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Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Paranoid is a song by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, featured on their second album Paranoid (1970).

It is the first single from the album, while the B-side is the song "The Wizard". It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also topped the German Singles Chart.

This was the first Black Sabbath single. It came out 6 months after their first album.Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler(from Guitar World magazine, March 2004).

A lot of the "Paranoid" album was written around the time of our first album,"Black Sabbath".We recorded the whole thing in about 2 or 3 days,live in the studio.The song "Paranoid" was written as an afterthought.We basically needed a 3 minute filler for the album,and Tony came up with the riff.I quickly did the lyrics,and Ozzy was reading them as he was singing.

This is about a man who is paranoid.The driving guitar and bass create a nervous energy to go along with Ozzy's lyrics.This was used as the title to the second Black Sabbath album.The band wanted to call it "War Pigs" after another song on the album,but the record company made them use instead because it was less offensive.The album cover was a literal interpretation of a "War Pig"-it showed a pig with a sword and shield.

The word paranoid is never mentioned in the lyrics."The Wizard" a song from their first album,was used as the B-side of the single.Black Sabbath waited 2 years before releasing another single "Iron Man".They did not want to become a "Singles Band",with kids coming to their show just to hear their hits.This also ensured that fans would buy the albums.

In England,this was re-released in 1980 to capitalize on the success of Black Sabbath: "Live at Last",which was released earlier that year.

The album was taken from Sabbath concert in 1975 with the original band members. After 5 years the band played the song during "Live Aid" concert with Ozzy on vocals.This song is heard briefly during the film We Are Marshall.The song is also used in 2 music based video games. Tony Iommi recorded "Paranoid" with a black eye after the band had gotten involved in a brawl. This incident is also referred to in "Fairies Wear Boots".

In his book "Iron Man:My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath", Iommi said he and Ozzy probably had no idea what the word "paranoid" even meant at that time. They left the lyrics to bassist Geezer Butler: they considered him the intelligent one. Black Sabbath also performed the song this on Top of the Pops in 1970.

In 2002 Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Phil Collins, and Pino Palladino (of The Who) played this song in Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Cover versions of "Paranoid" were performed by the following artists:

1971: Cindy & Bert (German schlager version of the song "Der Hund von Baskerville", set to the tune of "Paranoid")

1979: The Dickies (The Incredible Shrinking Dickies)

1981: Angel Witch (known to have played the song in 1980s tours)

1990: Steel Pole Bath Tub (Lurch)

1992: Type O Negative (The Origin of the Feces)

1992: Master (Talk of the Devil)

1993: Big Country (as a b-side to the single Ships; later appeared on Under Cover)

1994: The Clay People (Tribute To Black Sabbath: Eternal Masters)

1994: Megadeth (Nativity in Black and Hidden Treasures; At the end of the recording, while the rest of the band stops, drummer Nick Menza continues playing until singer Dave Mustaine shouts to him, to which Menza replies profanely. The cover was later nominated for a Grammy[27])

1997: Adam Parfrey (A Sordid Evening of Sonic Sorrows[28])

2002: 3rd Strike (Lost Angel; added rapping verse)

2003: Gus Black (Uncivilized Love)

2005: Show of Hands (a comedic snipped appeared in As You Were)

2006: Hellsongs (Lounge[29] and Hymns in the Key of 666[30])

2007: George Lynch (Guitar Slinger; with Mötley Crüe's singer Vince Neil[31])

2007: Mystic Prophecy (Satanic Curses)

2007: Queens of the Stone Age (live at the VH1 Rock Honors, 2007)

2008: The Dillinger Escape Plan (Under the Running Board reissue)

2009: Avenged Sevenfold (Covered, A Revolution in Sound[32])

2009: Green Day (played live on the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour)

2009: Metallica (played live at the 25th Anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert, with Osbourne guest singing. This track is playable in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.)

2010: Ministry (Undercover)

The lyrics:

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

Can you help me, occupy my brain?

Oh yeah

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

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