Paranoid - Song By Song

[Jack the Stripper]

Ok with the debut wrapped up I guess it’s time to move onto iconic masterpiece and sophomore release - PARANOID

Quite fitting too given it has celebrated its 50th anniversary in the last week.

Here’s my prized original UK vinyl pressing

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I always dismiss this album as a "middling" performer in their catalogue, but if you analyse each track like we are then it is so much better than that. Perhaps it's one of those occasions where the sum of its parts are not as good as the individual parts!


However, we start with War Pigs. This is a top 5 Sabbath song for me, I just love it... even after 40 years! It was a wise move to re-write the lyrics from the original Walpurgis version. But it's nice to have the original for comparison.

[Jack the Stripper]

Yeah good old “War Pigs“. The song that keeps on giving. What else can you really say? Just a bona fide classic! Fantastic way to open an album. Every band member is on fire here and a strong message that still relevant 50 years on.

[Typhon]

The great War Pigs, arguably a benchmark for every hard rock/heavy metal song to come after it.  It appears in the second half of my Top 10 Sabbath songs and has never gotten old, for me.

[Zzzptm]

This is a track that's in danger of being overplayed. I like it best when I go to it, not when it comes to me in a movie trailer or some other advertising sort of way.

But I do remember the first time I heard it, and I was greatly impressed thereof. The equation of war with traditional images of evil made the lyrics stand out and, again, Iommi's guitar work adds the secret sauce.

[Charger]

War Pigs is a great song that has unfortunately suffered a major inflation due to being so over played.

It's a song that I very rarely listen to anymore. Even when I made Sabbath compilations for my car this song never got included. It just shows that even a great song can get boring if it's everywhere.

But to the song itself. The heavy intro, the abrupt break before the verses and the ending speed up are all brilliant. The lyrics are among Geezer's absolute finest even if he could find a word that would rhyme with masses...

Again one could argue about the placement on the album. Is it the best possible track to open with...and yes the more up tempo and "in through one ear out the other" song Paranoid might have been a more suitable opener in both terms of speed and accessibility...but on the other hand Sabbath wasn't really looking to be up tempo and accessible anyways.

Brilliant track that has been nearly played to death...which sadly plagues nearly every song on this album...

[Zzzptm]

Kind of like how I enjoyed "Welcome to the Jungle" the first 5999 times I heard it, but on listen number 6000, suddenly that magic was GONE.

[Charger]

Kind of like how I enjoyed "Welcome to the Jungle" the first 5999 times I heard it, but on listen number 6000, suddenly that magic was GONE.

Indeed...although for me I think the magic of that song faded already around the 3695 mark...

[Typhon]

Kind of like how I enjoyed "Welcome to the Jungle" the first 5999 times I heard it, but on listen number 6000, suddenly that magic was GONE.

Indeed...although for me I think the magic of that song faded already around the 3695 mark...

I guess greatness, with me, doesn't "fade" so easily.   

[Charger]

Kind of like how I enjoyed "Welcome to the Jungle" the first 5999 times I heard it, but on listen number 6000, suddenly that magic was GONE.

Indeed...although for me I think the magic of that song faded already around the 3695 mark...

I guess greatness, with me, doesn't "fade" so easily.   

The fade time varies ofcourse...certain songs last longer than other to reach that point. The thing is nowadays if you hear a G&R song on the radio it is always...always Welcome To The Jungle...and now I have to say when it comes on I tune out.

[Zzzptm]

Not to make this a GnR thread, but that's a textbook case of overexposure draining the fun out of the music. Another one for me is "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. When I first heard it as a kid, it was pretty magical and I loved it and memorized it and played it backwards because there were supposed to be secret messages and everything. But as it got overplayed and overplayed and overplayed on the radio, I got to where I just couldn't find the joy in it anymore.

In economics, it's the law of diminishing marginal returns - why you might enjoy the first one or two of something a lot and then fade out as it piles on.

I'm ready to admit freely that the first two Ozzy-era albums I'll reach for are SBS and Sabotage. Both of those albums have stayed very fresh for me through the years. Having these "weekend retreats" with the other albums is helping me to rediscover some of the fun I had with them and get them to where they shine again for me.

[Jack the Stripper]

The lyrics are among Geezer's absolute finest even if he could find a word that would rhyme with masses...

I always found that quite genius, rhyming the same word but with two different meanings.

[Jack the Stripper]

Moving onto to the album and bands biggest hit song and title track “Paranoid”

Quite a simple and traditional structured song by Sabbath’s standard but it rocks. Cool & original opening riff into a nice uptempo heavy groove. Whole band sounds tight & locked in. Nice short & sweet solo that complements the song well. Love Geezer’s rumbling & slappy sounding bass throughout. Possibly my least favourite from the album if I had to choose one but it’s still a great song.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I enjoy Paranoid a lot. Yes, I've heard it so often it's lost that initial thrill, but it's still a pretty good song and without it I don't believe Sabbath would be as big a deal as they are (but still a big deal! ). But for a throw away, last minute addition to the album it rocks!

When it came out it was probably the heaviest song that had ever charted in the UK, Purple's Black Night charted around the same time but it's not sd heavy!

[Typhon]

Paranoid, a song that was not suppose to happen, but I am sure glad it did. 

Quite a simple and traditional structured song by Sabbath’s standard but it rocks. Cool & original opening riff into a nice uptempo heavy groove. Whole band sounds tight & locked in. Nice short & sweet solo that complements the song well. Love Geezer’s rumbling & slappy sounding bass throughout. Possibly my least favourite from the album if I had to choose one but it’s still a great song.

Agreed, although I can't say it is my least favorite from the album.  I like it more than that.