BILL WARD Interview Page 9
By Bob Nalbandian and Mark Miller

SW: Do you see the other band members in a different perspective now than you did back than?
BW: I have some very fond memories. Now, getting to be an older man, I look back and think, "My God, these guys are just beautiful." We were on a plane coming back from Texas the other day, and I looked into the clouds and just started to think about Geezer for some reason, and then I saw Ozzy and I saw Tony and they just looked really well and young, and this is the God's honest truth...I just started to cry a little bit. I was crying because it was just such a good vision. That might sound a bit old-fashioned, but I can see that now, at 54 years-old, I can see back 36 years. When I was drinking I had those feelings, but it was a distorted feeling, now there is no distortion. It was distorted because high highs were really high, so laughter lasted over an hour, and low lows were really low - so if I was really angry...I was really angry! Now, high highs are still there, I just don't laugh for an hour - if I did I would probably have another heart attack!

SW: I bought this old songbook years ago, called "Black Sabbath - Shattering Sounds From Four Albums" (Bill laughs). There is a song listed in this book called "The Straightener" - was that song supposed to appear on "Volume 4"?
BW: You know what that is? That's a publishing trick. I've never heard of that before.

SW: I noticed on the Paranoid album as well, on the original vinyl there's songs such as "Luke's Wall" listed on the record...
BW: Yeah, I know... "The Straightener" I have no idea where that might come from. Sometimes it comes from the original notes. Like "Luke's Wall" for instance, I think that was on our original studio engineer notes. Sometimes, I hate to say, but the publishing companies have to come up with a certain amount of songs so they will split the hairs and it's a dupe. I hate it very much, but to save myself from getting in a lawsuit I'm certainly not saying that this magazine (holding up the songbook) did that. There's been so much stuff that has happened with things getting ripped-off or being used without permission and things like that.

SW: On that topic, on the "Sabotage" album, the track, "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" - what does "radio" refer to?
BW: The term "radio" was short for "radio-rental," which is rhyme in slang for "mental." It's a slang term people in Birmingham used - if you're mentally ill, we would call you "radio."

SW: That's funny...I always thought it was like this subliminal message from Warner Bros. Records aimed at radio programmers to play that song on the radio, since that was the most commercial song on that record. [Everyone laughs]. I think still till this day, people haven't given Black Sabbath the credit they deserve for their lyrics. Geezer wrote phenomenal lyrics, they were so groundbreaking at the time, especially songs like "War Pigs," which was written during the Vietnam War. No other band I can think of at the time took that direct of a stance against the war. Everyone was like, "let's have peace and love" whereas Sabbath's message was "f**k you, politician pigs!"
BW: I think it was a little bit stronger than Country Joe singing about Vietnam - although I love Country Joe. I understand what you're saying - it's pretty much in your face. There's a lot of band -The Beatles, The Byrds- I can probably think of 50 bands off the top of my head who have made political statements, and let's not discount Pink Floyd's "Dogs of War," which I think is f**kin' phenomenal. However, at the time when "War Pigs" came out, it was in your face, and down your throat, and it pulled out your balls. To me, it was just a real heavy f**kin' song. You know, the beginning of that song is in waltz time. Back in the early '70s, you would see all the Vets coming home, whenever you were at the airport you would see several soldiers coming in traveling. I do know a lot of Vets from Nam who are friends of mine, like Sib Hashian, who plays drums for Boston. He was a big Sabbath fan, and he did quite a number of tours in Viet Nam as well. It was in those early '70s when we were laying down tracks for "War Pigs" in America and it was just phenomenal, it was almost like a coming home anthem.

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