| Black Sabbath – I Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I've heard Ronnie say he really likes this song because it really reflects him so I think it's a song from the perspective of a heavy metal musician. The first verse seems to be the speaker validating his music. He (and his anger) has been a prisoner and he's the "first to escape," meaning he's the first to voice the frustation that heavy metal is more apt to explore than other kinds of music. The second part of the first verse points out that he's in the minority, but the majority isn't right, he is because he isn't silent like so many others. The Second verse seems to be playing on the image metal artists are given in the popular of media (monsters, freaks, etc.) but still with a rejection of this notion that they are wrong because they go against the majority. The third verse has the speaker talking about how he thinks he's morally right (very few metal artists would consider themselves, "evil," rather they would say they are examining evil and tackling it) but everyone thinks he's just foul ("a whore"). People say that he is "giving nothing/A taker" (his music has no worth, is just garbage, a common criticism of heavy metal) and a "maker of war" (people often criticize metal of being violent or inspiring violence). The speaker rejects this and says he'll fight back "with a smile," not out of malice but because he knows the things people say about him aren't true. On the way out, we have some more of this defiant talk such as in "Don't follow behind/Just leave me on the outside" where the speaker says he'd much rather stay on the outside of the mainstream rather than actually try to convert it. We also get this interesting line of "I am hunger/Feed my head," where the speaker is saying he's fueled by this criticism and will take it, knowing nothing will stop him from doing what he wants. I think it definitely works like is said before if you go with "Computer God" framing the whole album but if you take it by itself and add in Ronnie's comments, I think my idea works too. |
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| Black Sabbath – Die Young Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I don't trust the speaker of this song. Why is he telling us to die young (and what exactly does he mean by that)? Is he telling us to die young for our own good, or for his? Does he actually believe it himself, or is he just using us? After the sweet talking in the beginning of the bridge, we get this very violent jerking around in the music with the strong combined stings (classic Sabbath), combined with Iommi's guitar bursting out between stings. This could represent the pangs of the listener's death (having taken the speaker's advice), or his reason trying to combat the speaker's advances, only to succumb at the end, to which the speaker can only respond with a simple cackle ("Ahhahahahahaa"). The rest of the song is a refrain of the speaker's message. To me, this song represents and attacks people like Jim Jones (Jonestown 1978) who seduce people into death. It could also be a bit broader and encompass anyone or any authority that tries to convince you that you can't fight them and should except what they say. The sadness of Iommi's intro solo (especially the live one) really makes me think that this is not really an inspirational song at all. It's an examination of something evil. Of course, that's just how I always thought of it. |
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