Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

Ozzy Osbourne - A.V.H.

Ozzy Osbourne - A.V.H. Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No More Tears
Released: 1991

A.V.H. Lyrics

I get up and I get down
I don't know how to take it
All the pain makes me scream and shout
I wonder if I'll make it
I love the feeling when the magic is just right
There's no revealing what is hidden in the night
Riding on a train that I can't control
No one else to blame and I can't let go
In the darkness I can feel
The things that makes me crazy
Hands of madness cold as steel
I find it quite amazing
Never forsaking what a dreamer needs to know
Rules meant for breaking and the seeds I have to sow
Riding on a train that I can't control
No one else to blame and I can't let go
It's calling me, It's calling me
It's calling me, It's calling me
I'm riding on a train that I can't control
See no evil, fear no fright
Never lose the living
Keep the targets in your sight
Know the cards you're dealing
Never forsaking what a dreamer needs to know
Rules meant for breaking and I gotta let, I gotta it go
Writer/s: R CASTILLO, O OSBOURNE, Z WYLDE
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

A.V.H.

"A.V.H." is an acronym for Alcohol, Valium and Hashish. It's a rare non-judgmental rock song that explains what it's like to be hooked on booze, painkillers and drugs. Dr. Ozzy was an expert on the experience. (thanks, Jerry - Pigeon Forge, TN)

Ozzy Osbourne - Miracle Man

Ozzy Osbourne - Miracle Man Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Rest For The Wicked
Released: 1989

Miracle Man Lyrics

I'm looking for a Miracle Man that tells me no lies, I'm
Looking for a miracle man who's not in disguise

I don't know where he'll come from and I don't know where
He's been, but it's not our jimmy sinner because he's so
Obscure.

Miracle man got busted, miracle man got busted

Today i saw a miracle man, on tv cryin', such a
Hypocritical man, born again, dying.

He don't know where he's goin' but we know where he's been
It was out little jimmy sinner on the screen.

Miracle man got busted, miracle man got busted, miracle
Man got busted, miracle man.

A devil he got busted with his pants down, repent ye
Wretched sinners, self righteous down.

Miracle man got busted, miracle man got busted, miracle
Man got busted, miracle man got busted, miracle man got
Busted, miracle man got busted, miracle man got busted.

Writer/s: B. DAISLEY, Z. WYLDE, O. OSBOURNE
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Miracle Man

In this song, Ozzy ridicules televangelist (and longtime foe) Jimmy Swaggart, referring to him as "Jimmy Sinner."

The song was written by Osbourne, his guitarist Zakk Wylde, and his bass player Bob Daisley . Daisley, who wrote the lyric, originally mentioned Swaggart by name, but decided it would be more effective to keep it nonspecific.

In 1985, after a teenager killed himself while listening to Ozzy's song "Suicide Solution," Swaggart went on a crusade against rock music and took every opportunity to point out Osbourne's depravity. Ozzy got the last laugh in 1987 when Swaggart was caught with a prostitute and admitted an addiction to pornography. Swaggart became known as one of the biggest hypocrites ever to walk the earth, while Ozzy got his own TV show.

Ozzy used an English church as his stage to skewer Swaggart in the music video, but events took an unexpected turn when some of his guests befouled the chapel. "When the music went on, the pigs all took a massive s--t at the same time," he remembered. "Because it was so f---ing loud in there. My wife went, 'Oh, f---!' The playback started and they all went pfffffftttt! Sixty pigs s--tting! I had a pair of brand-new suede boots on, and I never wore them again. I couldn't get the f---ing smell of pig s--t out of them."

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Diary of a Madman
Released: 1981

Diary of a Madman Lyrics

Screaming at the window
Watch me die another day
Hopeless situation endless price I have to pay

Sanity now it's beyond me there's no choice

Diary of a Madman
Walk the line again today
Entries of confusion
Dear diary I'm here to stay

Manic depression befriends me
Hear his voice
Sanity now it's beyond me
There's no choice

A sickened mind and spirit
The mirror tells me lies
Could I mistake myself for someone
Who lives behind my eyes
Will he escape my soul
Or will he live in me
Is he tryin' to get out or tryin' to enter me

Voices in the darkness
Scream away my mental health
Can I ask a question
To help me save me from myself

Enemies fill up the pages
Are they me
Monday till Sunday in stages
Set me free

Writer/s: OSBOURNE, RHODES, DAISLEY, KERSLAKE
Publisher: NEWMAN & COMPANY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Diary of a Madman

Ozzy's bass player Bob Daisley wrote this song. Said Daisley: "I really wrote that one about myself. When I was 16 I had my first nervous breakdown and it really f---ed me up. I was a sensitive kid and I have always been a sensitive person. I suppose you have to be sensitive being in the arts. I wrote the words about myself. Quite often we have problems and we are our own worst enemies and that is why 'Enemies fill up the pages one by one in the diary. Are they me?' I am my own worst enemy.

The other thing was that Randy [Rhoads] had the rough idea for the song 'Diary of a Madman' and I came up with title. I wrote all of the lyrics as well on the album. Ozzy would come and go from rehearsals. One day he came in and we played him 'Diary of a Madman' and because it had funny timing he couldn't get his head around. He said, 'Who the f--k do you think I am? Frank Zappa!' We said, 'You sing in this part but you don't sing here. This timing goes like this etc.' He started to like it when he got his head around but at first he was like, 'This is not for me'."

The title came from a 1963 movie of the same name starring Vincent Price.

Through a bit of revisionist history, Diary of a Madman became Ozzy Osbourne's second solo album. After leaving Black Sabbath in 1978, he formed a new band with Bob Daisley, Randy Rhoads and Lee Kerslake called the Blizzard of Ozz, which ended up being billed as an Ozzy solo project after the album was released showing just Osbourne on the cover and his name in big letters.

In our interview with Bob Daisley , he explained that this song was conceived before they had the title for the album, and it made a perfect fit. Said Daisley: "I thought it would be a good title for an Ozzy Osbourne album because he's got the reputation of being one of the madmen of rock and roll."

The little boy on the album cover is Ozzy's son Louis from his first marriage. (thanks, Terry - Belleville, Canada)

Ozzy Osbourne - Shot In The Dark

Ozzy Osbourne - Shot In The Dark Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: The Ultimate Sin
Released: 1986

Shot In The Dark Lyrics

Out on the street, I'm stalking the night,
I can hear my heavy breathing.
Paid for the kill but it doesn't seem right;
something there I can believe in .

Voices are calling from inside my head.
I can hear them, I can hear them,
vanishing memories of things that were said,
they can't try to hurt me now.

But a Shot In The Dark, one step away from you.
A shot in the dark, always creeping up on you

Taught by the powers that preach over me
I can hear their empty reason
I wouldn't listen I learnt how to fight
I opened up my mind to treason

But just like the wounded and when it's too late
They'll remember they'll surrender
Never a care for the people who hate
Underestimate me now

But a shot in the dark one step away from you
A shot in the dark not a thing that you can do
A shot in the dark always creeping up on you

But just like the wounded and when it's too late
They'll remember they'll surrender
Never a care for the people who hate
Underestimate me now

But a shot in the dark one step away from you
A shot in the dark not a thing that you can do
A shot in the dark always creeping up on you

Writer/s: GALE/TRADITIONAL
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Shot In The Dark Song Chart

The girl in the video was a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Rams.

Ozzy's guitarist at the time was Jake E. Lee. He would leave after The Ultimate Sin album, replaced by Zakk Wylde .

The original cover for the album was pulled because the girl had no pants on and there were 3 crucifixes on top a hill in the background. (thanks, Terry - Belleville, Canada)

Ozzy Osbourne - I Don't Want To Change The World

Ozzy Osbourne - I Don't Want To Change The World Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: No More Tears
Released: 1991

I Don't Want To Change The World Lyrics

Standing at the crossroads, world spinning round and round
Know which way I'm going, you can't bring me down
Don't you try and teach me no original sin
I don't need your pity for the shape I'm in

I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me
I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me

Tell me I'm a sinner I got news for you
I spoke to God this morning and he don't like you
You telling all the people the original sin
He says he knows you better than you'll ever know him

I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me
I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me

You know it ain't easy
You know it ain't fair
So don't try to please me
Because I really don't care

Don't tell me stories 'cause yesterday's glories
Have gone away, so far away
I've heard it said there's a light up ahead
Lord I hope and pray I'm here to stay

Tell me I'm a sinner I got news for you
I spoke to God this morning and he don't like you
Don't you try and teach me no original sin
I don't need your pity for the shape I'm in

I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me
I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me

I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me
I don't wanna change the world
I don't want the world to change me
Writer/s: O. OSBOURNE, Z. WYLDE, R. CASTILLO
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Don't Want To Change The World Song Chart

The version on his 1993 album Live And Loud won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. He got another Grammy in 2000 when Black Sabbath won the same award for "Iron Man," from their Reunion album.

No More Tears was the first album Ozzy released after he went sober. His songs became more personal and reflective as he wrote more about his life, or at least what he could remember.

Up to this point, Ozzy's albums usually had demonic titles and artwork. This was his first with no reference to evil or insanity.

Ozzy planned to retire and spend time with his family after touring to support this album. He called it the "No More Tours" tour, but came back 2 years later with the "Retirement Sucks" tour when he got bored.

Ozzy Osbourne - Flying High Again

Ozzy Osbourne - Flying High Again Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Diary of a Madman
Released: 1981

Flying High Again Lyrics

Got a crazy feeling I don't understand
'Gotta get away from here
Feelin' like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground
Waitin' for the sun to appear

Mamma's gonna worry
I been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' that I enjoy

'Cause you can't see what my eyes see
(I can see it, I can see it)
And you can't be inside of me, Flying High Again

I can see through mountains watch me disappear
I can even touch the sky
Swallowing colors of the sound I hear
Am I just a crazy guy (You bet)

Mamma's gonna worry
I been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' that I enjoy

If you could be inside my head
You'd see that black and white is read
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again come on and join me

Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again come on and join me

Daddy thinks I'm lazy he don't understand
Never saw inside my head
People think I'm crazy but I'm in demand
Never heard a thing I said

Mamma's gonna worry
I've been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' I enjoy

Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again

Writer/s: OSBORNE, RHODES, KERSLAKE, DAISLEY
Publisher: NEWMAN & COMPANY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Flying High Again Song Chart

This song is about drug use, a subject Ozzy Osbourne knows very well. Until he went completely sober in 1991, Ozzy spent a lot of time under the influence.

The lyric, however, was written mostly by Bob Daisley , who was Ozzy's bass player and lyricist. Daisley says it was inspired by time when he was playing in Australia, and he got into a discussion about drugs with a "straight" fellow.

Although it was a big part of his life, few of Ozzy's songs are about drugs. "Road To Nowhere," from 1991, is about his life before he went sober, and two songs he did with Black Sabbath were about drugs: "Snowblind"(cocaine) and "Sweet Leaf"(Marijuana).

Speaking with Spin in 1986, Ozzy said: "When I was a drug addict, I used to write things like 'Flying High Again,' 'Snowblind,' all this s--t. And the other night, I thought, 'F--king' 'ell, I sing one song for it and then straight after I sing one song against it.' But the thing is, that's OK. Because that was where I was when I wrote that, so why shouldn't I do it? It's part of my life."

Randy Rhoads played guitar on this song and co-wrote it with Ozzy, Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake. Diary of a Madman is the last album Rhoads played on; he died the next year while the band was touring in Florida. Rhoads was in a small plane that started buzzing Ozzy's tour bus. It got too close, clipped the bus, and crashed into a house; killing Rhoads, the pilot, and the tour hairdresser.

This was included on Tribute, a double-album of live tracks featuring Rhoads on guitar. Ozzy selected the tracks with the help of Rhoads' mom, and released it in 1987.

In the UK, this song was released as a single, but it didn't chart.

The album was digitally remastered and re-released in 2002.

Vile covered this for the 1999 collection Land of the Wizard: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

Ozzy Osbourne - Road To Nowhere

Ozzy Osbourne - Road To Nowhere Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: No More Tears
Released: 1991

Road To Nowhere Lyrics

I was looking back on my life
And all the things I've done to me
I'm still looking for the answers
And I'm still searching for the key

The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me
It just won't leave me alone
I still find it all a mystery
Could it be a dream?
The Road To Nowhere leads to me

Through all the happiness and sorrow
I guess I'd do it all again
Live for today and not tomorrow
It's still the road that never ends

The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me
It just won't leave me alone
I still find it all a mystery
Could it be a dream?
The road to nowhere leads to me

Ah ah, the road to nowhere's gonna pass me by
Ah ah, I hope we never have to say goodbye
I never want to live without you

The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me
It just won't leave me alone
I still find it all a mystery
Could it be a dream?
The road to nowhere leads to me

The road to nowhere leads to me
The road to nowhere leads to me
You got to, got to, got to lead to me
The road to nowhere leads to me
You got to, got to, got to lead to me
You got to, got to, got to lead to me
Ah, the road to nowhere

Writer/s: OZZY OSBOURNE, ZACK WYLDE, RANDY CASTILLO
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Road To Nowhere Song Chart

This is a reflection on Ozzy's life. He had just gone sober after over 20 years of drug and alcohol abuse.

Ozzy credits his wife, Sharon, with keeping him alive. She is also his manager.

This album revived Ozzy's career. It proved he still had a huge fan base.

Ozzy Osbourne - So Tired

Ozzy Osbourne - So Tired Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Bark at the Moon
Released: 1983

So Tired Lyrics

Time has come to say goodbye
I know it's gonna make you cry
But you belong to another my love
And half a love that just isn't enough

I am So Tired
And I just can't wait around for you
I am so tried
And I always thought we would see it through

I've waited all this time for you
Believed your promises were true
I keep believing that you mean what you say
You'll leave tomorrow - now tomorrow's today

And I often sit and wonder why
You're not with me tonight
I stayed at home remaining true
While you were out with you know who

I am so tired
And I just can't wait around for you
I am so tried
And I always thought we would see it through

Writer/s: OZZY OSBOURNE
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

So Tired Song Chart

Even the Prince of Darkness needs to slow it down sometimes, and in this ballad, Ozzy finds himself tired of waiting around for his girl, as it dawns on him that she is probably cheating.

A minor hit in the UK, it was one of the first successful ballads Osbourne released, prompting him to mix in more slow songs with his rockers on future albums, letting his sensitive side come forth on songs like "Mama, I'm Coming Home" and "Road To Nowhere."

Ozzy was backed up by a string section on this track that was arranged by Louis Clark, famous for his work with Electric Light Orchestra.

Like all songs on the Bark at the Moon album, Osbourne is listed as the sole songwriter on "So Tired," but he got significant help with the writing from his guitarist Jake E. Lee and bass player Bob Daisley. In his Songfacts interview, Daisley explained that because of conflicts with publishing companies, he and Lee agreed to forgo credits and royalties in exchange for flat payments.

In the video, Ozzy plays all the main characters, like Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor.

A piece of glass lodged in Ozzy's throat when he was doing a scene for the video where a mirror breaks. He had to postpone some shows, but did fully recover.

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train

Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Blizzard of Ozz
Released: 1980

Crazy Train Lyrics

All aboard! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay

Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it's not too late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate

Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a Crazy Train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

Let's go!
I've listened to preachers
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role

Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words
Yeah

Heirs of a cold war
That's what we've become
Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something' that just isn't fair

Mental wounds not healing
Who and what's to blame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

Writer/s: O. OSBOURNE, R. DAISLEY, R. RHODES
Publisher: NEWMAN & COMPANY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Crazy Train Song Chart

In this song, Ozzy asks when we can all learn to love in a world gone mad. Ozzy wrote the song with guitarist Randy Rhoads and bass player Bob Daisley. In our interview with Daisley , he explained how it came together:

"Randy had the basic riff, the signature riff. Then we worked on music together. He needed something to solo on so I came up with a chord pattern and the section for him to solo over.

Before it was called 'Crazy Train,' before we even had a title, Randy and I were working on the music. He had his effects pedals, and coming through his amp was a weird kind of chugging sound. It was a phase-y kind of psychedelic effect, this chugging sound that was coming through his amp from his effects pedal.

Randy was into trains - he used to collect model trains and so did I. I've always been a train buff and so was Randy. So I said, 'Randy, that sounds like a train. But it sounds nuts.' And I said, 'A crazy train.'

Well, that's when the title first was born. And then Ozzy was singing melodies and he was phrasing exactly how it ended up. And I started writing lyrics to it."

While many believe that this is yet another Ozzy song about insanity, it's actually about the Cold War. Evidence in the lyrics: "Millions of people living as foes," "One person conditioned to rule and control; The media sells it and you live the role," "Heirs of a cold war, that's what we've become. Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb." The relevant acronym was "M.A.D." (Mutually Assured Destruction), a doctrine which basically amounts to "if they shoot their nukes at us, we'll shoot ours right back, and that would be the end of the world that nobody wants, so it won't happen... as long as we keep pointing nukes at each other." Hence, "crazy" is another word for "mad."

The M.A.D. logic actually extends from "Nash equilibrium", a concept of zero-sum strategy first theorized by game theory mathematician John Nash. You'll remember him as a character from the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind. The acronym M.A.D. was formulated by computer science pioneer John von Neumann, who had a taste for satirical humor. In fact, this concept, and the "Doomsday Device" idea behind it (coined by war strategist Herman Kahn), forms the entire basis for Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The real-life version of the device is the "Dead Hand" control system deployed by the Soviets. Cold-War paranoia extended from the 1950s until the famous end to it in 1991. By the way, the actual term "Cold War" was coined by one George Orwell, in his essay "You and the Atomic Bomb."

Randy Rhoads was Ozzy's guitarist on this song - he was in Quiet Riot before joining Osbourne. Like most of the guitar solos he recorded with Ozzy, Rhoads had to "double" all his guitar parts. This means he had to play every note of this very difficult solo exactly the same way, twice. This is one reason why the solo on the recording sounds so unique. Rhoads was a very proficient and influential guitar player. (thanks, Dave - Marieta, GA)

This was the first single Ozzy Osbourne released after leaving Black Sabbath in 1978. He left the band after a particularly heated dispute with guitarist Tony Iommi, at which time Ozzy was painted as a substance-abusing layabout by his former bandmates. "Crazy Train" was a triumph for Ozzy in that he proved that he could succeed outside of the Sabbath shelter, albeit with lots of help.

Osbourne got his riffs from Randy Rhoads and his lyrics from Bob Daisley on Blizzard of Ozz, which was formed as a band, not a solo effort. The trio wrote the songs together, later adding drummer Lee Kerslake to complete the band. Their label, Jet Records (owned by Don Arden, Ozzy's future father-in-law), made the project look like a solo effort by putting Ozzy alone on the album cover and his name in big letters on top of the words "Blizzard of Ozz." The "Crazy Train" single had the band name in large print with Ozzy's name above it. This was as close as they would get to being billed as a band on their releases, even though promotional photos and reviews from the time show that Blizzard of Ozz was supposed to be the band name.

This appropriation was a sticking point for Rhoads, Daisley and Kerslake, but they stayed with Ozzy for his next album, Diary of a Madman, which when issued in 1981 was not just listed as an Ozzy solo album, but listed Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge on bass and drums instead of Daisley and Kerslake. Legal entanglement followed, and Rhoads died in 1982. In the end, Osbourne's post-Sabbath output was disproportionately attributed to Ozzy, and "Crazy Train" is generally considered his first solo single.

The 1987 live double-album Tribute contains a version of this which is a tribute to Randy Rhoads. Rhoads played on Ozzy's first two solo albums before he died in a plane crash while the band was touring in Florida in 1982. He was 25.

The sound at the end is a studio engineer saying "An Egg" through an oscillator. Ozzy had asked him what he had for breakfast that morning.

In America, "Crazy Train" bubbled under on the Hot 100, spending one week at #106. It's influence is far greater than its chart showing, as it became one of Ozzy's signature songs and helped the Blizzard of Ozz album sell over one million copies in the US over the next two years. It eventually would sell over 3 million in the US and launch Ozzy toward media domination in America, where with the help of his wife, Sharon, he would start a successful festival (Ozzfest) and get his own reality show on MTV. Not bad for a British Heavy Metal singer.

In 1999, this was used in Mitsubishi car commercials.

This was covered by Pat Boone, former gospel singer and Ozzy's old neighbor, for the album In a Metal Mood. His cover used a whistle and backup singers cooing "Choo, choo" as he sang it in a lazy, Las Vegas style. It gained popularity when it was used as the theme song for MTV's smash hit The Osbournes, and it was included on The Osbourne Family Album with a recording of Jack describing what a great neighbor Pat was. According to Jack, he dealt with everything you see on the show and more - logs flying through the window, constant yelling from the next house, etc.- and never complained once. Pictures exist showing Ozzy at Pat's house, in his garden, by his pool, etc. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

The instrumental of this song provided the beat to the Trick Daddy w/ Twista & Lil Jon track "Let's Go," which made #7 US in 2004. It was also interpolated on the Hollywood Undead song "Undead," which made #104 in 2009.

Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley

Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Blizzard of Ozz
Released: 1980

Mr. Crowley Lyrics

Mr. Crowley, what went on in your head
Mr. Crowley, did you talk with the dead
Your lifestyle to me seemed so tragic
With the thrill of it all
You fooled all the people with magic
You waited on Satan's call

Mr. Charming, did you think you were pure
Mr. Alarming, in nocturnal rapport
Uncovering things that were sacred manifest on this earth
Conceived in the eye of a secret
And they scattered the afterbirth

Mr. Crowley, won't you ride my white horse
Mr. Crowley, it's symbolic of course
Approaching a time that is classic
I hear maidens call
Approaching a time that is drastic
Standing with their backs to the wall

Was it polemically sent
I want to know what you meant
I want to know
I want to know what you meant

Writer/s: O. OSBOURNE, R. DAISLEY, R. RHOADS
Publisher: NEWMAN & COMPANY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mr. Crowley Song Chart

This song is about Aleister Crowley, a British practitioner of black magic in the early 1900s. Known as "The Wickedest Man Alive," Jimmy Page based some of the Led Zeppelin album covers on his work.

The song helped Ozzy play up his mock-Satanic image, which he often did for effect. This his something he did in his band Black Sabbath, who likened their music to horror movies.

Ozzy mispronounces Crowley's last name. It is in fact pronounced with the first syllable sounding like "crow" in English. (thanks, Daz - Lufkin, TX)

Bob Daisley, who was the bass player on the album, wrote some of the lyric for this song. In our interview with Daisley , he explained: "I wanted to look at the darkness and question Aleister Crowley. 'Aleister, what were you thinking?' You know. All this darkness and negativity. So that was a snag that I put on it."

When Crowley was born they scattered the afterbirth because he had a birthmark shaped like a swastika. Ozzy sings about it in the line "They scattered the afterbirth."

In the liner notes for The Ozzman Cometh, Ozzy wrote, "I'd read several books about Aleister Crowley. He was a very weird guy and I always wanted to write a song about him. While we were recording the Blizzard of Ozz album there was a pack of tarot cards he had designed lying around the studio. Well one thing lead to another and the song 'Mr. Crowley' was born." (thanks, Matthew Daubert - Mequon, WI)

A live version of this song was released as the second single from the album, following "Crazy Train." This version was taken from a performance on October 2, 1980 when Ozzy and his band played the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton on their first UK tour. In the UK, the single was backed with the song "You Said It All," (taken from the same performance) which was not available on the album. In America, the single was released as an EP which also included a performance of "Suicide Solution" from that show.

Randy Rhoads played guitar on this track and co-wrote it with Ozzy and Bob Daisley. "Mr. Crowley" is a great example of both his striking guitar technique and creative riff-making, skills that helped Ozzy escape the long shadow of Black Sabbath and establish a solo career. Rhoads worked on two albums with Ozzy before his untimely death in 1982 at age 25. Rhoads died during a tour stop when he went up in a small plane and the pilot started buzzing the tour bus, trying to get a rise out of Osbourne, who was in it. The plane lost control and crashed, killing Rhoads, the pilot, and the tour hairdresser.

The line, "Won't you ride my white horse" is a drug reference. Crowley was a known user of opium.

Aleister Crowley would sometimes sign books and autographs, "Polemically Yours, Aleister Crowley," which inspired Bob Daisley to wrote the line "was it polemically sent?," which appears near the end of the song. "Polemically" means generating controversy.

Like the "Crazy Train" single, this one was credited to "Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz" on the cover. Blizzard of Ozz was supposed to be the name of the band, but Jet Records turned it into an Ozzy Osbourne solo album when they released the album, which featured just Ozzy on the cover and his name in big letters.

Ion Vein covered this for the 1999 compilation Land of the Wizard: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.

At least two Ozzy Osbourne tribute bands (one German, one American) have used the name Mr. Crowley. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for above 3)

This was included on Ozzy's 1987 album Tribute, which contained live tracks featuring Randy Rhoads.

Aleister Crowley was also the topic of the Bruce Dickinson (formerly and presently of Iron Maiden) song "Man of Sorrows" on the album Accident of Birth. The title of the song was a quote of Isaiah 53, supposedly a description of Jesus, whom Crowley hated; Dickinson is somewhat anti-Christian, and was not above assigning a title of Christ to the self-appointed antichrist.