Black Sabbath

Released: July 1, 1980

Songwriter: Bill Ward Geezer Butler Tony Iommi Ozzy Osbourne

Producer: Patrick Meehan

[Guitar Intro]

[Verse 1]
Finished with my woman, 'cause she couldn't help me
With my mind
People think I'm insane because I am frowning
All the time
All day long, I think of things, but nothing seems
To satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind if I don't find something
To pacify

[Chorus]
Can you help me
Occupy my brain?
Oh, yeah!

[Verse 2]
I need someone to show me the things in life
That I can't find
I can't see the things that make true happiness
I must be blind

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh
And I will cry
Happiness, I cannot feel and love, to me
Is so unreal
And so, as you hear these words telling you now
Of my state
I tell you to enjoy life, I wish I could
But it's too late

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

Past Lives

From the albums

Live at Last (1980)
Past Lives (2002)

Black Sabbath popular songs

Paranoid [Live at Last]Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Past Lives