Black Sabbath

Released: April 25, 1980

Songwriter: Dio Bill Ward Tony Iommi Geezer Butler

Producer: Martin Birch

[Verse 1]
Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil
The Devil is never a maker
The less that you give, you're a taker

[Chorus]
So, it's on and on and on
It's Heaven and Hell, oh well, yeah

[Verse 2]
The lover of life's not a sinner
The ending is just a beginner
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming

[Chorus]
So, it's on and on and on
Oh, it's on and on and on
It goes on and on and on
Heaven and Hell, I can tell
Fool, fool

[Post-Chorus]
Oh-oh, oh
Ooh-ooh, ooh
Yeah-yeah, yeah

[Verse 3]
Well, if it seems to be real, it's illusion
For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life
Love can be seen as the answer
But nobody bleeds for the dancer

[Chorus]
And it's on and on, on and on and on
And on and on and on and on and on

[Guitar Solo]

[Bridge]
They say that life's a carousel
Spinning fast, you gotta ride it well
The world is full of Kings and Queens
Who blind your eyes and steal your dreams
It's Heaven and Hell, oh well
And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
It's Heaven and Hell, oh no!
Fool, fool!
You've got to bleed for the dancer!
Fool, fool!
Look for the answer!
Fool, fool, fool!

[Instrumental Outro]

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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