Can someone please explain me what is so good about War Pigs?

[Sleek]

never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.

It's on Paranoid.

...which was originally named WAR PIGS...hence the cover.

Far from filler. It was the centerpiece.

[GoodJudge]

Never has the phrase “I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you” been more applicable.

Yeah, if you have to ask, then maybe you should be hanging out on a Chappell Roan forum or something instead.

Can someone please explain to me what's so good about Chappell Roan?

Ask my 15 year old niece. It's meant for her, not for you.

[GoodJudge]

Ozzy was not a technically accomplished singer, so it took some balls to strand him out there during the verses, leaving him to sing those long, sustained notes with nothing behind him but a hi-hat. And he pulled it off. It's raw, it's emotional. It's the first song where Ozzy sounds like Ozzy - his vocals on their debut album were kind of slurred and in a lower register.

Also, because of all that open space, the tension and the anticipation, the riffs just sound super powerful when they eventually blast out. It's not a good song, it's a GREAT song

I never thought of it that way, meaning vocals and hi-hat only. I understood that it builds up the tension, with guitar stabs between each line, that's then released by the riffs between each verse, but even with songs that I love and have heard 100 times I don't generally think about them in terms of that level of studio technicality. Thanks for the insight, even if it's for a song older than me that I should have understood a long time ago.

[Wiseacre]

A lot of the early albums made Bill’s drums sound WAY too tame. You really have to see something like this to appreciate this song in all its glory. The FILLS are EPIC and powerful. If this version doesn’t move you, you are definitely low T.

It actually makes me want to do a franKENstein mix using these live fills over the studio version.

“War Pigs” live 1970
https://youtu.be/K3b6SGoN6dA?si=W8PBV-oVDRgDoh01

[Zabooka]

The vocals/hi-hat part make people want to sing it at live shows which makes it a fun song live.

[Love_Industry]

never was meant to be anything more than simply a filler in the s/t album.

It's on Paranoid.

...which was originally named WAR PIGS...hence the cover.

Far from filler. It was the centerpiece.

The song War Pigs was originally called Walpurgis though and performed live before work on the album started.

[Wiseacre]

It's on Paranoid.

...which was originally named WAR PIGS...hence the cover.

Far from filler. It was the centerpiece.

The song War Pigs was originally called Walpurgis though and performed live before work on the album started.

It means “night of the witches” which was a metaphor for the sacrifice of people in war. Obviously, by the time the album was being recorded the title had changed and thus, the original album title and cover concept.

The album's opening track "War Pigs" was originally intended to be called "Walpurgis".[10] It was then changed to "War Pigs", which the band intended to name the album until it was changed to Paranoid after the record company became convinced that the song of the same name had potential as a single

[Tommy2Tone84]

I can’t add anything other than I’ve loved the song ever since I first heard it on Speak of the Devil which was my gateway to original Sabbath. Like others on here have said it’s a bonafide classic and a genius song. Everything about it is awesome and Geezer’s lyrics are some of his best.

Since the Ozzy v Dio was thrown into the mix, as much as I respect Dio and am a fan of H&H, I prefer Glenn Hughes’s short lived stint fronting Scab Sabbath. Seventh Star is a favorite of mine. Keeping Geezer and Bill or hiring Bob and Lee as a fu to the Osbourne’s instead of lowly scabs like Singer and Spitz would have brought more validity to the project. Glenn wasn’t minding his manners or business at the time. What could’ve been.

Ozzy also gets short changed around here. Despite his shortcomings, without him Sabbath isn’t as good and I don’t feel would’ve been as legendary.

[tooth]

If you grew up in a certain place & time, as a lot of posters here did, one never questioned whether or not War Pigs was good. It was Black Sabbath & I was 12 years old so it was better than good, it was awesome.