Black Sabbath - The Wizard ( S 2.2 )

 

Single by Black Sabbath
from the album Black Sabbath
A-side	"Paranoid"
Released	13 February 1970
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	4:24
Label	Vertigo
Songwriter(s)	Geezer Butler Tony Iommi Ozzy Osbourne Bill Ward
Producer(s)	Rodger Bain
Black Sabbath singles chronology
"Evil Woman" (1970) "The Wizard" (1970) "Paranoid" (1970)

Black Sabbath - The Wizard ( S2.1 )

 

"The Wizard" is a song by the English rock band Black Sabbath, taken from their 1970 album Black Sabbath. "The Wizard" was the B-side to the 1970 single "Paranoid", which reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Covers and influence

The song was covered by Bullring Brummies, a short-lived project featuring Black Sabbath founding members Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, for the 1994 tribute album Nativity in Black.

Information

"The Wizard" is about a wizard who uses his magic to encourage people he encounters. In a 2005 interview with Metal Sludge, Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler said the song's lyrics were influenced by the wizard Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings.

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, harmonica
• Tony Iommi – guitar, slide guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass
• Bill Ward – drums

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Diverse ( 222 )

 

Black Sabbath - Paranoid ( D2 )

 

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Black Sabbath - Behind The Wall Of Sleep/Wasp ( L3 )

Visions cupped within a flower

Deadly petals with strange power
Faces shine a deadly smile
Look upon you at your trial

Chill that numbs from head to toe
Icy sun with frosty glow
Words that grow read to your sorrow
Words that grow read no tomorrow

Feel your spirit rise with the breeze
Feel your body falling to it's knees
Sleeping wall of remorse
Turns your body to a corpse
Turns your body to a corpse
Turns your body to a corpse
Sleeping wall of remorse
Turns your body to a corpse

Now from darkness there springs light
Wall of Sleep is cool and bright
Wall of Sleep is lying broken
Sun shines in you have awoken

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath ( D1 )

 

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Black Sabbath - The Wizard ( L2 )

Misty morning, clouds in the sky

Without warning, the wizard walks by
Casting his shadow, weaving his spell
Funny clothes, tinkling bell

Never talking
Just keeps walking
spreading his magic

Evil power disappears
Demons worry when the wizard is near
He turns tears into joy
Everyone's happy when the wizard walks by

Never talking
Just keeps walking
spreading his magic

Sun is shining, clouds have gone by
All the people give a happy sigh
He has passed by, giving his sign
Left all the people feeling so fine

Never talking
Just keeps walking
spreading his magic

Istoric ( 247 )

 07.01.1971 - Black Sabbath lanseaza albumul „Paranoid” in Statele Unite. Discul include cea mai cunoscuta piesa a formatiei – „Paranoid”. „Iron Man” si „War Pigs” sunt alte doua repere ale productiei discografice.

Diverse ( 164 )

 

Istoric ( 199 )

16.05.2010 - Moare Ronnie James Dio, solistul formatiilor Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell si Dio. Ronnie se lupta de mai bine de sase luni cu cancerul.

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath ( S1 )

"Black Sabbath" is a song by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, written in 1969 and released on their self titled debut album. In 1970, it was released as a four-track 12-inch single, with "The Wizard" also on the A-side and "Evil Woman" and "Sleeping Village" on B-side, on the Philips Records label Vertigo.

History

According to the band, the song was inspired by an experience that Geezer Butler had in the days of Earth. Butler, obsessed with the occult at the time, painted his apartment matte black, placed several inverted crucifixes, and put many pictures of Satan on the walls. Ozzy Osbourne handed Butler a black occult book, written in Latin and decorated with numerous pictures of Satan. Butler read the book and then placed it on a shelf beside his bed before going to sleep. When he woke up, he claims he saw a large black figure standing at the end of his bed, staring at him. The figure vanished and Butler ran to the shelf where he had placed the book earlier, but the book was gone. Butler related this story to Osbourne, who then wrote the lyrics to the song based on Butler's experience. The song starts with the lyrics:

What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me

A version of this song from Black Sabbath's first demo exists on the Ozzy Osbourne compilation album The Ozzman Cometh. The song has an extra verse with additional vocals before the bridge. The guitar and bass are tuned down one whole step, resulting in the key position of A being played on the fretboard, but having the pitch as G (octave - D flat) to the listener. It's one of the band's most frequently performed tracks, being featured on every single tour of their career.

Harmony

AllMusic's Steve Huey said the song is an example wherein Black Sabbath appropriated the blue note from the standard pentatonic blues scale and developed a heavy metal riff. The main riff is an inversion of a tritone, constructed with a harmonic progression including a diminished fifth / augmented fourth. This particular interval is often known as diabolus in musica, for it has musical qualities which are often used to suggest Satanic connotations in Western music. The song "Black Sabbath" was one of the earliest examples in heavy metal to make use of this interval, and since then, the genre has made extensive use of diabolus in musica.

The riff was created when bassist Geezer Butler began playing a fragment of "Mars" from Gustav Holst's The Planets suite. Inspired, guitarist Tony Iommi returned the next day with the famously dark tritone.

The main riff of "Black Sabbath" is one of the most famous examples of harmonic progressions with the tritone G-C♯.

Music video

A music video was made for the song, as part of the band's 1970 performance on the German show Beat-Club. The video was filmed in a studio with a village on the foreground.

Cover versions

"Black Sabbath" has been covered by the following bands:

• Flower Travellin' Band in 1970, on their album Anywhere.
• Type O Negative in 1994, for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black.
• Vader in 1994, on their albums Sothis and Future of the Past.
• Iced Earth in 2002, on their album Tribute to the Gods.
• Van Helsing's Curse in 2004, on their album Oculus Infernum.
• Gonga in 2014, with trip hop musician Beth Gibbons (under the track name "Black Sabbeth")

Istoric ( 102 )

13.02.1970 - Black Sabbath lanseaza albumul cu acelasi nume. Discul este considerat un pilon al muzicii heavy metal.

Black Sabbath ( I1 )

Istoric ( 99 )

18.11.1992 - 1992, British group Black Sabbath were honoured with a star at the Rock Walk in Hollywood, California.

Diverse ( 14 )

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath ( L1 )

What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me
Turn around quick, and start to run
Find out I'm the chosen one
Oh no

Big black shape with eyes of fire
Telling people their desire
Satan's sitting there, he's smiling
Watches those flames get higher and higher
Oh no, no, please God help me

Is it the end, my friend?
Satan's coming 'round the bend
people running 'cause they're scared
The people better go and beware
No, no, please, no