Black Sabbath - God Is Dead? - Meaning of the song
This was released as the first single from 13, the first album Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have recorded together since 1978's Never Say Die!.
This Sabbath doom anthem finds Ozzy questioning the existence of a higher being, given some of the hard times on Earth. The Blizzard of Ozz winds up by concluding that "I don't believe that God is dead." Osbourne explained how he came up with the song title:
"I was at somebody's office and there was a magazine on the table and it just said the words 'God Is Dead.' And I suddenly thought, with 9/11 and all these terrorist things in the name of religion and how many people have died [because of] religion, when you think about the tragedy that's happened throughout time, it just came in me head. You would think by now their God would stop people [from] dying in the name of. So I just thought, people must think there ain't no God, God is dead. And it just hit me. And I just started singing 'God is dead' [when I was laying down] rough vocals [in the studio] and Geezer gave me the lyrics about it. "Geezer is the lyricist in Black Sabbath, I wrote a few sets of lyrics, but he's the main lyricist. I come up with the ideas and he fills the blanks in. At the end of the [song], there's still a bit of hope, because at the end, I sing, 'I don't believe that God is dead.' It's just a question of when you see something dreadful like people killing each other with bombs and blowing tube trains or the World Trade Center, you think people must go, 'There is no God.' [But] it's a load of B.S., you know."
God is dead - Lyrics
Lost in the darkness, I fade from the light Faith of my father, my brother, my Maker and Savior Help me make it through the night Blood on my conscience And murder in mind Out of the gloom I rise up from my tomb Into impending doom Now my body is my shrine The blood runs free The rain turns red Give me the wine, you keep the bread The voices echo in my head Is God alive or is God dead? Is God dead? Rivers of evil, run through dying land Swimming in sorrow, they kill, steal, and borrow There is no tomorrow For the sinners will be damned Ashes to ashes You cannot exhume a soul Who do you trust when corruption and lust creed of all the unjust Leaves you empty and unwhole? When will this nightmare be over? Tell me When can I empty my head? Will someone tell me the answer? Is God really dead? Is God really dead? To safeguard my philosophy Until my dying breath I transfer from reality Into a living death I empathize with enemies Until the timing's right With God and Satan at my side From darkness will come light I watch the rain as it turns red Give me more wine I don't need bread These riddles that live in my head I don't believe that God is dead God is dead Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide Wondering if we will meet again on the other side Do you believe a word what the Good Book said? Or is it just a holy fairytale and God is dead? God is dead, God is dead God is dead, God is dead, right? But still the voices in my head Are telling me that God is dead The blood pours down, the rain turns red I don't believe that God is dead God is dead, God is dead God is dead, God is dead
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