Happy Early Halloween Everyone!
It doesn’t get much more Halloween than this song. Black Sabbath was a hard rock band that gets credited a lot for influencing heavy metal. That is perplexing to me…what is heavy metal and what is hard rock? When I think of heavy metal I think of some of the many heavy 80s bands with a huge processed sound on guitar. That probably isn’t what others think of though.
The song was inspired by a series of ominous and eerie experiences. According to bassist Geezer Butler, the concept for the song emerged from a frightening incident he had after reading an occult book given to him by Ozzy Osbourne. Butler claims that after leaving the book on a shelf, he saw a dark figure standing at the foot of his bed that disappeared suddenly. This experience led him to write the lyrics. The song is credited to Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward.
The album cover. It has to be the spookiest album cover ever. On one hand it looks real and on another it looks like a horror movie poster but better. At the center of the album cover is a mysterious, cloaked woman dressed in black. Her identity has been the subject of speculation for decades. Some have claimed she symbolizes a witch or an occult figure, which fits the band’s early associations with the dark arts. It’s one of rocks most iconic album covers.
Louisa Livingstone was a model that was hired for the cover. No one knew who she was until Rolling Stone tracked her down in 2020. Turns out Mrs. Livingstone is not much a fan of Black Sabbath after she finally listened to the album. It just wasn’t her type of music. She now records electronic music under the name of Indreba. Keith Macmillan is the photograhper who shot the album cover.
The album peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200, #29 in Canada, and #8 in the UK in 1970.
Keith Macmillan: “She was a fantastic model. She was quite petite, very, very cooperative. I wanted someone petite because it just gave the landscape a bit more grandeur. It made everything else look big. She wasn’t wearing any clothes under that cloak because we were doing things that were slightly more risqué, but we decided none of that worked. Any kind of sexuality took away from the more foreboding mood. But she was a terrific model. She had amazing courage and understanding of what I was trying to do.”
Louisa Livingstone: I had to get up at about four o’clock in the morning, or something as ridiculously early as that. It was absolutely freezing. I remember Keith rushing around with dry ice, throwing that into the pond nearby, and that didn’t seem to be working very well, so he was using a smoke machine. It was just, ‘Stand there and do that.’ I’m sure he said it was for Black Sabbath, but I don’t know if that meant anything much to me at the time.”
If you want to know about Black Sabbath’s album Black Sabbath VOL 4 cover… go to The Press Music Reviews.
Black Sabbath
What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me
Turn around quick, and start to run
Find out I’m the chosen one
Oh no
Big black shape with eyes of fire
Telling people their desire
Satan’s sitting there, he’s smiling
Watches those flames get higher and higher
Oh no, no, please God help me
Is it the end, my friend?
Satan’s coming ’round the bend
People running ’cause they’re scared
The people better go and beware
No, no, please God help me
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