Black Sabbath

Released: November 23, 1987

Songwriter: Tony Iommi Bob Daisley Ray Gillen

Producer: Chris Tsangarides Vic Coppersmith-Heaven Jeff Glixman

Livin' in the fast lane is easy
Till you run out of road
Friends will turn to strangers
When you're out of control
A slip of the tongue when
It's done, is often hard to
See it thru
So never let your words be lies
Or they'll come looking for you

It's a hard life to love

For the price of glory you left
And threw your fortunes away
Never really cared too much for
The job or the pay

You're standing in the rain with
No cover but you never complain
You're an angry young man face to
Face but your mirrors insane
It's a hard life to love

I'm simply refusing a part in your world
And I see how it burns
See how it burns
And you're simply denying the fact
That you're blind and I see no more
I see red - I only see red

Think of all the times I was
Hurting but you felt no pain
Think of all the lies you told me
Again and again
And still you see the truth
From those who continue to lie
And now you're seeking life
From those who are living to die
It's a hard life to love

I'm simply refusing a part in your world
And I see how it burns
See how it burns
And you're simply denying the fact
That you're blind and I see no more
I see red - I only see red

Livin' in the fast lane ain't easy
When you run out of road
Friends will turn to strangers
When you've nowhere to go
Don't give a damn when you're lost
Cause you'll die from it all
Laws were made to be broken
And you do it for the thrill of it all
It's a hard life to love
It's a hard life to love

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.

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