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Hell Hounds and Juggernauts

 


This is going to be about giving credit where credit is due. Come Hell or high water. 


When we listen to songs, we're not only listening to what was created in that moment, or what came out at that time. We're listening to the history of music. And in truth, humankind. That's what Art does. It's a visual, oral, aural sensory interpretation of our centuries long journey into .... whatever we are heading towards. Wherever that goes. 


The Artist or the collective making such pieces, is telling the story that we all must go through. Being born. Living. Dying. In some minds, anything less than telling that story is not Art. That's what Oscar Wilde thought back in 1891. 

Now, I have said that the community by means of organisation of machinery will supply the useful things, and that the beautiful things will be made by the individual. This is not merely necessary, but it is the only possible way by which we can get either the one or the other. An individual who has to make things for the use of others, and with reference to their wants and their wishes, does not work with interest, and consequently cannot put into his work what is best in him. Upon the other hand, whenever a community or a powerful section of a community, or a government of any kind, attempts to dictate to the artist what he is to do, Art either entirely vanishes, or becomes stereotyped, or degenerates into a low and ignoble form of craft. A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. Its beauty comes from the fact that the author is what he is. It has nothing to do with the fact that other people want what they want. Indeed, the moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want, and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist, and becomes a dull or an amusing craftsman, an honest or a dishonest tradesman. He has no further claim to be considered as an artist. Art is the most intense mode of Individualism that the world has known. I am inclined to say that it is the only real mode of Individualism that the world has known. Crime, which, under certain conditions, may seem to have created Individualism, must take cognisance of other people and interfere with them. It belongs to the sphere of action. But alone, without any reference to his neighbours, without any interference, the artist can fashion a beautiful thing; and if he does not do it solely for his own pleasure, he is not an artist at all.


It's about Individualism. And how that ever stands a chance of surviving under socialism. That's why the entire piece was called The Soul of Man Under Socialism. (1) Artists worry about that stuff. 


What's this got to do with Ozzy Osbourne you say? Did you even know this blog was about Ozzy Osbourne? I put his picture there (with Tony Iommi) to at least give a hint. This blog is going to be about a song. And his performance on it. And his years where he was an absolute pioneer in the vocal realms. Because he's being remembered these days mainly for his mistakes. And being a buffoon. And not having the skills he used to have to pay the bills. And I believe this is a mass disservice to what he contributed to humankind's artistic story. 


There's always been ominous music. There's always been the Devil in the details. There's the Diabolus in musica (devil in music), the devil's interval, the tritone, the triad and the flatted fifth. Whether you believe in the Devil or not, people have always been making scary music. Because nightmares do exist. And horror happens. Translating any emotion like fear, apprehension, intimidation, anger, into a piece of music, or art, is really quite something if you think about it. What does a note have to do with crapping your pants. It has nothing to do with it in truth. But a singular note change, or how it's expressed, can give you the heebie jeebies. And that's a very powerful thing. To translate something everyone feels internally, that can't be described with the languages we've come up with, and put it into a song. Or a sculpture. Or a film. Into anything that is not a human being experiencing it. Into a piece of art. 



Béla Viktor János Bartók up until 1945 was churning out the ominous like no one's business back in the day. 



That's pretty foreboding right from the start. You know something ain't quite right whatever this piece is saying. And you know that this kind of composition inspired many a movie soundtrack. It's the experimental, and those who dare to go to the dark places, that often have great influence on what we see and hear for decades to come. For all you know, Béla Bartók might have been quite a jolly man to hang around. A laugh riot. But his creations and compositions are quite dark. 


So when you get to Led Zeppelin and "Dazed and Confused" and it being cited as "heavy metal," which is a term no artist tagged with it ever seemed to want have tagged to them, there's a problem. And that problem is Black Sabbath. Now I'm not going to go into the Apples and Oranges Theorem. It leads nowhere. My points get lost as you defend your right to believe this is heavier than that. And that's not what I want. You may not be like me at all when you listen to a song. When I listen to a song, I sometimes have 100, 200, 300 years of music history going on in my mind. Not because I'm a scholar. Not because I'm a know it all (I don't know it all. I'd need 15 lifetimes just to get through Frank Zappa's catalogue and fully appreciate it). It's just because I absolutely love Music. I truly do. Love it. Whether it's classical, or blues. Funk or flamenco. It's easier to say what I DON'T like in music, than what I do. I'm not big on Opera. I'm not a huge fan of Country. And I really don't dig Musicals. I'm not going to write a blog about what I don't like. Even though I could. And it's not that I don't like these genres full stop. There are things I appreciate in them all. It's just they don't truly speak to me. They're not my language. So it gets lost in translation what they're trying to say to me. But I don't send them off to exile. I just don't listen to them as regularly. 



When you get to 1970, and Black Sabbath's tale of what being Black Sabbath means, you're getting into some scary shit. Béla Viktor János Bartók never envisioned nightmares could sound like this. Because the song is based on a nightmare. An apparently waking one. 

According to the band, the song was inspired by an experience that Geezer Butler had in the days of Earth (Black Sabbath's original band name). Butler, obsessed with the occult at the time, painted his apartment matte black, placed several inverted crucifixes, and put many pictures of Satan on the walls. Ozzy Osbourne handed Butler a black occult book, written in Latin and decorated with numerous pictures of Satan. Butler read the book and then placed it on a shelf beside his bed before going to sleep. When he woke up, he claims he saw a large black figure standing at the end of his bed, staring at him. The figure vanished and Butler ran to the shelf where he had placed the book earlier, but the book was gone. Butler related this story to Osbourne, who then wrote the lyrics to the song based on Butler's experience. The song starts with the lyrics:

What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me.


No thank you. I'd like to avoid that whole scene. And it's Ozzy screaming "Oh no" that makes him a pioneer. Because no one thought to do that stuff before him. Not in music at least. In a horror film yes. In a song? And presenting yourselves as horror amplified to 11? Black Sabbath broke a musical barrier, right out of the door they walked through. Or that you let them in through. Did I let them in? Did they knock? And where did Ozzy get a book in Latin anyway!


And this is the point where we get to the song I want to discuss. It's 5 years after Ozzy screamed "Oh no." And his vocal abilities had increased, to their peak in 1975. And the man is screaming for his life. 


Now, when I say he reached his vocal peak, I mean before the years he tried to annihilate himself. The years he's being remembered for. The years where you can hear him straining slightly in recordings to sustain notes. The years where you can see live recordings, and he's not hitting those notes. He wasn't taking care of himself. He came out of Black Sabbath with some serious addictions. And his childhood didn't go all that well at times. He had a rough go at some stuff. So I implore you forgive him trying to wipe himself out of existence. Maybe he just didn't like being Ozzy Osbourne anymore. We all go through not liking ourselves much. But it's not what we should be remembered for. 


But in 1975, the man was on fire, channeling some serious Chi energy. (2) It's why I can't really listen to Black Sabbath with any other singer. Especially a particular one that was known for his voice, and also taking care of it. It's not fair to compare Ozzy to that person when Ozzy wasn't taking care of himself. You go back to when Ozzy was a man on fire, breaking new ground. You compare him to that man, and what he was singing about, and all comparisons should stop. Ozzy was a phenomenal vocalist before he decided to let Ozzy burn. That he survived is a miracle. And a lesson for us all. If you think about it. 



Whatever is coming in the first ten seconds sounds bad. And when it kicks in it sounds like it's coming for you, whatever it is. If Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" was threshing oars and solemn explanations of why they row, "Symptom of the Universe" is the Gates of Hell opening up, and the first thing out is a Hell Hound, with spit and fire coming from its mouth, and it's ... after ... YOU. 


The song itself is not about that. It's about Mom and Dad. But what you should really pay attention to is Ozzy's delivery of that tale. Listen to Ozzy in this song. For one, this song is heavy as hell. It's the heaviest thing anyone had heard up to that point. In 1975. And I know you're gonna go, but but .. but what --- no. Shut up! Listen to the song. This is the start of a brand new thing right here. This is a groundbreaker. 

And the man that is making this thing count, is Ozzy. Because he is screaming his head off in this song to the point that he can't breathe the lyrics out anymore. You can hear he screams this stuff until his last breath. Until there is no more to give. He is giving everything on this song, and on this whole album. Sabotage (and 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath) are the albums you want to point to when anyone says to you "Ozzy Sucks." No he does not. Or did not. Ozzy was a pioneer. And in the years 1973 through 1975, he sang like a man possessed. He was singing for his life. Whatever the symptom of this universe is, Ozzy sang about it like it's something we all should know. And maybe we do. 

Take me through the centuries to supersonic years

We are going on a journey, through time. And we are heading towards years that travel faster than the speed of sound. Approaching light. 

Electrifying enemy is drowning in his tears

The enemy is electrified. And they're drowning in their tears. Tears being quite salty are wonderful conductors of electricity. This enemy is locked in a state they cannot get out of. Trapped by their own essence. And bound by their own sorrow and pain. Constantly conducting. 

All I have to give you is a love that never dies

This is all I have. This love is eternal. This is my offering as you take me on this trip through time to witness enemies locked in sorrow. 

The symptom of the universe is written in your eyes

Symptom. Noun. Any phenomenon or circumstance accompanying something and serving as evidence of it. a sign or indication of something. ... a phenomenon that arises from and accompanies a particular disease or disorder and serves as an indication of it.

Whatever the phenomenon is, it's written in their eyes. They carry it in their soul, for we all know. The eyes are the mirror of the soul. Les yeux sont le miroir de l'dme. All our narrator has to offer in exchange is a love eternal. 


This is the point in the song where Ozzy screams Yeah. And I can't think of a single singer in music history that did a Yeah like this. Maybe on a stage. But in recorded history? No. Ozzy says Yeah here twice. And each time he does it, he says yeah until he can't scream it anymore. The second one you can hear he lets it go til he has no more breath to do it with. Rock 'n' Roll didn't know you could scream until Little Richard and a hundred Baptist churches in the South said you could. Permission to scream in Rock 'n' Roll came long before someone called it Rock 'n' Roll. It was alluded to back in 1928. But this blog is not about segregation and discrimination. The point is brought up that Little Richard let everyone know you could scream. And vocalists like Ian Gillan, Rob Halford, Robert Plant, Ozzy's peers in 1975, were all utilising that permission. And some of their yeah's bordered on the Operatic. 


Ozzy's Yeahs were of a different kind altogether. Ozzy's Yeahs say this journey through time, faster than sound, past electrified tearjerkers, and offerings of love eternal ... is pain. It's a sheer struggle.


Mother Moon—she's calling me back to her silver womb
Father of creation takes me from my stolen tomb
Seventh Advent unicorn is waiting in the skies
A symptom of the universe, a love that never dies

yin-yang – Dictionary.com

This has to be taken as a whole statement, rather than each line individually. Something very profound is being said. 

Now what a Seventh Advent Unicorn is is anyone's guess. But an advent is the arrival of a notable person or thing from the Latin adventus "coming; arrival", translating Greek parousia. In Christian terms Advent is a season of the liturgical year observed in many Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas and the return of Jesus at the Second Coming. Advent is the beginning of the Western liturgical year. The term "Advent" is also used in Eastern Orthodoxy for the 40-day Nativity Fast, which has practices different from those in the West.

So this is the Seventh Advent. 

And unicorns do appear in the Bible.

They also are strongly associated with the feminine and as such have traditionally appeared as a symbol of chastity, the divine power that nurtures all living things, and an emblem of the word of divine presence. This is why it is often said that only a virgin can catch a unicorn. 

Unicorns have also long been a representation of the Moon. This is another clear indication of their association to feminine energy. The association to feminine yin energy is also evident in the mysterious, intuitive, and magical characteristics ascribed to the unicorn. The feminine nature of the unicorn is so common throughout different cultures that it is often considered to be a valid archetype or universal energy pattern. 

So there you go.

You have a bit of Yin Yang going on there. Mother Moon and the Unicorn represent the feminine, living energy. The Father of Creation (they're obviously a couple, like Shiva and Parvati, or even Yahweh's sometimes unacknowledged consort Asherah.) takes our narrator from their stolen tomb. This indicates our narrator has already died. And where they were entombed was stolen to begin with. It wasn't his rightful resting place. The Seventh Advent awaits in the skies. It is coming, it shall arrive. This is it's Seventh time.A Unicorn represents it, reinforcing the Mother Moon symbolism. Her womb is silver. It reflects back any energy given out, whether it is positive or negative. In the meaning of colors, it is associated with prestige and wealth. ... Silver restores equilibrium and stability to both feminine power and spiritual energy. It protects itself from outside negativity, reflecting the energy back to where it began. 


Silver is a real metal and is connected to the Moon. It is one of the most versatile metals, one of the 3 base metals in Alchemy. It is associated with philosophical traits of intuition, self-reflection, and inner wisdom. It is a feminine metal, a symbol of purity and is connected to the goddesses and spirits. Its energies include divination, healing, protection, emotion, love, wisdom, dreams, luck and wealth. It is symbolic of attributes such as vision, clarity, awareness, focus, persistence and subtle strength.

A symptom of the universe, a love that never dies

The divine feminine energy is dominant. No matter what tomb one was stolen from. And in finale, the repeated theme. The symptom, and the love eternal. The disease and the cure.

Yeah.

Take my hand, my child of love, come step inside my tears
Swim the magic ocean I've been crying all these years
With our love we'll ride away into eternal skies
A symptom of the universe, a love that never dies


Who's talking here we have to assume is our narrator. We have another mention of tears. It could be the electrified enemy who has been drowning in them for all we know. But if we assume it's our narrator, they speak to someone else now. A child born during this supersonic journey. It's an offer to step away from it all. An ocean of sorrow becomes magic. With love eternal, we ride to skies eternal never looking back. The disease still exists. The cure still exists. It could be Mother Moon talking to our narrator. And as said, the mention of tears brings us back to the Electrifying Enemy. Whomever this may be. They cry too. Locked in sorrow, conducting their essence the more they weep. In this verse, those tears have formed an ocean. That's a lot of crying. 

During the entire song's juggernaut demon dog pace, there are breaks. In that imagined scenario, these stops and starts could be that beast finally catching up to you. A fight takes place. And then ... back to running. That's in that scenario. If it has context in this epic supersonic journey between the energies of the divine feminine and the male creator death paradigm, is anyone's guess. They're just announcements scattered through the song, stopping that juggernaut for a moment before the chase resumes. Before we start going supersonic once again. 

And then ... 

A sudden change. A completely different thing happens in this song. No more juggernaut. No more running. No more symptoms. No more eternals. We are now in Jazz territory. Which is where Tony Iommi truly shows his calling. He's a Jazz guitarist at heart. If Laguna Sunrise, or Planet Caravan did not state this clearly, the coda of Symptom of the Universe proclaims it so. Tony Iommi is a jazz guitarist in the shadows. And it's my personal opinion that his acoustic guitar solo in the coda of this song, is one of the best solos he ever did. I wish he did a whole album like this. 

Woman, child of love's creation, 

come and step inside my dreams

The child of love's creation is WOMAN. She is invited to step inside the narrators's dreams. 

In your eyes I see no sadness, you are all that loving means

There are no tears to make oceans coming from her eyes. There is no symptom of any universe written there. She is the embodiment of Love. The love spoken of that which is eternal. 

Take my hand and we'll go riding through the sunshine from above
We'll find happiness together in the summer skies of love


No more supersonic traveling. No more screaming Yeah. No more worries about stolen tombs. This is an offer to go towards happiness. This is an offer to Love. And the way Ozzy sings throughout the coda, is exactly what's expected from him. Something heartfelt. Something soulful. His abilities as a singer in 1975 were formidable. He could say "Suck Me!" like a man possessed who just wants people to get out of his life and leave him alone. (Megalomania). He could hiss "Rats." in a way that you don't know if he's telling you there are some, or if he's calling them to come out. (The Writ) (which is also a good place to point to if anyone says Ozzy sucks at writing lyrics. Because he doesn't. The Writ is sheer bloody poetry in sections of it). Ozzy on Sabotage throughout, is a pioneer. He is breaking serious ground on this album, and what you can say, sing, or do in a song. And I can't think of a single performer before him doing such things. But as said, I don't know it all. You might point me towards someone who was. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown stepped into that territory. Whether that crazy world would sit well amongst the songs on Sabotage is another matter. Screamin' Jay Hawkins took a lot of crazy into his delivery. I might have to do a thing about Screamin Jay. What's important is, is that Ozzy's taking the kind of risks that would suggest he was a madman. 

And that lets others know that you can do anything you want. As long as you mean it. It's the permission to express your own Individualism, which was a fear would be suppressed back in 1891. And I think Oscar Wilde would say without a doubt, that Socialism doesn't stand a chance against Black Sabbath. Because no one else sounded like them in 1970. And by 1975, this remained the same. They had a massive influence on music history and the story of humankind and how its told. 








 



Comments

  1. I knew there was another
    Music lover out there that
    Shares my feelings about
    Ozzy and that album Sabbotage it changed my
    Life. My Brother and I have loved Ozzy and Sabbath since discovering them on
    Tv preforming at California Jam. NOBODY
    DELIVERS LIKE OZZY especially Sabbotage and
    Bloody Sabbath. To this day I still put Master of Reality on till all the pictures fall of the walls.
    At 60yrs young I am still being SABBATIZED🤘🤘🤘😀

    ReplyDelete

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