Paranoid - Song By Song

[Charger]

Actually I guess it was about a comic after all...but just not a Marvel one...or atleast not Iron Man..
From Tony's Book:

"We smoked a lot of dope, so that might be why some of the lyrics a bit unusual. Like Iron Man which came from a comic about a robot which became alive. I supposed there was a serisous thought behind that, really, that somebody living couldn't get out of that body, couldn't get out of this thing."

In anycase the smoking a lot of dope makes sense lyric wise here.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Until the Iron Man film came out around 2008(?) I didn't even know there was a comic book character by that name. I did check at the time if the song and the character were connected, so I've never been confused about the two.

[Charger]

Until the Iron Man film came out around 2008(?) I didn't even know there was a comic book character by that name. I did check at the time if the song and the character were connected, so I've never been confused about the two.

Yeah I didn't really know much about Iron Man either before the movie. But I did remember Geezer talking about the song somewhere and said it was about a comicbook character. But perhaps he only took the name of the character and wrote the story around that. Or maybe there's another Iron Man character out there as well...I honestly don't know.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Marvel reboot and reinvent their characters so often that the Iron Man we see in the films might be a later incarnation of the character who first appeared in 1963. But more likely Geezer was inspired by a comic character and not necessarily Iron Man.

EDIT: I thought the character might have been more like the Iron Giant so I just googled the 1999 Iron Giant film and saw it was based on a story called The Iron Man by Ted Hughes which came out in 1968... coincidence, maybe!

[Jack the Stripper]

Geezer Butler

My parents never let me read American comics when I was growing up,
I knew about Batman and Superman, but that’s about it. For me it was all about the Beano and the Dandy. So whenever someone’s said to me over the years: ‘Oh, didn’t you write this about the superhero?’, I’d just say: ‘Sorry, never heard of him.’”

“I can’t exactly recall what Ozzy said, but it was something like: ‘Why don’t we do a song called Iron Man, or maybe Iron Bloke’. That got me thinking about a lump of metal, and then putting it all into a science-fiction context. It all flowed from there.”

“I was heavily into science fiction at the time,” “Remember, this was the era of the space race,” he says. “A lot of the stuff I was writing about was inspired by those sorts of stories. I was fascinated by what might happen to a man who’s suddenly transformed into a metal being. He still has a human brain, and wants to do the right thing, but eventually his own frustrations at the way humanity treats him drives this creature to taking extreme action. It’s almost a cry for help”
                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                 

I think Tony should stick to explaining how he came with the riffs and leave the lyrics to the guy that actually wrote them 

[Jack the Stripper]

Turning the record over to side 2 it opens with the dark and sinister Electric Funeral which starts with a menacing doom laden Tony riff accentuated by the use of a wah pedal. Great lyrics on this one delivered in Ozzy’s classic sinister style.  Love the uptempo change mid-song that then leads back to the menacing main riff which really became a trademark of Sabbath’s songwriting.

One of the stronger tracks on a very strong album and a great way to open side 2.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

For the longest time I didn't much care for Electric Funeral, but in recent years I've grown to like it more and more. I still don't think it's one of the better songs on this album but I don't skip it anymore!

[Typhon]

Electric Funeral is another fine song that fits perfectly in with the overall feeling of this album.  It gets overshadowed a bit by the mammoth hits, but is strong nonetheless.  Parts of the song actually gives me the feeling of radiation.  Yikes! 

[Jack the Stripper]

Electric FuneralParts of the song actually gives me the feeling of radiation.  Yikes! 

That’s so true. The wah on the main riff is like radiation is emitting from it.

[Charger]

Electric Funeral is without a doubt a top 10 Ozzy era track!

That sinister riff, the brilliant solo, great lyrics, Ozzy's riff following haunting vocals...this got it all. And yes Tony even uses the WAH pedal which he did not too all that much.

It's a pure DOOOM masterpiece plain and simple. And it is also without a doubt my favourite song on the album and it is a criminally underrated track as well. It wasn't done a lot live during the 70s...in fact I think it's live debut took place during the Techinical Ecstacy tour!

I was so glad they brought it back during the Reunion tour and the live version on Reunion album is fantastic.

[Zzzptm]

Coming in late on the Iron Man discussion...

Pretty sure the band was smoking lots of dope based on the cover alone. That being said, the lyrics are fine enough for the monster riff. I love this song, especially the bittersweet instrumental ending where the skills of the Tony Iommi Jazz Trio are applied to an excellent metal headbanger. No question in my mind, this is one of Sabbath's best cuts, ever. It does not get old or worn out for me.

I just don't listen to Dio doing it, and I'm fine.

Now for Electric Funeral... I thought it was the second part of Iron Man. The lyrics do go together, kinda sorta. Especially if you're totally high, I'd bet.

Again we get a Tony Iommi Jazz Metal Trio doing a funky time-change and instrumental change-up, this time in the middle. I love it.

Come to think of it, the band could have said that this was all a concept album with War Pigs and who would we be to argue? Taken as a trilogy, War Pigs - Iron Man - Electric Funeral work very well together, although I think the ending of EF leaves me wanting a bit more... and that comes in with the next song, truth be told.

[Jack the Stripper]

Hand Of Doom follows next which starts out with Geezer’s slow haunting bass line and some subtle jazzy rim shot and hi hat work from Bill. Ozzy then brings the gloom like only he can before Tony unleashes his riffs of doom, mimicking Geezer’s bass line.

Ive had an ever increasing love for this track over years as some of the more overplayed ones wore a bit thin. The way the song transitions from quiet parts to ultra heavy in an instant is a highlight and works so effectively with the dark subject matter of the lyrics, a subject matter that only Sabbath dared to touch.

Another brilliant, dark, heavy & groundbreaking song from the Sabs 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Hand of Doom is another that took a long time for me to appreciate. Love it now, probably my 3rd favourite off the album.

[Charger]

I can agree with that...

For the longest time I didn't find Hand Of Doom so enjoyable...always thought it to be bit...I don't know...just lackluster really and bit monotonic.

However lets say in the past ten or 15 years I've slowly began to appreciate it more and more. Ozzy's talkative vocal delivery is still what kind of irks me a bit musically the song is great. It's something of a Geezer song...his bass line is what makes the song really. That being said I do wish he would have gotten a bass solo in the middle that would have elevated the song even more.

Also I have to say Slayer did one hell of a cover version of this for NIB 2...

[Typhon]

I don't know what it is like to shoot up with heroin, but Hand Of Doom sure gives me an impression of it.  The first third of the song relates the depression of needing the fix.  Then the fast paced middle seems to be the pleasurable high, caped off by Ozzy singing, "you need someone to help you, stick the needle in . . . yeah!"  In final section, death slowly comes calling.  Wow, what a ride.     Have always liked this song.