War Pigs

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For the Hungarian rock band, see Warpigs (band).

""War Pigs""

Song by Black Sabbath
from the album 'Paranoid'
Released	1970
Genre	Heavy Metal
Length	7:57
Label	Vertigo (UK) Warner (US)
'Paranoid' track listing
	""War Pigs"" (1)	"Paranoid" (2)

"War Pigs" is an anti-war song by British heavy metal rockers Black Sabbath from their 1970 album, Paranoid. The song talks about war and the absurdities of those who make war without regard to the powerless people who are sent to die. It's sometimes called a protest song.

It is the opening track on Paranoid, Black Sabbath's best selling album. It can also be found on every live and compilation album by the band along with Paranoid itself and "Iron Man". The instrumental part in the end of the song is called "Luke's Wall".

Originally intended to be the title-track, the name of the album was changed to Paranoid, as Black Sabbath's record company feared a backlash by supporters of the Vietnam War. It is one of Black Sabbath's most popular songs, and is still played on Classic Rock stations regularly. The riff, as with most Sabbath songs, is powerful and memorable, as are the eerie verses, which feature Osbourne singing alone (using a melody cribbed from their earlier "Behind The Wall Of Sleep") and punctuated at every line by a guitar lick.

The song has been covered by the band PIG on the Prime Evil EP as well as Faith No More whose cover was featured on their 1989 album The Real Thing. It has also been performed live by The Dresden Dolls in 2004 to 2006, at times with female vocalists such as Cat Power and Peaches. Govt Mule covered 'War Pigs' on their 1999 album, Live With A Little Help From Our Friends.

"It's about the sad shape that our world is in." (Ronnie James Dio, 1992).

"War Pigs" is featured in the PlayStation 2 game, Guitar Hero II.

British born rapper Kano sampled the guitar parts for his song 'I Don't Know Why' from his album Home Sweet Home.

The song was covered by The Flaming Lips as the closer for most of their shows for their tour supporting the album At War With The Mystics. Images of dead bodies and politicians (namely George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice) were displayed on a screen behind the band as they played.

[edit] Walpurgis

The song was originally called "Walpurgis" (Witches' Mass) and contained lyrics about Satanists. The band decided to change the lyrics shortly before Paranoid was recorded to reflect an anti-war mentality. The "Walpurgis" version can be heard on Ozzy Osbourne's "Ozzman Cometh" greatest-hits album.

"Originally, War Pigs was called 'Walpurgis', about Satan's Christmas thing, but we had to change the lyrics, because all the Satan stuff was going on." - Geezer Butler