War Pigs

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"War Pigs" is an anti-war song by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath from their 1970 album, Paranoid.

As explained in the liner notes of the band's live album Reunion, the original title of the song was Walpurgis, and it dealt with the witches' sabbath. The title, lyrics, and theme were subsequently changed during the recording of Paranoid. An early version, with its original theme, can be found on Ozzy Osbourne's compilation The Ozzman Cometh.

It is the opening track on Paranoid, Black Sabbath's best selling album. It can also be found on every live and compilation album by the band (except Cross Purposes Live) along with "Paranoid" itself and "Iron Man". The outro to War Pigs has its own name: "Luke's Wall", and features a more melodic tone than the rest of the song.

War Pigs is ranked number two on Digital Dream Door's "100 Greatest Metal Songs". ^[1]

Covers

The song has been covered by the band Sacred Reich on the EP Surf Nicaragua and their live EP Alive at the Dynamo, PIG on the Prime Evil EP, and Faith No More whose cover was featured on their 1989 album The Real Thing and the Nativity in Black tribute album. Gov't Mule covered 'War Pigs' on their 1999 album, Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends. The song was also covered by Reef on their Waster single. Additionally, the alternative band Cake has been known to cover the song during live shows every now and then. A studio recorded version of the song appears on the band's website as an intro, and leads off their B-Sides and Rarities CD. It has also been covered live by bluegrass tribute band, Hayseed Dixie.

Additional covers include the following:

• The song was covered by The Flaming Lips at multiple concerts. Images of dead bodies and politicians (namely George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice) were displayed on a screen behind the band as they played. This version was subsequently recorded for their iTunes Originals session.
• The Dresden Dolls played a cover on an early live DVD.
• The thrash metal band Overkill usually connects part of the song to their song "Fuck You" to end concerts.
• Viking metal/Black metal band Bathory also covered this song.
• Nonpoint has also recently covered this song in live performances.
• Tesla's cover is the last track on disc 2 of Real to Reel.
• Cake's cover is the first track of their 2007 album B-Sides and Rarities. A live version of the song is a bonus track at the end of the album.
• Beanie Sigel uses a verse from the song plus the background in his song 'The Day' from the album The Solution.
• A cover version is present as an encore for the game Guitar Hero 2, as well as downloadable content for the Rock Band series
• Detroit rapper Esham samples this song in his song "Judgement Day" off his 1992 double album, Judgement Day.
• The song was covered by the Alex Skolnick Trio on their 2002 album Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation
• Progressive metal band Dream Theater have covered this song in live performances.
• Barenaked Ladies keyboardist Kevin Hearn's side project Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle covered the song in their 2004 album Night Light (album).
• Faith No More covered the song on their album The Real Thing
• Bong-Ra covered the song in many live performances

Credits

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

References

1. ^ http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_metal-songs.html