War Pigs (song)
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- For other uses, see War pigs (disambiguation).
| “War Pigs” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Black Sabbath from the album Paranoid |
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| A-side | War Pigs | ||||
| Released | 1971 | ||||
| Format | 45 RPM | ||||
| Recorded | 1970 | ||||
| Genre | Heavy metal | ||||
| Length | 7:57 (album) | ||||
| Label | Vertigo | ||||
| Writer(s) | Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward | ||||
| Producer | Rodger Bain | ||||
| Black Sabbath singles chronology | |||||
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"War Pigs" is an anti-war song by British heavy metal band 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.
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, with heavy use of the Aeolian (natural minor) mode. It should also be noted although the guitar and bass are in E natural minor for most of the song, Ozzy's singing is actually in E Mixolydian mode.
Although War Pigs was originally intended to be the name of the album, it 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. At the end, there's a speeding-up effect.
[edit] Covers
The latest band to cover the song is Cake, on their album B-Sides & Rarities. 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. It has also been performed live by punk cabaret band The Dresden Dolls in 2004 to 2006, at times with female vocalists such as Cat Power and Peaches. 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. "War Pigs" is the final track on Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle's second album, Night Light. Additional covers and connections include the following:
- "War Pigs" is featured as a playable encore track in the music video game Guitar Hero II. Additionally, the song appears as downloadable content in the music video game Rock Band - Developed by Harmonix Music Systems, developers of the previously mentioned video game - in a 3-song pack along with the other Black Sabbath songs "Sweet Leaf" and "N.I.B.".
- British born rapper Kano sampled the guitar parts for his song "I Don't Know Why" from his album Home Sweet Home.
- A version of the song can be found on the band Suck's 1970 psychedelic album, Time to Suck.
- "War Pigs" was drafted into Ozzy Osbourne's recent 2007 European tour set, replacing "Flying High Again".
- 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 song is also covered by New Orleans based funk/brass band Bonerama on their Live from New York CD.
- Tesla recorded their take on the song for the second set of their Real to Reel covers album. The songs starts with the first few notes of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on guitar, and then segues into the famous air raid siren. The siren, however, is not a sound effect; it's also done by guitar.
- Translated to Latin as Verres Militares on the album Sabbatum by Rondellus.
- The thrash metal band Overkill usually connects part of the song to their song F*** You to end concerts.
- Puddle of Mudd has also covered the song in live performances
- Cake (band) covered this song in their B-Sides and Rarities (Cake album) album
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