Black Sabbath

Released: April 4, 1995

Songwriter: Tony Martin (heavy metal vocalist) Geezer Butler Tony Iommi

Across the desert of the burning dark, a
Darkness which illuminates you
There's a place you've always wanted to be
Whose pleasures always did escape you
It's always been so out of reach, nothing, so near
Ever felt so far
And now it's here within your grasp, a never
Ending burning says it all

As you drive into the darkness, in front the future
Behind you history
Caught alone in the dark night, do you think
That's the way it's supposed to be
You don't believe your eyes, cos all they see is
Lies, oh yeah

You better run from the holy man, the eyes that
Will are set up on you
Listen not to verse and prayer, songs that thrill
And voices tempt you
The inner flame has fear of death, never, has
Light ever seemed so dark
Pilgrims of sabbocracy, hear the hounds of
Heaven, as they bark

As you drive into the darkness, in front the future
Behind you history
Caught alone in the dark night, do you think
That's the way it's supposed to be
You don't believe your eyes, cos all they see is
Lies, oh yeah

I witness a time and a place that never dies, still
Frozen in time
This darkness the only place that I can hide, I
Witness, a dream

As you drive into the darkness, in front the future
Behind you history
Caught alone in the dark night, do you think
That's the way it's supposed to be
You don't believe your eyes, cos all they see is
Lies, oh yeah

I witness a time and a place that never dies, still
Frozen in time
This darkness the only place that I can hide, I
Witness, a dream
Oh, just a dream

From their start as a heavy blues-rock band called Earth in 1968, Black Sabbath survived over four decades with a total of 19 studio albums and numerous hits, but only “Paranoid” reached the top 10 UK Singles Chart, putting together one of the greatest rock bands of all time and setting the standards for music in their genre.

Virtually every single heavy metal band has cited the early Black Sabbath albums as a major musical influence and Black Sabbath have at least played some part in laying the foundations for most of heavy metal’s sub-genres, including thrash metal (“Symptom of the Universe” and “Into the Void”), doom metal (“Black Sabbath”) and stoner metal (“Sweet Leaf”). The band also explored many rock sub-genres, including hard rock (“Paranoid”), blues rock (“N.I.B.”), psychedelic rock (“Planet Caravan”) and, of course, the traditional heavy metal, being one of the precursors of this genre.

They were ranked by MTV as the “Greatest Metal Band” of all time and placed second in VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 in their “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” They have sold over 70 million records worldwide. Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance.

more tracks from the album

Cross Purposes Live

From the album

Cross Purposes Live (1995)

Black Sabbath popular songs

I Witness [Cross Purposes Live]Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Cross Purposes Live