Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Lyrics
You've seen right through distorted eyes, you know you had to learn
The execution of your mind, you really had to turn
The race is run, the book is read, the end begins to show
The truth is out, the lies are old, but you don't want to know
[Chorus]
Nobody will ever let you know
When you ask the reasons why
They just tell you that you're on your own
Fill your head all full of lies
[Verse 2]
The people who have crippled you, you wanna see them burn
The gates of life have closed on you, and there's just no return
You're wishing that the hands of doom could take your mind away
And you don't care if you don't see again the light of day
[Chorus]
Nobody will ever let you know
When you ask the reasons why
They just tell you that you're on your own
Fill your head all full of lies, you bastards!
[Instrumental Break]
Where can you run to? What more can you do?
No more tomorrow, life is killing you
Dreams turn to nightmares, heaven turns to Hell
Burnt out confusion, nothing more to tell, yeah
Everything around you, what's it coming to?
God knows as your dog nose, bog, blast all of you
Sabbath bloody sabbath, nothing more to do
Living just for dying, dying just for you, yeah
About
According to bassist Geezer Butler, this song is about the ‘Sabbath experience.’ The ups and downs, the good times and bad times, the rip-offs, the business side of it all. It was a backs-to-the-wall rant at everyone who tried to cash in on Black Sabbath, including lawyers.
The song has one of Sabbath’s well-known riffs. After a long period of failed attempts at writing their fifth album, Iommi wrote it down and ended the lack of ideas the band had had the past couple of months.
When Tony came up with the riff to “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” it was almost like seeing your first child being born. It was the end of our musical drought. It meant the band had a present, and a future, again.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
I just got stuck and couldn’t think of anything to write. I don’t know if it was pressure or what. We left Los Angeles, went back to England and we thought, “Well that’s it. We’re all finished. It’s over.”
It was the same house, the same everything, but it just didn’t work. It was the first time in my life I’d ever had writer’s block and, basically, everyone used to wait around until I came up with a riff and then we’d work from there. But nothing was coming.
As soon as we were in there I came up with the title track, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.” The riff came up just like that and I thought, “That’s it, we’re off again.” That was the start of the album and we just kept going from there.
It’s known that Tony Iommi was in writer’s block during that period and when he wrote “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”’s riff, the rest of the album was then made based on that.
On September 1973, Brazilian singer Vanusa released a song called “What to Do” which seems to be the inspiration to Black Sabbath’s guitarist.
Decades after the release of the two songs, Vanusa commented about that in 2016:
I think it was just a musical coincidence. I heard the song for the first time two years ago and convinced myself that they didn’t copy […]
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