"Fairies Wear Boots" is a song by the Englishheavy metal bandBlack Sabbath, appearing on their 1970 albumParanoid. It was released in 1971 as the B-side to the single "After Forever".
| "Fairies Wear Boots" | |
|---|---|
| Song byBlack Sabbath | |
| from the albumParanoid | |
| A-side | "After Forever" |
| Released | 18 September 1970 |
| Recorded | 1970 |
| Genre | Heavy metal[1] |
| Length | 6:14 |
| Label | Vertigo |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Rodger Bain |
On original 1970 US copies of theParanoid album, the song's intro was listed under the title "Jack the Stripper", formatted as "Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots".[2]
The song has been ranked the 11th best Black Sabbath song.[3]
Background
editThe exact inspiration behind "Fairies Wear Boots" is unclear. In the 2010 documentary filmClassic Albums: Black Sabbath's Paranoid, the band's bassistGeezer Butler states that Ozzy Osbourne composed the lyrics after a group ofskinheads in London called him a "fairy" because of his long hair. However, Butler also stated Ozzy’s lyrics often went off in random tangents, and the second half of the song was aboutLSD.[4] Osbourne, in the same documentary, said he wrote the lyrics about LSD. In 2010, Osbourne stated in his autobiographyI Am Ozzy that he did not recall what the song was written about.
Versions
editA live version of "Fairies Wear Boots", taken from a session for theBBC'sJohn PeelSunday Show dated April 26, 1970, is featured on the bonus disc of a 1997 Ozzy Osbourne compilation entitledThe Ozzman Cometh. The song also appears on the Black Sabbath's first compilation album,We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll.
Osbourne released a live rendition of the song on his 1982 solo albumSpeak of the Devil.
Personnel
edit- Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
- Tony Iommi – guitars
- Geezer Butler – bass
- Bill Ward – drums
References
edit- ^Chris Nickson (3 August 2002).Ozzy Knows Best: The Amazing Story of Ozzy Osbourne, from Heavy Metal Madness to Father of the Year on MTV's "The Osbournes". St. Martin's Press. p. 102.ISBN 978-1-4299-5452-5.
- ^As noted on the labels of early North AmericanWarner Bros. Records pressings ofParanoid, (catalog no. WS 1887), released January 1971.
- ^Rehe, Christoph (2013).Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check: alle Alben, alle Songs. Ein eclipsed-Buch (in German). Sysyphus Sysyphus Verlags GmbH.ISBN 978-3868526462.
- ^Classic Albums - Paranoid, by Isis Productions/Eagle Rock Entertainment