“War Pigs” is an anti-war protest song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. It is the opening track from the band’s second studio album, Paranoid (released in 1970).
The original title of “War Pigs” was “Walpurgis”, dealing with the Witches’ Sabbath.[4][5] “Walpurgis is sort of like Christmas for Satanists. And to me, war was the big Satan”, said bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler. “It wasn’t about politics or government or anything. It was Evil itself. So I was saying ‘generals gathered in the masses / just like witches at black masses’ to make an analogy. But when we brought it to the record company, they thought ‘Walpurgis’ sounded too Satanic. And that’s when we turned it into ‘War Pigs’. But we didn’t change the lyrics, because they were already finished.”[6]
National service had ended in 1963 in the United Kingdom but with the Vietnam War still ongoing, many young men feared they would be conscripted to fight in it. “That’s what started this whole rebellion thing about not going to war for anybody”, said Butler. “I was dreading being called up”, the lyricist recalled.[7]
Prior to its official release, the band often altered the lyrics significantly when performing it live.[8] An example of this can be found on Ozzy Osbourne‘s compilation The Ozzman Cometh, which features an early version recorded by Black Sabbath for BBC Radio 1 on 26 April 1970.[9] While Butler has said that “War Pigs” is “totally against the Vietnam War, about how these rich politicians and rich people start all the wars for their benefit and get all the poor people to die for them”,[10] vocalist Osbourne has stated that the group “knew nothing about Vietnam. It’s just an anti-war song.”[11] The song’s instrumental outro is entitled “Luke’s Wall” on US releases of the album, formatted as “War Pigs/Luke’s Wall”.[12]
Drummer Bill Ward‘s first memory of performing the song was at the Beat-Club in the hotel Hirschen in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1969.[10][13] The band was required to play multiple sets every night and had little material in their repertoire at that point, so they would perform lengthy jam sessions to fill in the sets.[4] Co-writer and lead guitarist Tony Iommi has said that “War Pigs” originated from one of those jam sessions.[14]
The addition of the air-raid siren and the speeding up of the song’s end were done by producer Rodger Bain and engineer Tom Allom. The band had no input in these decisions, though they were pleased with the results.[4]
“War Pigs”
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death’s construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to Mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds…
Oh Lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait ’till their judgment day comes, yeah!
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of Judgment, God is calling
On their knees the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings…
Oh Lord, yeah!
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