Welcome back. This week’s choice was chosen because of a picture I took on June 29th.
That’s my Jeep Commander under the Hole in the Sky.
This particular song appears in no less than 4 of my playlists.
Hole in the Sky Original by Black Sabbath
Hole in the Sky cover by The Steel Woods
Song: Hole in the Sky
Album: Sabotage
Released: July 1975
Artist: Black Sabbath
Lyrics: Geezer Butler
Produced by: Black Sabbath and Mike Butcher
Key: C major (kind of)
I would like to note here that Black Sabbath generally tuned their guitars (bass is a guitar too) down, so this song could be said to be in the Key of A major as well, since Tony’s guitar was tuned down 3 semitones for this song. If you want to play along with a piano you would need to make those adjustments. Those of you who don’t know much about Black Sabbath need to understand that their guitarist, Tony Iommi, suffered a debilitating injury to his right hand before Sabbath was even formed. Tony is left-handed, so his right hand is his fretting hand. This is categorically different than Jerry Garcia’s missing a finger on his right hand, which for him was his strumming/picking hand. This fact has been a great inspiration to me and countless other people. This injury happened on his last day of regular work at a metal fabricating shop before embarking on his musical career. As he explains in his biography Iron Man, his foreman played him music by Django Reinhardt, who had a similar difficulty with his fretting hand. Thin gauge strings were not so common at the time and tuning down loosened the strings, enabling Iommi to more easily bend his notes. Of course the greatest advantage was that Sabbath introduced a “bigger, heavier sound".”
Hole in the Sky
I'm looking through a hole in the sky
I'm seeing nowhere through the eyes of a lie
I'm getting closer to the end of the line
I'm living easy where the sun doesn't shine
I'm living in a room without any view
I'm living free because the rent's never due
The synonyms of all the things that I've said
Are just the riddles that are built in my head
Hole in the sky, take me to heaven
Window in time, through it I fly
I've seen the stars disappear in the sun
The shooting's easy if you've got the right gun
And even though I'm sitting waiting for Mars
I don't believe there's any future in cause
Hole in the sky, take me to heaven
Window in time, through it I fly
Yeah
I've watched the dogs of war enjoying their feast
I've seen the western world go down in the east
The food of love became the greed of our time
But now I'm living on the profits of pride
Lyrics courtesy of LyricFind
This song is is the first track on Sabbath’s sixth studio album Sabotage. They were going through severe legal troubles at the time with their management and that stress was instrumental in the sound of this album. It’s full of what I would term, existential, dystopian angst.
As I’ve pointed out before, the meanings of lyrics should be derived by the listener’s own perspective. However, it’s nice to know the lyricists meaning as well. Butler claims the basis of these lines was pollution.
When discussing music with friends back in the day, a common question would be, “What 10 albums would you bring to a desert island?” Your answer to this question could cause hours of debate, and much of your “street cred” regarding music depended on your answers and the informed defense of your choices. What with the advent of iPods, streaming services, and the ubiquitous playlists (mix tapes for those of us with white beards), kids today might not understand such a question. It was a deep subject to us as teenagers back in the early 80s. Black Sabbath is arguably my favorite band, and although The Clash’s London Calling would be my choice if I could have but ONE album on that island, this is the Sabbath album I would choose if only one of their albums could be in my “desert island” playlist.
This was also the record I wanted most when on a journey with derivatives of certain fungi or a lovely cactus beloved by Alduous Huxley. Most of my friends looked to Pink Floyd as accompaniment for such trips, but Sabotage was my baby.
I included The Steel Woods cover for several reasons. I have a very eclectic taste in music, and showcasing a Country band’s cover of seminal Heavy Metal number enables people’s horizons to expand. They also do a fantastic cover of Sabbath’s song Changes. I talked about the importance of covers in my post on Autumn Leaves. There’s an certain homage being paid when covering someone else’s creation. A covering artist can also inject a new perspective to a song in addition to the cross pollination it engenders. Wes Bayliss’s vocals on this cover (and Changes) are delivered with depth and power worthy of this song. And this band of Good Ol’ Boys from the South rock it just as hard as my heroes from Birmingham.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
Or buy me a coffee
I was never into heavy metal but I dated a guy who was. I also have a very eclectic taste in music because of my old soul :)
Jeep Commander. Do some of the younger kids travel on the roof rack?
You can talk about music to me any day any time. I suppose any post about artists with bits missing has to include Def Leppard's one armed drummer and Paul McCartney who actually has a prosthetic brain. Toni Iommi had a brief encounter with Jethro Tull and appears on the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus video. He was miming to a Mick Abrahams backing track, as were the other members in the band because, according to my erstwhile friend Glenn Cornick, they were told there was not enough time to set up for a live session. I suppose their appearance at that gig gives those who don't know some idea of how cool and trending they were then.