Song Meaning: God is Dead By Black Sabbath

ARTIST: black sabbath | ALBUM: 13 | RELEASED: 2013

"God is Dead?" from Sabbath's 13

Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath did an interview for NME in which they said they didn't want the single to be titled "God is Dead" as it's way too provocative, but Ozzy insisted. What Ozzy wanted to do was, being a christian himself ( along with Tony and Geezer ), to show that God was indeed alive and well in his life through the lyrical buildup of the song. So if you're a far-right christian, stop denigrating Black Sabbath thinking they are attacking Jesus; they are not. You'd have to look deep into lyrics to get the full meaning of the song, which I'll do soon. Contrary to what many think, Sabbath are nice people. The "evil" stuff that Ozzy does on stage are just an act, and no way indicative of his worldview. Case in point, Ozzy eats bats for dinner, and that's a very christian thing to do. #JustKidding

Analysis of Lyrics: 

First verse is about a person, maybe Ozzy himself, struggling to get through life. His mind is distorted with evil stuff, as stated by "Blood on my conscience" and "And murder in mind," and possibly Satan has taken resident, as many christian believe. So he has one "Savior" he can trust to get him out of his inner turmoil.

Faith of my father, my brother, my Maker and Savior - this is making an obvious reference to God. Maker and Savior are capitalized, just like when you write God, because you are referring to the one God that known in the western world - Jesus.

bread and wine

Give me the wine / You keep the bread - this is an interesting line for so many different reasons. First, wine and bread was consumed at the Last Supper by Jesus. Secondly if you're in rock n' roll, and you have to choose between bread and wine, you'd go with the latter. The previous two lines, referring blood, and then raining blood, also has a symbolic connection to wine. At least they all share the color red. Jesus was crucified following the last supper, so that's another reference to blood, or bloody atmosphere.

Rest of the song rephrases these ideas further, but doesn't really do anything to advance the theme of God, or the death of God. It's rather written to lengthen the song past eight minutes. I don't know why they did this, maybe Sabbath got a page out of Metallica. One thing to note is that towards the end of the song, Ozzy makes the case that God is still alive though he fails to give any concrete evidence as to why.

Lyrics:

Lost in the darkness
I fade from the light
Faith of my father, my brother, my Maker and Savior
Help me make it through the night
Blood on my conscience
And murder in mind
Out of the gloom I rise up from my tomb into impending doom
Now my body is my shrine

The blood runs free
The rain turns red
Give me the wine
You keep the bread
The voices echo in my head
Is God alive or is God dead?
Is God dead?

Rivers of evil
Run through dying land
Swimming in sorrow, they kill, steal, and borrow. There is no tomorrow
For the sinners will be damned
Ashes to ashes
You cannot exhume a soul
Who do you trust when corruption and lust, creed of all the unjust,
Leaves you empty and unwhole?

When will this nightmare be over? Tell me!
When can I empty my head?
Will someone tell me the answer?
Is God really dead?
Is God really dead?

To safeguard my philosophy
Until my dying breath
I transfer from reality
Into a living dead
I empathize with enemies
Until the timing's right
With God and Satan at my side
From darkness will come light

I watch the rain
As it turns red
Give me more wine
I don't need bread
These riddles that live in my head
I don't believe that God is dead
God is dead

Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Wondering if we will meet again
On the other side
Do you believe a word
What the Good Book said?
Or is it just a holy fairytale
And God is dead?
God is Dead [x4]

Right!

But still the voices in my head
Are telling me that god is dead
The blood pours down
The rain turns red
I don't believe that God is dead
God is Dead [x4]

Lyrics from: www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blacksabbath/godisdead.html