Original Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, known for penning the majority of the band’s lyrics throughout the 1970s, recently identified what he considers the most underrated Black Sabbath song. In an interview with Songfacts, Butler highlighted Hand of Doom from the band’s classic Paranoid album.
“Maybe ‘Hand Of Doom,'” Geezer stated. “I like Bill’s whole drum track on it. It’s totally different to what anybody else was doing. The lyrics were about soldiers coming back from the Vietnam War. That’s what inspired me to write those lyrics.”
Butler elaborated on the inspiration behind the lyrics, detailing an experience that had a profound impact on him. He recounted playing at an American Army base in Germany, which served as a transitional stop for soldiers returning from Vietnam. These soldiers shared harrowing stories about their experiences, including being stuck in the mud and widespread heroin use, stories that were rarely covered in the news.
“We played an American Army base in Germany. It was a sort of halfway house when soldiers were coming back from Vietnam so they could face family life and ordinary life when they came back to America. They’d stop in Germany to decompress. They’d tell me these horrendous stories about being stuck in the mud in Vietnam and how many of them were on heroin. Of course, they didn’t tell you that on the news. I just thought I’d write about that,” Butler explained.
During the same interview, Butler was also asked about the Black Sabbath song he is most proud of lyrically. He found it difficult to choose just one, listing several tracks he holds in high regard. “I like ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,’ ‘Paranoid’… ‘War Pigs’ I really like. ‘A National Acrobat’ I like. Well, the first part, anyway. ‘Supernaut,'” he shared.
Originally released in 1970, Paranoid remains a seminal work in Black Sabbath’s discography and continues to influence heavy metal music.
