music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Paranoid" is a song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1970 off the band's second studio album Paranoid (1970). It is the first single from the album, while the B-side is the song "The Wizard". It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 61 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[1]

"Paranoid"
Single by Black Sabbath
from the album Paranoid
B-side	"The Wizard"
Released	7 August 1970[1]
Recorded	June 1970
Studio	Island Studios, London[2]
Genre	Heavy metal[3][4][5] proto-punk[5]
Length	2:48
Label	Vertigo
Songwriter(s)	Geezer Butler Tony Iommi Ozzy Osbourne Bill Ward
Producer(s)	Rodger Bain
Black Sabbath singles chronology
"The Wizard" (1970) "Paranoid" (1970) "After Forever" (1971)
Music video
"Paranoid" on YouTube

Song information

"Paranoid" was the first Black Sabbath single release, coming six months after their self-titled debut was released. Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler (from Guitar World magazine, March 2004):

A lot of the Paranoid album was written around the time of our first album, Black Sabbath. We recorded the whole thing in about 2 or 3 days, live in the studio. The song "Paranoid" was written as an afterthought. We basically needed a 3 minute filler for the album, and Tony came up with the riff. I quickly did the lyrics, and Ozzy was reading them as he was singing.[6]

The song is an E pentatonic and only uses a "root/5th" diad as chords. The guitar solo is a dry signal on the left channel, which is patched through a ring modulator and routed to the right channel; this effect was used again on the song 1978 "Johnny Blade".

According to extant lyric sheets, "Paranoid" was at one time titled "The Paranoid."[7]

"Paranoid" eventually became the name of the album, and somewhat unusually, the word paranoid is never mentioned in the lyrics. Originally the band had wanted to call the album War Pigs after the song of the same name, but the record company persuaded them to use "Paranoid" instead because it was less offensive.[8]

"Paranoid" drew controversy for apparently encouraging suicide, much like the song "Suicide Solution". Particularly, the lyric "I tell you to enjoy life" was misheard as "I tell you to end your life".[9]

Reception

Cash Box described the song as being "as dense, musically as 'Whole Lotta Love,'" stating that "crashing, non-stop beat with gobs of bass and drums laced liberally with stinging, echoey vocals and hot guitar licks move the song along at a blistering pace."[10]

"Paranoid" was ranked No. 34 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.[11] In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 11 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rolling Stone ranked it number 250 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[12] "Paranoid" was ranked the fifth best Black Sabbath song by Rock - Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.[13] In 2020, Kerrang ranked the song number five on their list of the 20 greatest Black Sabbath songs,[14] and in 2021, Louder Sound ranked the song number six on their list of the 40 greatest Black Sabbath songs.[15]

Personnel

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Tony Iommi – guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass
• Bill Ward – drums

Accolades

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
NME	United Kingdom	"All Time Top 100 Singles"[16]	1976	41
Spin	United States	"100 Greatest Singles of All Time"[17]	1989	81
Radio Veronica	Netherlands	"Super All-Time List"[18]	1989	16
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame	United States	"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"[19]	1994	*
Guitarist	United Kingdom	"Top 100 Guitar Solos of All-Time"[20]	1998	84
Rolling Stone	United States	"500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[21]	2004	250
Q	United Kingdom	"1010 Songs You Must Own!"[22]	2004	*
Q	United Kingdom	"100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever!"[23]	2005	11
Q	United Kingdom	"100 Greatest Songs of All Time"[24]	2006	100
VH1	United States	"40 Greatest Metal Songs"[25]	2006	1
VH1	United States	"100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs"[26]	2008	4

(*) designates unordered lists.

Track listing

• 7" single (Vertigo 6059 010)[27]

1. "Paranoid" – 2:45
2. "The Wizard" – 4:20

• 7" single (Vertigo 6059 014)

1. "Paranoid" – 2:50
2. "Rat Salad" – 2:30

• 7" singles (Vertigo AS 109)

1. "Paranoid" – 2:50
2. "Happy Being Me"^[I] – 15:54

• 7" 1977 re-release (Immediate 103 466)

1. "Paranoid" – 2:50
2. "Evil Woman" – 3:25

• 7" 1977 re-release (Nems SRS 510.044)

1. "Paranoid" – 2:50
2. "Tomorrow's Dream" – 3:11

• 7" 1980 re-release (Spiegelei INT 110.604)

1. "Paranoid" – 2:45
2. "Snowblind" – 5:25

Note

• I^ "Happy Being Me" is performed by Manfred Mann Chapter Three and appears on their second album Manfred Mann Chapter Three Volume Two.

Charts

Chart (1970)	Peak position
Australian Go-Set National Top 60[28]	18
Austrian Singles Chart[29]	3
Canadian Singles Chart[30]	54
Danish Singles Chart	1
French Singles Chart[31]	7
German Singles Chart[32]	1
Irish Singles Chart[33]	12
Netherlands Singles Chart[29]	2
Norwegian Singles Chart[29]	6
South African Springbok Radio Top 20[34]	3
Swiss Singles Chart[29]	2
UK Singles Chart[29]	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[35]	61
US Cashbox Top 100[36]	79

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[37]	Gold	45,000
Italy (FIMI)[38]	Platinum	50,000
Poland (ZPAV)[39]	Gold	25,000
Portugal (AFP)[40]	Gold	20,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[41]	Platinum	600,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Legacy

• In 1971, German schlager vocal duo Cindy & Bert covered the song with lyrics based on Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles as "Der Hund von Baskerville". The unlikely cover version with a heavy hammond organ, featured in a TV show[42] with a tiny Pekingese dog standing in as "hound" and dancers getting ushered back to their seats, has become a collector's curiosity and a document of 1971 zeitgeist.
• American punk rock group the Dickies covered the song for their debut album The Incredible Shrinking Dickies (1979). Released as single, it charted at #45 in the UK. [43]
• The song was covered by industrial rock group the Clay People for the various artists compilation album Shut Up Kitty, released in 1993.
• Soft Cell covered "Paranoid" on early live shows, before releasing their debut album; a demo recording of the cover was released on the compilation album The Bedsit Tapes in 2005.
• A live version by Doctor and the Medics was included on the 12" of their single "Burn", in 1986.
• Skrewdriver covered the song for their The Strong Survive album in 1990.
• Thrash metal band Megadeth covered the song for the 1994 rendition of Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath. The cover also appeared on the Hidden Treasures EP released in 1995.
• Weezer include a cover of the song on their covers album The Teal Album.
• The original Black Sabbath recording has been used numerous times in various films and television shows including Sid & Nancy,[44] Dazed and Confused,[45] The Stoned Age,[46] Any Given Sunday,[47] Almost Famous,[48] We Are Marshall,[49] The Angry Birds Movie, Suicide Squad, Kong: Skull Island and CHiPs,[50]. The song was used in the video games Rock n' Roll Racing, Guitar Hero 3, Madden NFL 10, WWE 2K17, and Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2.[51]

Popular culture

• In Finland, "Paranoid" has the same status as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" in the United States as a song the audience finds humorous to request during a concert. So regardless of a band or the style of music in question, somebody may shout "Soittakaa 'Paranoid'!" ("Play 'Paranoid'!") during a gig.[52][53]

References

External links

На других языках

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[de] Paranoid (Lied)

Paranoid ist ein Lied der britischen Heavy-Metal-Band Black Sabbath, das auf ihrem zweiten Album Paranoid von 1970 zu hören ist. Es ist die erste Single aus dem gleichnamigen Album. Auf der B-Seite wurde das Lied The Wizard veröffentlicht. Die Single erreichte Platz vier in den britischen Singlecharts und Platz 61 in den Billboard Hot 100.[2]

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- [en] Paranoid (Black Sabbath song)

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[es] Paranoid (canción de Black Sabbath)

«Paranoid» es una canción interpretada por el grupo de heavy metal inglés Black Sabbath. La canción aparece en el segundo álbum de la banda, Paranoid, y a pesar de que fue creada como un relleno para el álbum, se convirtió en una de las canciones más famosas de la banda. La compañía discográfica cambió el nombre del álbum de War Pigs, como fue nombrado originalmente, por Paranoid, ya que temían una reacción negativa de las personas que apoyaban la Guerra de Vietnam. En la breve reseña sobre la canción en su lista de las 500 mejores canciones de la revista Rolling Stone (en la cual ocupa el puesto 250), el redactor comenta que es «una ráfaga protopunk de dos minutos» y que «demostró la poca distancia que había entre el heavy y los Ramones».[1]

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[ru] Paranoid (песня)

«Paranoid» (с англ. — «Параноик») — второй (и заглавный) трек второго альбома британской метал-группы Black Sabbath, выпущенный синглом в июле 1970 года (с «The Wizard» на обороте) и через месяц поднявшийся в UK Singles Chart до 4-го места. Наивысшее место сингла в Billboard Hot 100 — #61. Ровно десять лет спустя «Paranoid» был перевыпущен в Великобритании (с «Snowblind» на стороне «Б») и в августе 1980 года поднялся до 14-го места[1].

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