take, the solos only got better. “He just kept elevating himself,” Watt declared, “He’s a true master and just listen to what he did.”
