Lyrics: black sabbath

Ozzy Osbourne Biography/FAQ (3/2000)

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Subject: Ozzy Osbourne Biography/FAQ (3/2000)
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Welcome to
The Complete Ozzy Osbourne Biography

The largest source of info on Ozzy on the Internet

Updated: March 21/2000

For Complete Ozzy Osbourne lyrics, tablature, MP3 and midi
visit <http://ozzymusic.cjb.net>

My Email:wanderer@isys.ca <mailto:wanderer@isys.ca>

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Disclaimer
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This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranties.
While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information
contained in this article, the author/maintainer/contributors assume(s) no
responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the
use of the information contained herein.

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Author's Note
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Most web pages, which offer you information on Ozzy Osbourne, are sketchy.
Other pages are never updated and remain the same for over a year. Even
the commercial pages run by record companies can't beat the pages run by
Ozzy fans. This text file is without a doubt the largest source of
information available on Ozzy, which can be found on the Internet.
This file may be freely distributed in all forms, or put on your web page,
providing the contents are not changed, though I doubt much would
happen even if you did :)

I welcome any suggestions, corrections or complaints you may have.

[I have been asked if it is alright to use this FAQ. The answer, as stated
above, is YES. The only condition is that you leave the credits in.]

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Revision History
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[VERSION Mar. 21/00]
- Added a whole whack of information on Ozzy's childhood. Details on his
childhood, his family and his father's death. You can find most of the
new additions in chapters 1.1 and 1.8 and 3.3. There is a good deal of info
in these chapters (some of it is disturbing).
- Updated 3.9 a bit

[VERSION Mar. 12/00]
- Updated 'Where are they now' with some badly needed current events
- Updated 3.10

[VERSION Aug. 22/99]
- Added information given to me by one of the actual officers who arrested
Ozzy at the Alamo. I am awaiting a copy of the actual arrest report.

[VERSION Jan. 1/99]
- Changed future tense to past tense for reunion info and added
some information on Jake E. Lee's current doings.

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Table Of Contents
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[1.0] Introduction
[1.1] What was Ozzy's childhood like?
[1.2] How did Ozzy start his music career?
[1.3] Who was Jim Simpson? (Manager Number One)
[1.4] Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?
[1.5] How did Black Sabbath come to be?
[1.6] Paranoia
[1.7] An act of SABOTAGE?
[1.8] Manager Number Two
[1.9] When and how did Ozzy leave Black Sabbath?

[2.0] Ozzy and Randy
[2.1] What the hell is this about biting a bat? (Diary of a Madman)
[2.2] When and how did Randy Rhoads die?
[2.3] What is this about a dove?
[2.4] Wife as Manager/Speak of the Devil
[2.5] Suicide Solution
[2.6] Bark at the Moon
[2.7] The Ultimate Disaster
[2.8] No Rest for the Wicked
[2.9] No More Beers
[2.10] Ozzmosis
[2.11] Why did Zakk leave Ozzy?
[2.12] Of Priests and Devils
[2.13] Will there ever be a reunion?

[3.0] Ozzy Album Discography
[3.1] Rare/B-sides/etc.
[3.2] Song Definitions
[3.3] Did You Know?
[3.4] Tattoos
[3.5] Milestones
[3.6] Questions
[3.7] Quotations
[3.8] Fan Club Info
[3.9] Where to find lyrics, tabs, links, and other info
[3.10] Ozzy's Movie Career
[3.11] Where are they now?

[4.0] Closing Remarks
[4.1] Credits

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
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1968
====
In a small German club, a band by the name of "Earth" is
up on the stage. The audience is ignoring the band as audiences typically do.
The lead singer, Ozzy, decides to get their attention. He goes back to the
dressing room, unnoticed by the audience. Backstage, he coats his hands,
face and feet with purple paint. He returns to the stage and then screams at
the audience. The audience remains oblivious to this purple man screaming
at them. The band resigns themselves to the fact that the audience is just
not going to pay them any attention.

1998
====
Ask someone if they have heard of Celine Dion or Tom
Cochrane, and even if their answer is no, they have most likely heard about
Ozzy Osbourne or Black Sabbath. Since his debut in the late 60's as a
blues/rock singer, this man has had a world wide impact on the music scene.
You may think of him as a drugged out lunatic who sacrifices animals and
eats dead frogs for supper while worshiping Satan with dead bodies around
him. This is of course
complete and utter nonsense... I have never heard of him using more than
one dead body. :)

The most common stories are the beheading of the bat, wasn't there something
about a dove?, and what was that about the Alamo? From his childhood right on
up to his current Ozzmosis album, this file will attempt to explain it all.

At the age of 50, this man still has the mind, and at times, the body of
a 22 year old. His records still continue to sell and make it to the
charts, his concerts sell out within minutes, all this despite his never
having followed any given 'trend' as a lot of music groups try to do today.
When Alanis Morissette is 48, do you think she will still have sell out
concerts?

"When I left school I wanted to become a plumber. When I heard the Beatles
I wanted to become a Beatle" ...Ozzy

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1.1 What was Ozzy's childhood like?
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The year was 1948 and John Michael Osbourne was born on December 3rd in
the industrial town of Birmingham, England to Jack and Lillian Osbourne.
John was the fourth of six children (2 brothers, Paul and Tony) and 3 sisters
(Jean, Iris and Gillian) in a small two bedroom home at 14 Lodge Road in
Aston, England. Needless to say the house was more than a little crowded.

Ozzy's father worked nights in a steel plant while his mother worked days in
the Lucas car plant assembling electrical circuits. His family was in
poor financial shape with no money, no car and little food. Ozzy says his
childhood consisted of one pair of shoes, one pair of socks, no underwear,
one pair of pants and one jacket. There would be a bucket at the end of the
bed to urinate in, which sat there for months. Their beds never had clean
sheets, and sometimes they used overcoats as bed shets.

Ozzy was beaten quite a bit by his father, most of it was deserved for
stunts like
trying to kill his siblings. (Ed: While I don't condone the beating of a child,
I also don't think one should attempt to kill one's siblings either.
Take the above comment with this in mind.)

One day Ozzy's friends gave his brother a used condom and told him it was a
balloon.
His brother went into the house with the condom blown up, and his father
washed his
mouth out with soap.

In his spare time, Ozzy would watch television. He liked shows such as
"I love Lucy", "Lassie" and "Roy Rogers". This was the lifestyle of
Birmingham, a time where you went to work all day and then to the pub to
drink and play darts until deciding to stagger home. For the Osbourne family,
life was no different. It was all work and little time to enjoy the finer
moments in life. While the Beatles were singing about flower power and
loving one another, the people of Birmingham simply had to take a good look
around them to see the reality of the world: it was hard. Life was no
different for the Osbourne family.

While in school, other students called John, "Ozzie" or "Oz-brain" with
respect to his last name. Quite the rebel, Ozzy did however take part
in various school opera-plays such as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado
and The Pirates of Penzance. There was one student at school named
Tony Iommi whom Ozzy did not get along with. Tony and John were from two
different crowds and there was no love lost between the two. Tony and his
mates would make fun of Ozzy's high voice and compared his singing to that
of a girls. The two of them would later reunite later on under totally
different circumstances.

Ozzy did not do particularly well in school and wanted to get out as soon
as he could. When asked on a school survey what his ambition was, he wrote
that he wanted to become a plumber. This was not to happen however. Ozzy
was kicked out from school. His parents argued often, and the main issue was
their lack of money. Ozzy decided that he could fix this if he could go out
and get a job. So at the age of 15, Ozzy took his first job as a plumber's
assistant. and then a toolmaker's apprentice. Ozzy then went on to work in a
slaughterhouse in Digbeth for two years, killing cows. Perhaps this
influenced his musical style, I do not know. Other jobs included an auto
mechanic, house painter and even two weeks at a mortuary. His first musical
job was working in the Lucas electrical plant tuning car horns. He later
said, "I liked heavy metal better because it was louder".

Ozzy did not care for working for other people so he decided to try crime
instead. He once tried stealing a 24 inch television set. Balanced on top of
a wall with it, and trying to keep his balance, he fell off with the
television landing on top of him. He did some more break and enters but
used a pair of gloves with the fingers cut off. Naturally he was caught.
Unable to pay the fine, Ozzy spent three months (or was it 6 weeks?)
in Birmingham's Winson Green Prison for breaking into an occupied boarding
house.

While incarcerated there, Ozzy tattooed the now famous letters O-Z-Z-Y on
his left knuckles and happy faces on his knees using sewing needle and a
graphite slab. One happy face can be seen on his left knee on the "Diary of
a Madman" album cover. He would later be put in jail again for punching a
police officer in the mouth.

Shortly after his release from prison for burglary, Ozzy wound up in the
hospital on glucode for 12 hours after being thrown through a glass window
while fighting 3 men.

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1.2 How did Ozzy start his music career?
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After getting out of jail, Ozzy decided he did not want to go end up going
back. At this time, The Beatles were becoming increasingly popular and
becoming the craze. Ozzy thought that this would be the way to go. There was
money to be made in singing as opposed to crime. In fact the Beatles were one
of his main influences. Even to this day he still listens to the Beatles
before going out on stage. It is of interest to note that this would not be
his first musical experience though: earlier at the age of fourteen he
had already been in a band named 'The Black Panthers'.

A band by the name of "Music Machine" needed a singer because theirs was
sick. Ozzy liked the idea of being able to travel to gigs and meeting women
so he filled in. Later on he joined a band named "Approach" but didn't like
the band so he quit. He then decided to call himself "Ozzy Zig" and placed
this ad in the local music paper/shop: "Ozzy zig requires gig. Ozzy's
father loaned him some money and together they purchased a 50 watt amp.
Ozzy placed an ad in a local record store reading, "Ozzy zig requires
gig. Owns own P.A.". Another 18 year old Brummie named Terence 'Geezer'
Butler had been playing guitar for just six months when he saw Ozzy's ad
on a shop bulletin board and decided to go look him up. After the two met,
they decided to form a band named "Rare Breed". Rare Breed lasted only two
shows before disbanding.

Elsewhere Ozzy's old schoolmate, Tony Iommi had teamed up with an 18 year old
assistant truck driver named William Ward
who had just quit his job. Tony and
Bill also decided to form a band, "The Rest", and recruited a singer named
Chris Smith. The Rest eventually moved north to a small town named Carlisle
where they renamed themselves "Mythology" and gained a large following of
fans. They played mainly blues songs inspired by such groups as The
Yardbirds, Cream, The Beatles and John Mayal.

Mythology eventually split up; Tony and Bill returned to Birmingham and
went to the music shop where they also saw Ozzy's ad. Tony was hoping this
was not the same 'Ozzy' he had went to school with because that Ozzy could
not sing well and the two of them disliked one other. It turned out that it
was
indeed the same Oz and decided it would not be a good idea to form a band
together. Tony was also not impressed with Ozzy because he had very short
hair (really!). Since Ozzy and Geezer still needed a drummer they later
approached Tony to see if he knew of a drummer. Bill was at Tony's place and
agreed to join them but only if they'd let Tony join too. So along with a
slide guitar player named Jim Phillips and a saxophone player, they formed
a new band. The new band returned to Carlisle where Tony and Bill had been a
success and played some gigs. Not being pleased with a six piece band, they
broke up and then rejoined once the two extras had gone. This was a
polite way of getting rid of the two unnecessary members. The foursome them
learned 18 songs in their first week together. Ozzy named the band "Polka
Tulk Blues Band" after a tin of talcum powder. It has also been said that
the name came from a Pakistani clothing store named the 'Polka Tulk Trading
Company'. Geezer Butler switched to playing bass guitar since Tony was now
the lead guitar player. Unable to afford a bass guitar, Geezer simply took
two of the guitar strings off his guitar and re-tuned it to make a bass
guitar. Another name change ensued and the group was soon known as "Earth".

History:
-------

"Black Sabbath makes Led Zeppelin look like a kindergarten house band"
...Advertisement by Jim Simpson

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1.3 Who was Jim Simpson? (Manager Number One)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Simpson was a musician who played jazz trumpet. He was also the manager
of a Brummie band named 'Bakerloo Blues Band'. Unable to find a place where
he could promote the band, he opened his own place called "Henry's
Blueshouse". Henry's, located at Hill Street and Station Road was an
instant success. It wasn't before long before the club had to stop
accepting new bands. A band that was just starting out, Led Zeppelin, would
also be one of the first bands to play Henry's.

In 1969, the four members of Earth approached Jim and asked if they could
play at Henry's. They also wanted him to be their manager since they knew
nothing of the business sense of things. He told them that they could open
for the band 'Ten Years After', which pleased them. Happy to have a manager
who supposedly cared for their interests, they recorded a song in tribute
to him, "Song for Jim". The song was a spoof of their manager and the jazz
music he played. This elusive song is still sought after by Sabbath fans
worldwide. Simpson would also give the band some of his jazz records to
inspire them to write songs.

It is of interest to mention that around this time, Tony left to join
Jethro Tull. While Tony did not appear on any of Tull's albums, he did make
an appearance at the "Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus" which was never
released, because the Stones were upstaged by other acts. Tony and Jethro
can be heard on a bootleg called "Archangel Rides Again". The movie was
eventually released in the movie festival circuit.

Tony's stint with Jethro Tull was very brief (for two weeks). He left Tull
and was soon back in Earth.

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1.4 Who was Earth/Black Sabbath?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

BAND MEMBER FULL NAME BIRTHDATE

Tony Iommi [guitar] Anthony Frank Iommi Feb 19, 1948 in
Aston
Bill Ward [drums] William Ward May 5, 1948 in UK

Ozzy Osbourne [vocals/harmonica] John Michael Dec. 3, 1948 in
Osbourne Aston

Geezer Butler [bass] Terence Michael July 17, 1949
Butler

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1.5 How did Black Sabbath come to be?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When we hit America we were the wild bunch. We bought dope and f***ed
anything that moved" ...Ozzy

While waiting to go into a rehearsal one day, they noticed a Boris Karloff
movie playing named "Black Sabbath" (1935). Geezer mentioned it was strange
that people would go to a movie to scare themselves silly. Until this time
they had only played other artist's material. They decided to use the name
of the movie as the name for their first original song.

One day the band showed up to do a gig at Henry's. There, someone mentioned
they liked the bands single. The only problem was the foursome hadn't ever
released a single! They then realized that there were two bands by the same
name. The audience were of upper class and expecting a totally different
type of music. Unable to back out of the show, the scruffy four played
blues and rock to the audience. It was a disaster! The band however did
have some fun in watching the crowd try to dance to their type of music.

As a result, Geezer came up with the idea to change their name to that of
the Karloff movie, 'BLACK SABBATH' to avoid being confused with the other
band named Earth. They now had a song and a band name taken from the
movie's title. This would also reflect the groups interest in the occult.
It has also been said that the name Black Sabbath came from Geezer's
interest in occult writer Denis Wheatley.

Not having any money, the band relied on Tony's mother who owned a
chocolate shop, for the use of a van, food and cigarettes. Sometimes the
group would get gigs on their own, other times they would show up at a
place where another band was to be playing. In the event that the scheduled
band failed to show up, the Sabs would take their place. They played the
Star Club in Hamburg in Jan. 1969, a place the Beatles had made famous.
They were so popular that they were booked to come back for 5 more shows.
They would play 7 shows a day, and write new material as they went along.
This would also explain why their early songs had different lyrics than the
final album versions.

As Black Sabbath made news, a group of Satanists asked them to play at
their "night of Satan" at Stonehenge. They refused. The head witch of
England, Alec Sanders who was a regular fan of Sabbaths, informed them that
these Satanists had placed a hex on the band members. Ozzy asked his father
to make aluminum crosses, which he did, and then had them blessed. They
wore these crosses 24 hours a day for protection. The cross remains a well
known Black Sabbath symbol even to this day. You see, Black Sabbath as
Satanic and dark as the name sounded, had nothing to do with the devil when
they chose their name.

An independent producer named Tony Hall paid for the band to record some
demo songs at the Regent Sound studio on Tottenham Court Rd. These were
produced by Roger Bayed, whose name appears on many of their albums. One
demo cut, a single called "Evil Woman", was released on the Fontana record
label in Jan. 1970. This was a cover song from a Minnesota band named Crow,
which did quite well unbeknownst to the band. One demo was called "The Rebel"
and is played as a 10 second sample in "The Black Sabbath Story - I" video.
The song, about a reclusive voyeur, is one of the rarest Sabbath songs in
that it did not make it to the final album.

Their first completed album was released on Friday, Feb. 13th, 1970. It
took them only eight hours to record and cost a mere 800 British pounds
(approx. $1200 US). The album was recorded in four tracks on an 8 track
machine. The band was not that popular at this time, they simply wanted to
do what they liked best... sing about the darker, more depressing things
that surrounded them. It was not likely they ever intended to make the big
time, in fact Ozzy has said he was just happy to show his mother that his
voice was recorded on a piece of vinyl. It was not as easy as it sounds
though, it took them 14 tries before Jim Simpson found a record company
(Vertigo) that would carry the album.

The record company chose to put an upside down cross on the
gatefold of the album and thus people readily associated the band with
Satanism. The band knew nothing about this and did not want the upside down
cross, however they backed down from the record company's "wiser and
higher" marketing methods. Inside the inverted cross was a poem. The poem
seemed to correspond with the album's cover showing a woman standing in a
countryside, apparently in a gothic setting. The poem is called "Still
Falls the Rain". Due to requests by fans, it is shown below:

*** STILL FALLS THE RAIN ***

"Still falls the rain,
the veils of darkness shroud the blackened trees,
which, contorted by some unseen violence,
shed their tired leaves, and bend their boughs
toward a gray earth of severed bird wings.

Among the grasses, poppies bleed before a gesticulating death,
and young rabbits, born dead in traps,
stand motionless, as though guarding the silence
that surrounds and threatens to engulf
all those that would listen.

Mute birds, tired of repeating yesterdays terrors,
huddle together in the recesses of dark corners,
heads turned from the dead, black swan
that floats upturned in a small pool in the hollow.

There emerges from this pool a faint, sensual mist,
that traces its way upwards to caress the feet
of the headless martyr's statue
whose only achievement was to die too soon,
and who couldn't wait to loose.

The cataract of darkness forms fully,
the long black night begins, yet still
by the lake a young girl waits.
Unseeing she believes herself unseen, she smiles faintly
at the distant tolling bell, and the still falling rain."

The first album contained the following songs:

1) Black Sabbath (a dark doom sounding song)
2) The Wizard (a song about a wizard who walks through towns cheering
people up through the use of magic)
3) Wasp/Behind The Wall of Sleep
4) Bassically/N.I.B. (a song about the devil falling in love with a
mortal woman and changing to a good person)
5) Wicked World (society, and our struggle to survive)
(Euro versions had 'Evil Woman' instead, another great single)
6) Sleeping Village/Warning (a very blues influenced song that is an
easy listener, about found/lost love)

This was definitely NOT a satanic album! Today there are still people who
hear the words "Black Sabbath" and think hard rock devil music. This is
plain ignorance. Remember the band was originally a blues band, and there
is a definite blues sound in their debut album.

Ozzy brought the album home to proudly show his parents. The Osbourne's
were the type of people who would sit around the phonogram with a beer and
merrily sing alone to the records. This was not to be though. When Mr.
Osbourne heard the album he asked John, "Are you sure you were just
drinking alcohol?, this isn't music, this is weird." The first song began
with a church bell tolling and the sound of rain falling in the background,
and was eerie to say the least. Ozzy too had not heard the final product
until now. It would reach #8 in the UK charts and #23 in the United States.

The four unknowns were now finally making a name for themselves with the
release of an album. It is of interest to note that their album followed
the release of Led Zeppelin's first album. Both bands knew one another
personally since they both played in the same club and the music scene was
a close knit group. It came in the form of a surprise to the Sabs when
someone put on a brand new album from Led Zeppelin. Bill Ward was close to
Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham. He talks about the relationship between
the two bands in the book, "The Story of Black Sabbath".

It is of interest to point out that in February of 1970, the same month
their debut album came out, they broke the attendance record at Simpson's
club which had remained untouched for over a year by Jethro Tull. Tony had
made the right choice in returning to Sabbath it would seem. With an album
comes touring, and with touring comes America. America would have a great
impact on them as well. Ozzy has said that people would go around saying,
"if you go to San Francisco be sure to wear a flower in your hair". This
mystified him because he did not know what or where San Francisco was. When
the band eventually did tour America, it took them by storm. They had never
seen anything like it. They had their share of groupies and took in the
marvelous sights of America. They played one of their first shows at the
Fillmore East. Some old 8mm footage of their first trip overseas can be
seen on the commercial video, "The Black Sabbath Story - Volume 1". It must
be said, that on this particular videotape, Bill Ward the drummer relates
an interesting story: While playing in New York, the audience was still at
the stage where they would simply sit there and listen to the music. The
band wanted a stronger reaction from the audience since they were putting
150% effort into their songs. Ozzy would often yell at the audience to get
up and go crazy (as many bootlegs can attest to). At one particular show
they were growing fed up with the audience just sitting there and Bill
picked up his drum set and threw it at the audience. Bill says that as a
result, that night they did SEVEN encores. Can you think of any band in
today's scene which does seven encores? By the time they reached Los
Angeles, people had already heard about this "Black Sabbath".

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1.6 Paranoia
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

While working on their next album the band released a single called
"Paranoid". The single was very popular, maybe too popular: On October 23,
1970 the band attempts to play the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle. The crowd
is very drunk and all over the stage and equipment. The band, unsuccessful
in trying to get them off the stage, starts playing their hit single
Paranoid. 70 minutes later the show is done and the band is very upset.
Someone put their foot through one of their big PA speakers, Bill's drum
sticks and cymbals were stolen and a bass drum mic destroyed. The audience
had gone crazy over their new single and Ozzy says, "If it means us having
to give up putting out singles then we will. We want people to listen to
us, not try to touch us. I was really terrified, shocked out of my mind."
This would also be the gig that would give birth to their new song,"Fairies
Wear Boots". While walking down a street some time after the show, the band
was attacked by a group of skinheads. Tony's arm was badly hurt and this
forced them to cancel their next show. Due to the fact the skinheads wore
boots, they decided to make fun of the punks in the song.

It was not uncommon for the band to be verbally abusive if the audience was
not responding properly. If they were talking, the band would just crank up
the music some more. Bands were so loud during this time the Leeds City
Council introduced a "96 decibel law". If any band's music was to rise
above 96 decibels the amplifiers would cut out. Sabbath did not consider
their night's work complete unless they hit at least three cut outs a
night.

PARANOID
--------
The album, 'Paranoid', was recorded in four days once again at
Regent Sound and then released in Jan. 1971. The cover shows a person
running out of a forest with a sword and shield in hand. This seemed to
listeners, a strange representation of being paranoid. The truth is that
the album was to originally be named "War Pigs" (mans constant desire to
have weapons of destruction and killing). The record company objected to
the album title and so it was named after one of the songs. The song "War
Pigs" came about when Sabbath was told tales of horror and war from
soldiers while playing an American air force base. The Paranoid album
reached FIRST place in the UK charts and 12th in American charts. It was
during the span between the Paranoid and Master of Reality albums that Jim
Simpson was fired as the band's manager. The reason for this is will be
discussed in a later chapter.

MASTER OF REALITY
-----------------
In 1971 "Master of Reality" was released, charting 5th place in UK
and 8th place in USA song charts. Ozzy also married his first wife, Thelma
Riley and became a stepfather to her son, Elliot. This album would take
an interesting turn with the release of "After Forever" which was clearly a
religious, believe in God, song. The church called this blasphemy. People
disliked the band, perhaps for their After Forever song or perhaps for what
they represented. In any event, 1971 saw some strange events: At a show in
Memphis, their dressing rooms had crosses painted in blood on the walls.
During the show a Satanist jumped on stage with a sacrificial knife. The
local witches coven later gathered outside the band's hotel and Geezer
tried to scare them away with a fake hex. It was also the year that threats
were made that the band would be shot sometime during their US tour. At one
show the lights suddenly failed into their 3rd song and Ozzy stood frozen
solid with fear. The band also included a song titled "Sweet Leaf" which
openly talked about the band's usage of marijuana. The song begins with a
coughing sound (as if someone had just inhaled the drug). In actual fact,
Tony had just finished smoking drugs in a water pipe and the sounds were
included in the final version.

VOLUME 4
--------
The following year "Volume 4" was released. As with the inverted
cross case and the "War pigs" album title, the record company would again
take authority over the bands wishes. Volume 4 (hence the fourth Sabbath
album) was to have originally been called "Snowblind", another drug
reference. The record company thought this was too controversial and so
they had to change it. The band was becoming involved in hard core drugs by
this time (including cocaine). During the recording of Volume 4, the band
sat around in a Jacuzzi snorting coke all day and would get up every so
often to record a new song. We can see why Snowblind was an appropriate
album title. Not being allowed to use it as an album title, they came up
with this amusing line on the cover sleeve of the record: "Thanks to the
COKE-Cola Company". It was also during this year that Ozzy and Thelma had
their first mutual child, Jessica.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7 An act of SABOTAGE?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"For the first part of their career they were managed by two of the
biggest crooks in the business. They made nothing, I mean nothing."
...Sharon on Sabbath's early management

The year is now 1974. The band is living a good life of drugs, sex, cars,
etc. If they wanted a car or a house they would ask for it and receive it
almost the next day. Ozzy even owned a Jaguar which he smashed while
backing out of his driveway, the same day he was to sell it. What the band
never saw though, was money. They became very successful especially in the
UK charts. Their material possessions were provided by their new management
of Patrick Meehan and Wilf Pine. What happened was this: During the same
year that Paranoid was soaring up the charts, Pat and Wilf left their
management company (which was Don Arden's, more on him later). The duo
offered the band a chauffeured limo, champagne dinner at the Speakeasy, and
filled the Sab's heads with ideas that Jim was mismanaging them and they
could do a hell of a lot better with them instead. The Sabs agreed and on
Sept.4, 1970 Jim Simpson found out he was history. The man who had turned
the four nobodies into a juggernaut was dismissed. The Sabs were also not
happy that with Jim they were being paid a lot less than what they should
have been getting. The reason was that Jim insisted they perform at the
shows they had already been booked for, even six months prior. These older
bookings were for a lot less money than the usual fee, now around 2000
pounds per show. Simpson launched lawsuits against them for of breach of
contract. Some concerts later, Ozzy was handed a subpoena on stage for
Simpson's lawsuits. The resulting court case would last years.

California saw the Cal Jam concert take place in Ontario on April 6th. This
was a televised concert to millions of viewers as well as over 450,000
audience members. It featured bands such as Electric Light Orchestra. In
the middle of the night, their management threatened the band with a
lawsuit if they did not play the Cal Jam concert. The band had not
practiced for months and was not ready for a show, especially one with over
450,000 people in attendance. It has been said that the band did not even
know they were to play the show. This would be one of the final straws for
the band and they soon began the process of getting rid of their second
management. Ozzy talks a bit about this in the documentary, "The Decline of
Western Civilization II" where the band questions how much money they are
really making if their managers could afford houses and cars.

Once again the band gets rid of their management and decides to form their
own management. This allowed them to have more control and say into what
decisions were made for the band. It would be a learning experience as well
since they had never dabbled in the management aspects before. They decided
a rest was in order since they were exhausted. Their next US tour would be
in three short installments rather than one big tour to further save them
exhaustion and nervous breakdowns. Oh yes, remember all the flashy cars and
houses they were given? They were never really theirs, and when they dumped
the management duo they lost everything. They still had the Warner Bros.
label in America though, and stayed with WB during the management change.

SABOTAGE
--------
In September of 1975, the band released their "Sabotage" album.
The last song on the album, "The Writ", would reveal their feelings towards
their previous management and all the problems they'd encountered:

The Writ
========
The way I feel is the way I am
I wish I'd walked before I started to run to you, just to you
What kind of people do you think we are?
Another joker who's a rock and roll star for you, just for you
The faithful image of another man
The endless ocean of emotion I swam for you, yeah for you
The shot troopers laying down on the floor
I wish they'd put an end to my running war with you, yeah with you

Are you metal, are you man?
You've changed in life since you began, yeah began
Ladies digging gold from you
Will they still dig now you're through, yeah you're through

You bought and sold me with your lying words
The voices in the deck that you never heard came through, yeah came through
Your folly finally got to spend with a gun
A poisoned father who has poisoned his son, that's you, yeah that's you
I beg you please don't let it get any worse
The anger I once had has turned to a curse on you, Yeah curse you
All of the promises that never came true
You're gonna get what is coming to you, that's true, ah, that's true

Are you Satan, are you man?
You've changed the life since it began, it began
Vultures sucking gold from you
Will they still suck now you're through

The search is on, so you just better run
And find yourself another way
Probably dead, they don't feel a thing
To keep you living for another day

You are nonentity, you have no destiny
You are a victims of a thing unknown
A mantle picture of a stolen soul
A fornication of your golden throne

A smiling face, it means the world to me
So tired of sadness and of misery
My life it started some time ago
Where it will end, I don't know
I thought I was so good I thought I was fine
I feel my world is out of time

But everything is gonna work out fine
If it don't I think I'll lose my mind

I know, I know, I know, yeah yeah I know
Listen to me while I sing this song
You might just think the words are wrong
Too many people advising me [managers, lawyers]
But they don't know what my eyes see

But everything is gonna work out fine
If it don't I feel I'm lose my mind

The anger is very strong in both the lyrics and the tone of Ozzy's voice.
After hearing the song one cannot help but feel sympathy for what the band
had been enduring. Some album labels (Warner Bros. for example) have a
hidden tune following the song, you need to really turn up the volume to
hear it. It features the band playing piano and singing an old 'Nitty
Gritty Dirt Band' song called "Blow on the Jug". A sound engineer caught
this during a recording session and it was put on the album. Sadly, there
are a lot of other Sab cover songs which we will never get to hear. You can
hear the 'Blow on the Jug' song by clicking right here!

Reporter: "Do you have a drinking problem?"
Ozzy: "Yes, I can't find a bar."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8 Manager Number Two
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Needing a new manager, Don Arden was hired. Don's management was the same
company that their last management had parted from. Don managed Black
Sabbath while his daughter, Sharon (then 18) was his receptionist. Ozzy and
Sharon met when Ozzy walked into his office wearing a tap faucet around his
neck and sat on the floor - refusing to use a chair. Sharon was terrified
of Ozzy upon first sight. She even tried to get another woman working in
the office to bring him a cup of tea, rather than bring it to him herself.
The two of them would get to know one another quite well over the years as
Don and the Sab four conducted business.

Money and fame were no longer problems for the four of them, instead the
only challenge was how to come up with another best selling album. A very
audible change in the bands musical direction began to show in their 1974
album, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Despite the title, the
album contains deep lyrics with many different musical arrangements. The
songs seemed more uplifting and vibrant than their previous dark, gloomy
sounding material and a more energetic sound. Electronic instruments also
changed the way they were able to record songs. This album, probably their
best album with Ozzy as vocalist, placed 4th and 11th respectively in UK
and American charts.

TECHNICAL ECSTASY
-----------------
"Technical Ecstasy" was released in 1976. This album was
considerably less heavy then previous albums, and perhaps was due to the
band just being fed up with it all. They had succeeded in making a lot of
money, owned as many cars as we own socks, and were getting burned out from
constant touring. T.E. would contain a song titled, "It's Alright"
featuring Bill the drummer on vocals, a very gentle song. The album cover
also set the stage for something entirely new from the band. No more dark
images, this artistic cover showed two robots having sex (or so it has been
said). Sadly, Technical Ecstasy did not sell very well.

The late 1970's also saw some deep trouble for the band. On January 20,1978
Ozzy's father passed away. Here is a small portion of an interview with Ozzy
regarding his father:

"In England, they don't tell you, y'know. What they did to my father was, he
hadn't eaten a fucking thing because of his -- whatever the fucking tube -- he
had a lump here like a fucking black ball, in his sagophagus or whatever the
fuck it is; he couldn't eat any food. Plus the fact that he had cancer of the
fucking intestines, the bowels, so he couldn't shit. He never ate a thing for
thirteen weeks.

They operated on him about a fucking week before he died. They took the whole
tube out and put a plastic one in. I don't know what it's like in the states,
but in England...they put him in a fucking closet with the fucking mops and
buckets, because he was on the death ward and it was too distressing for the
rest of the patients so they put him in a cot, sort of a crib thing, a giant
crib. They strapped him...like a boxer, fucking bandages on his hands, with a
glucose drip going into his arm. He was stoned out of his head. You know, the
most amazing thing he said to me. I told my father one day, "I take drugs. I
said to him, "Before you go, will you take drugs?"

He says, "I promise you I'll take drugs." He was on Morphine. Totally out
of his
mind on Morphine, because the pain must have been horrendous. They had the
operation on a Tuesday, and he died on Thursday...No one could understand what
he was talking about, because he was so out of it. He says to me -- he only
understands drugs as "speed" -- he says, [whispers, a drawn-out, rattling
imitation] "ssspeeeeed." And he died in my arms.

I haven't got over it yet. The twentieth of January, I'll go freaking like a
werewolf. I'll cry and I'll laugh all day long, because it's the day my
daughter
was born and the day my father died. Like a fucking lunatic.

When they go, they're out of their misery. But what freaked me out more than
anything else was the funeral. I was singing fucking "Paranoid" in the
church...Seconal, drunk... it blew me away. All the family came that I'd never
seen for fucking years, and they were making comments. In England, it's a
weird
scene at a fucking death. My father hated his brother Harold -- my whole
family's fucking nuts."

This took a toll on Ozzy and he decided to quit Black Sabbath. Ozzy's father,
Jack, who thought his son would either end up in prison or end up being
someone very special, died knowing his son had made something out of
himself. While on his leave of absence, Ozzy asked Glenn Hughes
(another vocalist who would eventually spend some time in Sabbath)
about the two of them forming a band. Oz was fed up with
Sabbath by this time, though he kept his feelings about this to himself.
Glenn did not join Ozzy in his desire. Meanwhile the band had to continue
work on its upcoming album, "Never Say Die".

NEVER SAY DIE
-------------
They took in Dave Walker (who used to be with Fleetwood Mac)
to write new material for their album. Ozzy decided he
wanted to rejoin the band, but he refused to sing any of the
songs written with Dave Walker. So Dave left and the band
had to rewrite all of their songs. Tony booked a studio in
Toronto, Ontario because it was where the Rolling Stones had
recorded one of their albums.

The band traveled up there in the middle of winter to record the album.
Ozzy has since said it was a stupid thing to do and that it was freezing up
there. Tony was just trying to keep the band together in a time of turmoil.

Ozzy had this to say on the album:
"The fucking studio's a pile of shit, the fucking -- we had two
songs half- written before we'd gotten into the studio. The reason we'd
gone to
Canada was because of the tax-exile thing, because the taxes are so high in
England. In the end, it cost us nearly 500 fucking thousand dollars to make
that
album, and it was the biggest pile of horseshit that I've ever made in my
life.
I'm embarrassed with that album."

There is one song titled "Junior's Eyes" which is available on the
"Archangel Rides Again" bootleg, featuring Sabbath with Dave Walker on
vocals. Junior's Eyes was kept for the final album with the same music but
Ozzy rewrote the lyrics in a way as to say goodbye to his father.

Junior's Eyes
=============
Junior's eyes looked up to the skies in tears
He prayed that his maker, the giver and taker, would `pear
Junior sighed, as his hands reached out to the sky
Junior cried, the day that his best friend died

(chorus)
You're coming home again tomorrow
I'm sorry it won't be for long
With all the pain I've watched you live within
I'll try my hardest not to cry
But it is time to say goodbye

Junior's eyes, they couldn't disguise the pain
His father was leaving, and Junior is grieving again
Innocent eyes watched the man who had gave everything
Junior's sorrow, who knew what tomorrow would bring?

(chorus)

Junior's eyes looked into the skies once more
Now he knew well, this life was hell for sure
He desperately tried, his fingertips stretched to the stars, yeah
Reaching for reason, along with the time and the stars

(chorus)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9 When and how did Ozzy leave Black Sabbath?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

By now, all four members of the band were staying in their rooms all day
and doing hard drugs and booze. They had cars, success, and perhaps little
motivation to release another album. Ozzy himself has said he only wanted
to release an album to make money and get fat off of beer. Ozzy would
subsequently not show up for weeks at a time for practice. They were to
begin work on their next album, "Heaven and Hell". Tony, having met Ronnie
James Dio (ex-Rainbow) by this time, then asked Bill to get rid of Ozzy.
Tony was fed up with Ozzy and was interested in having Dio as a vocalist.
After the 1978 NSD tour, Ozzy was told by Bill, that they no longer wanted
him in the band. Bill feels bad about doing this because him and Oz were
best of friends and yet Bill wanted Ozzy out of the band as well. People
still ask how Ozzy left, the truth is that both him and Tony Iommi say he
was fired. Ozzy also adds that he was relieved at this. In actual fact Ozzy
was asked many times on the last day to leave before being fired. For some
time now Ozzy wanted to go into a new musical direction and perhaps was
unable to do so with the politics of the band being the way they were.
Tony, being the transportation, would never be spoken against by the other
members of the band. 1978 saw the end of the original Black Sabbath. Their
last tour would be the "Never Say Die" tour. Appropriately named.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.0 Ozzy and Randy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

After being fired from Sabbath, Ozzy spent three months staying in the
Le Parc Hotel in Los Angeles. He would order out for pizza and booze and
have his
dealer drop off cocaine for him. He basically thought his life was over.
It was around this time that his friend Sharon Arden suggested he start
a new band. Over in Los Angeles, a 23 year old guitar player named Randy
Rhoads was turning heads.

Born Dec. 6, 1956 in Santa Monica, Randy was with Quiet Riot (who
are best remembered for their hit "Cum On Feel The Noize"). Randy
had recorded two albums with Quiet Riot, released only in Japan.
Randy was introduced to Ozzy through Dana Strum (now of
Slaughter). Randy showed up at Ozzy's audition and reportedly
played for just five minutes before Oz said he was in. With Bob
Daisley on bass and Lee Kerslake on drums, they recorded an album,
"Blizzard of Ozz", in England. The album would also contain a
melody titled "Dee" which was dedicated to Randy's mother,
Dolores, a source of inspiration for Randy. The album was released
on Don Arden's JET Record label. What about Don Arden and Black
Sabbath? Well when Ozzy was fired, and Ozzy went solo, the record
company said bye-bye to the Sabs.

Ozzy then decided to tour, with his first solo concert in Glasgow,
Scotland on September 12, 1980. What you probably don't know is
that Ozzy had two shows before his debut under the band name of
"Law". The opening day of his first solo concert he and Sharon
paced the streets nervously. Since people in Scotland usually
showed up at the concert without prepaying for tickets, they had
no way of knowing how many people would show up. As it turned out
it was a big success.

Ozzy played all of his Blizzard of Ozz album and some Sabbath songs.
Eventually he broke down and cried because he realized that he could make
it on his own without the other three Sabbath members with whom he had
paved the road to success. You must realize that when Ozzy was in Sabbath
he was really not a contributing member of the band. Geezer wrote most of
the song lyrics and Ozzy would come by and sing the words, but he had
little to do with the actual contributions to the songs[*]. Now Ozzy and
Randy were the main writers and had equal say as to what went into the
songs.

[*] Ozzy did write 'Am I Going Insane' (his feelings about society's views
towards him and his anger towards society) and 'Who Are You?'

Since this chapter will be the end of the Black Sabbath era, here is a list
of the albums which were recorded with any of the original members. As you
can see, in the end only Tony chose to remain in the group:

Ozzy Tony Bill Geezer
=======================================================

Black Sabbath * * * *
Paranoid * * * *
Master of Reality * * * *
Volume 4 * * * *
Sabbath Bloody * * * *
Sabotage * * * *
We Sold Our Soul * * * *
Technical Ecstasy * * * *
Never Say Die * * * *
Heaven and Hell * * *
Mob Rules * *
Live Evil * *
Born Again * * *
Seventh Star (was to be solo) *
Eternal Idol *
Headless Cross *
Tyr *
Dehumanizer * *
Cross Purposes * *

"Who do you think you were in previous incarnations?"
"I think I was a bat" ... Ozzy some years before the "incident"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1 What the hell is this about biting a bat?
(Diary of a Madman)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following year, "Diary of a Madman" was released. An
interesting note, Ozzy's son, Elliot is shown on the album cover.
Though production of the album was rushed towards the end so that
the band could get out and tour, Ozzy has said he liked this album
better of the two. The album came out the same time as Sabbath's
Mob Rules album. Diary soared to the top 15 on US charts while Mob
Rules remained at #29. Ozzy's first two albums would sell over 6
million copies. As they toured, Randy would often hold a guitar
clinic for kids who wanted to learn to play guitar. A kid named
Joe Holmes took lessons from Randy, and would later have an impact
on Ozzy's life as well.

The Diary tour was nicknamed Night of the Living Dead tour due to various
misfortunes: The entire band was expelled from a San Diego over Ozzy's
reputation, the prop truck broke down, and in Minneapolis a crane fell and
crushed $8000 worth of synthesizers. On the upside, the stage setting for
Diary of a Madman was a huge castle complete with fog. The drummer was
situated on a raised platform, and there was an opening in the center of
the stage where a dwarf would come out to give Ozzy water and towels. The
dwarf was actually Little John Allen who played R2D2 in Star Wars. It has
been brought to my attention that Kenny Baker actually played R2D2 so I
don't know which name is correct. John Allen suffered mock abuse by having
pig entrails tossed at him, he was stuffed into a hole and he was even
hanged for prolonged periods from a noose (as shown on some videos). This
was accomplished with a harness so as not to really choke him, but how did
he manage to stay up for so long??

During the Diary tour, Ozzy would throw raw meat at his audience. It was
even part of his contract that 25 pounds of calves livers and pigs
intestines be thrown. A parent once phoned the promoter of the show asking
how to get blood out of the clothes. As the tour continued, people would
bring meat to the show to throw back at him. As time passed, the audience
brought dead frogs, cats, snakes, etc. to throw onto the stage. Once,
someone threw a toy doll onto the stage and Ozzy freaked out thinking that
someone had thrown a real infant up on stage.

On Jan. 20 at a Des Moines, Iowa concert some winner threw a real bat up on
stage. The bat lay still because of the spotlights on the stage, and so
Ozzy picked it up, THINKING IT WAS A TOY RUBBER BAT. He bit into the bat,
taking off its head. Immediately the audience and Sharon freaked out. Ozzy
was rushed to emergency to have rabies shots. It is reported that at the
time he was treating the whole thing as a joke, apparently barking like a
dog when wheeled into the hospital. He sent the crew back to find the bat
to find out if it was in fact real or not, the bat could not be found. The
shots would continue for about a week, with needles in each buttock, arms
and leg. Ozzy would also faint or collapse at the concerts which followed.
Ozzy's advice on the situation is, "if you want to be a complete dick, try
it". Subsequently the bat would become a symbol for Ozzy on his upcoming
albums, and even a tattoo. The animal humane society would become involved
and show up to boycott Ozzy concerts. From this point on, he was marked a
madman and his reputation began to precede him. One such nasty rumor, and
sure sign of people's ability to go overboard with gossip and rumors is
this little gem: Before one concert even started, Ozzy supposedly threw
three small dogs into the audience. He refused to play the show until all
the dogs came back to him dead. The story is not true. It was the honest
mistake with a bat which would cement itself in people's minds, even to
this day.

[Ed: I can recall when Ozzy came to my home town on the Diary tour, the
SPCA and police were there threatening to take action if any animals were
harmed on stage. Ozzy has never returned.]

"If they were buzzing the bus, like people say, it probably meant
that Randy was struggling with the pilot to stop him from crashing it"
-Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2 When and how did Randy Rhoads die?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1981, Ozzy divorced his first wife, Thelma. They were separated soon
after the day he came home (drunk) to find a bailiff at the door, and all
of his belongings outside. He was told that if he stepped inside the house
he would be arrested. Ozzy was not exactly what you would call a father
figure. He would leave home for days, weeks, at a time and stay at friends
places until they kicked him out. Rather than go through the divorce
proceedings, Ozzy told her to just keep everything. By now Ozzy and Sharon
had gotten to the point where they decided to get married. Sharon had been
hoping this would also get Ozzy a better deal since her father was the one
managing the recording and managerial contracts.

On March 19th, 1982 Ozzy and his band were on their way to Orlando, FL from
Knoxville, TN. The show was to feature Foreigner and UFO. Ozzy and Randy had
been talking about their recent success. Randy mentioned wanting to leave to
pursue a degree in classical guitar at UCLA. Ozzy has said that if Randy
were still alive, it is doubtful that Randy would still be playing with him.]

During the trip, they stopped to do some repairs on the tour bus at its base
near Leesburg, Florida. The bus driver, Andrew Aycock invited some of the
people for a ride in his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane (9-10 am). The bus
driver took Don Airey and Jake Duncan (the tour manager) for a spin.
Aycock had been involved in a previous accident in which a young boy was
killed.

When the plane landed, the driver went for another ride, this time with Randy
and Ozzy's seamstress, Rachael Youngblood, 58. The pilot of the plane was
presumably under the influence of cocaine (it was later found in drug tests).
The pilot's ex-wife was standing outside the bus and it is assumed the pilot
dove the plane into the bus in an attempt to kill her. Aycock circled the bus
three times, and on the fourth pass, the plane clipped the tour bus and
careened into a nearby house where it exploded. Ozzy ran into the
house and pulled out a deaf man, who was unaware of the fire.

Rachel and Randy were both killed in the crash. The fire destroyed the home,
and adjacent garage.

Ozzy's new solo career had come to a screeching halt.

He would continue the tour in April with a quick shoe in of Bernie Torme.
Bernie used to play guitar for Gillan (Ian Gillan, who would join Sabbath).
Bernie would not stay with Ozzy long however. Bernie left Ozzy's band. The
reason is not known for sure. Some people say he was not used to playing big
gigs. What is known is that Bernie had a UK tour lined up for his 'Electric
Gypsies' album. His departure from Ozzy was bound to happen.

Brad Gillis left 'Night Ranger' to replace Torme for the remainder of the
tour. Brad Gillis also appeared on the 'Speak of the Devil' LP. After the
tour Ozzy would hire Jakey Lou Williams (Jake E. Lee) with whom he recorded
1984's 'Bark At The Moon' album. Gillis would later rejoin Night Ranger.
Brad may have wanted to stay on with Ozzy but Oz didn't really think the
two of them were compatible.

On Feb. 19, 1982, while visiting San Antonio,
Texas, Ozzy was again drunk after drinking a bottle of Courvoisier. Sharon
decided to lock his clothes in the hotel room so that Ozzy would not go
outside and cause trouble. To solve this problem, Ozzy dressed up in one of
Sharon's evening gowns. While taking some photos of himself in drag, he had
to urinate and did so on the historical Alamo building. The Alamo is the
1836 site of th

Lyrics

Monday, 17 October 2011

black sabbath

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