Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

In the Black Box book, Geezer Butler explains: "The lyrics to 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' were about the the Sabbath experience, the ups and downs, the good times and bad times, the rip-offs, the business side of it all. 'Bog blast all of you' was directed at the critics, the record business in general, the lawyers, the accountants, management and everyone who was trying to cash in on us. It was a backs-to-the-wall rant at everyone."

The song was written in response to the widely understood miscarriage of justice following the Bloody Sunday Massacre. Geezer Butler is of Irish descent and understood the intensity of discrimination being played out before him . "War Pigs" identifies the band as anti- militaristic and this song evokes the horror of military force turned against our own people. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BloodySunday(1972) . Specifically, the truth is the death of innocents , the distorted eyes are the media , "But you don't want to know" nails the apathy of those who side-lined open warfare euphemistically as someone else's "Troubles". The lies took nearly forty years to be addressed when Cameron finally apologised on behalf of the British Government . Sabbath spoke up against the lies from the start and should take credit for their principles. They were well informed but railroaded by Warner Brothers, I believe, into playing their stance down on political grounds. Incidentally the otherwise incongruous term "Bog Blast" is the voice of the People of Derry who suffered . The area the atrocity occurred in is in fact known locally as the Bogside.

Although perhaps not intended as such, I think this song works good about the all-consuming bitterness and hatred of a soul having lost everything and consumed now entirely by the powerful drive of long-sought REVENGE. If somebody ever cost ME everything, like, EVERYTHING, yeah, and in the deepest despairing subconscious depths where are all the darkness winds up to fester and all I cared about was revenge, sure thing, this song would probably be playing through MY head, yep, sure thing.

I think this song is not really so much an anti-religous song, so much as a song bashing people who go to to Church for their own comfort without really listening, and not really devoting any intellectual/philispphical thought towards it, and basically think "If I just go to church, I go to heaven."

Or, it may be about the band, I have heard that idea tossed around, and it fits.

i've read all the comments but sabbath is talking about who when the say " living just for dying dying just for you?" don't you think about the christ ??? well i think this song is a religious one and it talks also abour people who are religious but they don't know the real meaning of religion

Here's my interpretation.

"You've seen life through distorted eyes" Refers to how Christianity distorts ones world view by causing people to attribute false meanings to what they observe in the world around them.

"You know you had to learn" Something had to shake ones world view in order to get them to question their beliefs as unpleasant as it may have been.

"The execution of your mind" Pretty obvious, Don't question religion, check your brain at the door.

"You really had to turn" Had to turn to save your mind.

"The race is run the book is read The end begins to show The truth is out, the lies are old But you don't want to know"

Once questioned Christianity is finished it falls apart and is revealed as simply an old pack of lies.

"Nobody will ever let you know When you ask the reasons why They just tell you that you're on your own Fill your head all full of lies" When you start asking why people choose to keep perpetuating what they know cannot be true you get excuses and lies. Not referring to the sheep who actually believe, referring to those knowledgeable of Christianity who know that it is a pack of lies yet continue to propagate it because they benefit from it.

"The people who have crippled you You want to see them burn The gates of life have closed on you And now there's just no return" Christianity is considered by many to cripple a person in the sense that obeying the bible is a distinctive disadvantage in life. ie. Love thy enemy, turn the other cheek, pay 10% of your income to the Church, the list goes on and on. Upon recognizing Christianity as a pack of lies one realizes all of the poor decisions they have made in life as a result of it and sometimes the results are pretty severe, ie as in many years of life wasted. Some people figure it out when it is simply too late.

"You're wishing that the hands of doom Could take your mind away And you don't care if you don't see again The light of day" Like the last verse obvious regret.

"Where can you run to What more can you do No more tomorrow Life is killing you Dreams turn to nightmares Heaven turns to hell Burned out confusion Nothing more to tell" It's inescapable, even after having shed the delusion glasses, the world around you is filled with people who make decisions based upon Christianity and their unreason effects your life. Burned out confusion is running a muck.

"Everything around you What's it coming to God knows as your dog knows Bog blast all of you" God knows that your dog knows more about life than you. I think Bog blast refers to a wish that the Bogs of Ireland rise against the inhabitants Ireland being a nation filled with bogs and Christians.

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Nothing more to do Living just for dying Dying just for you" Christianity causes people to live their life in pursuit of an afterlife. Hence living just for dying.

Seems very obvious to me what the song means, though I imagine if you asked the authors what it means, they would think your stupid and feed you a line of BS. Besides, it's mostly about the Benjamins these days so why alienate half your customers over some song you wrote 40 years ago if their willing to go through all the work to reconcile it with their deluded world view.

He was pissed at his old manager, who really hurt the band. Among other things, but I think that's the core...

it's also a dealing with an individual who feels betrayed by and angry towards the society he lives in. hence the line "the people who have crippled you, you want to see them burn!"

I love the last part of the song when Ozzy sings to that awesomely heavy guitar riff.

Regarding what it's about, I'd say it has to do with someone who feels betrayed, lied to, or stabbed in the back and is sick of it.

This is a song about someone close to death (I believe the album cover art goes along with it) and how they are close to dying and want to know the answers, and are terrified about what will happen because they know they did bad things in life.