Black Sabbath

Released: July 1, 1980

Songwriter: Ozzy Osbourne

Producer: Patrick Meehan

[Intro]
(Coughing)

[Verse 1]
Alright now
Won't you listen?
When I first met you, didn't realize
I can't forget you or your surprise
You introduced me to my mind
And left me wanting you and your kind
Oh, yeah!

[Verse 2]
I love you
Oh, you know it
My life was empty, forever on a down
Until you took me, showed me around
My life is free now, my life is clear
I love you, sweet leaf, though you can't hear
Oh, yeah!

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3]
Come on now
Try it out
Straight people don't know what you're about
They put you down and shut you out
You gave to me a new belief
And soon the world will love you, sweet leaf
Oh, yeah, baby!

[Outro]
Come on now! Oh, yeah!
Try me out, baby! Alright!
Oh, yeah-ah! I want you part of this sweet leaf!
Oh, yeah! Alright, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh-oh, try-y me-e o-out
I love you, sweet leaf, oh

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

Sweet Leaf [Live at Last]Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Past Lives