War Pigs
For the Hungarian rock band, see Warpigs (band)."
War Pigs" is an
anti-war song by
British heavy metal rockers
Black Sabbath from their
1970 album,
Paranoid. The song talks about
war and the absurdities of those who make war without regard to the powerless people who are sent to
die. It's sometimes called a
protest song.
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 along with Paranoid itself and "
Iron Man". The instrumental part in the end of the song is called "Luke's Wall".
Originally intended to be the title-track, the name of the album was changed to
Paranoid, as Black Sabbath's record company feared a backlash by supporters of the
Vietnam War. It is one of Black Sabbath's most popular songs, and is still played on Classic Rock stations regularly. The riff, as with most Sabbath songs, is powerful and memorable, as are the eerie verses, which feature
Osbourne singing alone (using a melody cribbed from their earlier "Behind The Wall Of Sleep") and punctuated at every line by a guitar lick.
The song has been covered by the band
Faith No More and was featured on their
1989 album
The Real Thing. It has also been performed live by
The Dresden Dolls and by
The Flaming Lips in
2004 to
2006, at times with female vocalists such as
Cat Power and
Peaches. Govt Mule covered 'War Pigs' on their 1999 album, Live With A Little Help From Our Friends.
"It's about the sad shape that our world is in." (Ronnie James Dio, 1992).
"War Pigs" will be featured in the upcoming
PlayStation 2 game,
Guitar Hero II.
British born rapper
Kano sampled the guitar parts for his song 'I Don't Know Why' from his album
Home Sweet Home.
The song was originally called "
Walpurgis" (Witches' Mass) and contained lyrics about Satanists. The band decided to change the lyrics shortly before
Paranoid was recorded to reflect an anti-war mentality. The "Walpurgis" version can be heard on Ozzy Osbourne's "Ozzman Cometh" greatest-hits album.
"Originally, War Pigs was called 'Walpurgis', about Satan's Christmas thing, but we had to change the lyrics, because all the Satan stuff was going on." - Geezer
*
Piggies by
The Beatles, on
The Beatles*
Pigs (Three Different Ones) by
Pink Floyd, on
Animals*
Lyrics at Lyriki
