paranoid

"Paranoid"
The 1980 re-release cover b/w Snowblind
Single by Black Sabbath
from the album Paranoid
B-side	"Rat Salad"
Released	1970
Format	45 RPM
Recorded	1970
Genre	Heavy metal, protopunk[1]
Length	2:53
Label	Vertigo
Writer(s)	Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne
Black Sabbath singles chronology
"The Wizard" (1970) "Paranoid" (1970) "Iron Man" (1970)

"Paranoid" is a song by Black Sabbath that appears on the band's second album Paranoid.

Development

Guitarist Tony Iommi came up with the riff while the rest of the band was out getting lunch. Upon their return they immediately recorded it in as long as it took to play it through. The lyrics had not been written yet so vocalist Ozzy Osbourne sang whatever came to mind. The final version contained different lyrics penned by bassist and principal lyricist and compositor, Geezer Butler.^[2]

Release

"Paranoid" was released as a single and received regular airplay on mainstream radio. The single, with "The Wizard" on the B-side, was released in the UK in July 1970 and it reached the number 2 position just being kept off the Number 1 position by Deep Purples "Black Night". It made number 2 on the Dutch Top 40.

Lyrical themes

The song's lyrics are from the viewpoint of a man suffering from paranoia. Lyrics such as People think I'm insane because / I am frowning all the time and Happiness I cannot feel / And love to me is so unreal state his emotions and the symptoms of mental illness at the same time. The last two lines of the song, 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 are the chilling message from a man who loses hope and believes he will suffer for the rest of his life. The oddity of the speaker also shows in his unnatural stress pattern, creating a somewhat forced form of trochaic tetrameters.

Legacy

"Paranoid" often enters into lists regarding the 'best' metal or hard rock track. It is typically associated with both Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath due to its popularity. After Osbourne was fired by the band in 1979, he continued to perform this track normally at the end of the set. Various different live versions have been recorded with Osbourne. This is due to the changes in band lineup since the original Blizzard of Ozz in 1980. Popular live versions featuring various guitarists including Randy Rhoads, Brad Gillis, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde were all recorded and later released.

It was ranked #34 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.^[3] In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 11 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rolling Stone ranked it number 250 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time^[4] and called the song, "a two-minute blast of protopunk"^[5]. In 2009, it was named the 4^th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.^[6]

The original Black Sabbath recording has been used numerous times in various films and television shows including Sid & Nancy,^[7] Dazed and Confused,^[8] The Stoned Age,^[9] Any Given Sunday,^[10] Almost Famous,^[11] and We Are Marshall.^[12]

In Finland it is an old joke that somebody shouts during every gig "play Paranoid!" ("Soittakaa Paranoid!") just like "Free Bird" is often requested in the United States, and "Stairway to Heaven" in the UK.^[13][14]

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – lead vocals
• Tony Iommi – guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Bill Ward – drums

Misheard lyric

In the 1991 documentary, Don't Blame Me, Ozzy Osbourne discusses two examples of where a lyric he has sung has been misinterpreted. In "Paranoid", Osbourne state that he has been falsely accused of singing "I tell you to end your life" when, in fact, the lyric is actually "I tell you to enjoy life". He also states that he is not saying "shoot" repeatedly in the song "Suicide Solution" from his debut solo album, Blizzard of Ozz. As an example of how easily one can be mistaken about a lyric, Osbourne goes on to cite his own mistake in interpreting the line "excuse me while I kiss the sky" in Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" as "excuse me while I kiss this guy".

The web address of the Archive of Misheard Lyrics website, kissthisguy.com, was inspired by this comment.

Covers

Cover versions of "Paranoid" were performed by:

• Thrash metal band Megadeth for the Black Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black.
• The Dickies on their album The Incredible Shrinking Dickies.
• The Dillinger Escape Plan for the reissue of their Under the Running Board EP.
• Synthpop band New Clear Sky on their album Newer, clearer...^[15]
• Avenged Sevenfold on a tribute album called Covered, A Revolution in Sound.^[16]
• Hellsongs on their debut EP Lounge^[17] and again on Hymns in the Key of 666.^[18]
• Type O Negative on their Origin Of The Feces EP.
• The Clay People for the Black Sabbath tribute album, Tribute To Black Sabbath: Eternal Masters.^[19]
• 3rd Strike on their album Lost Angel.
• Soviet (later Russian) heavy/thrash-metal band Master(rus. Мастер) their on album Talk of the Devil.
• Mystic Prophecy as a bonus track on their album Satanic Curses.
• Gus Black as a track on his album Uncivilized Love.
• George Lynch as a track on his album Guitar Slinger (with Mötley Crüe's singer Vince Neil).^[20]

In other media

"Paranoid" has also been featured on the soundtracks of several video games including Rock 'N' Roll Racing, Rock Band, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, and Madden NFL 10.

The opening riff from "Paranoid" is also used at the beginning of the Current 93 song "Lucifer Over London".

The song is featured in Supenatural's episode Phantom Traveler after Dean and Sam leave the tailor shop with their new tuxedos.

Notes