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megalomania

Certain Songs #65: Black Sabbath – “Megalomania”

January 2, 2015 by Jim Connelly

image

Album: Sabotage
Year: 1975

“Megalomania” is a weird beast, even for a Black Sabbath song.  It starts on the heels of the acoustic fade-out of “Symptom of the Universe” with a slow, doomy death march, where Ozzy is singing about – what else?? – insanity and wanting to be be left alone with his madness.

Why don’t you just get out of my life, yeah?
Why don’t you just get out of my life now?
Why doesn’t everybody leave me alone now?
Why doesn’t everybody leave me alone, yeah?

But after a few minutes of this, Iommi switches the song into an uptempo – if not one of his more memorable – riff, and driven by Bill Ward’s cowbell, the song kicks in for good. For the rest of the way, it alternates between that riff and a chorus that – musically, at least – is almost good-time rock ‘n’ roll.

The cool thing is that everytime they return to that not really memorable riff, they’ve overdubbed more guitars. And more guitars. And more guitars..

By the end of the song, they’ve actually overdubbed more guitar parts than there are guitars in the universe.

Fan-made lyric video for “Megalomania”

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Black Sabbath, megalomania, sabotage

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2542: Sugar – “The Act We Act”
  • Certain Songs #2541: Sufjan Stevens – “Too Much”
  • Certain Songs #2540: Sufjan Stevens – “Djohariah”
  • Certain Songs #2539: Sufjan Stevens – “Heirloom”
  • Certain Songs #2538: Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”

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