Black Sabbath - War Pigs Lyrics

Black Sabbath Lyrics

"War Pigs"

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to Mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds...
Oh Lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'till their judgment day comes, yeah!

Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of Judgment, God is calling
On their knees the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings...
Oh Lord, yeah!

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Thanks to Shy301, Amanda, Kate, Elizabeth, Jason Jarnet for correcting these lyrics.

Writer(s): Terence Michael Butler, William T. Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, F. Frank Iommi

This song was inspired by war stories the band heard at an American Air Force base where they performed at a show during their European tour. They wrote the song in Zurich, where they had to play lengthy jam sessions since they had very little material in their repertoire at that point but needed to fill in the sets. Tony Iommi has said that "War Pigs" originated from one of those jam sessions.

"War Pigs" was called originally "Walpurgis" after Walpurgis Night, a festival with origins in Paganism and Witchcraft. Ozzy Osbourne released that version on his album "The Ozzman Cometh" (1997).

Despite its title, this song is against the horrors of war, particularly Vietnam War. Geezer Butler recalled in an interview to Mojo in 2017, "Britain was on the verge of being brought into it, there was protests in the street, all kinds of anti-Vietnam things going on. War is the real Satanism. Politicians are the real Satanists. That's what I was trying to say."

The ending of this song had its own title, "Luke's Wall". The song is even titled as "War Pigs/Luke's Wall" on the US albums.

Faith No More made a live cover of this song for Black Sabbath tribute album "Nativity In Black" (1994).