From BS to BA
From BS to BA
Sipping
Black Sabbath
Out of a pint of Gillan
Not to be confused with 16 Oz's
This digital bitch
Disturbing the priest
Trashed
Zero
The hero
Born again
* * *
I wrote this poem on 6/20/2009 while listening to Black Sabbath's 1983 album Born Again. But it didn't look like this until last night when I plucked it from my journal and "finished" it. For a while in 1983, Born Again was my favorite record. I was just recovering from my Southern Baptist church trying to convince me (and convincing my Dad, who had burned all my records) that rock music was of the Devil and that Led Zeppelin and Genesis records were inhabited by demons (but pillhead Elvis's were apparently not). After a visit to West Virginia where my cousin (last name Mays, but embarrassingly, I can no longer remember his first) turned me on to his dozen or so Black Sabbath tapes and I wasn't struck by lightning as I half expected to be, I ordered Born Again on cassette through one of those Columbia House deals where you'd get 12 albums for a penny and agree to buy four more for far more than they cost in the store at some point in the future. I was excited to get it and loved the music and what I could understand of the lyrics. But I was bummed to learn that the vinyl LP version that went for the same price as the cassette included a full lyric sheet that my cassette did not. I felt ripped off — and was eager to figure out what the hell Ian Gillan was saying in some of those songs' most powerful moments. The next time I was in the Hills department store in Elyria, Black Sabbath proved my Baptist pastor right by causing me to sin. I saw an LP of Born Again on the rack and began lusting for the lyric sheet inside it. But I had no money and there was no way in hell I was gonna shoplift the whole album. So I simply opened it up, pulled out the lyric sleeve that covered the vinyl disc, stuck the disc back into the album without the sleeve, folded up the lyrics, stuck them in my pocket, put the record back on the shelf, and walked out of the store. Sheer stupidity! I don't know how I didn't attract attention. But sinner or no, at age 16, I had the words to every song on Black Sabbath's Born Again. I memorized them ASAP and listened to my cassette over and over for a month or two until I made myself sick of it and moved on to Loverboy.
To read the lyrics and hear song clips from Born Again, click here.
Sipping
Black Sabbath
Out of a pint of Gillan
Not to be confused with 16 Oz's
This digital bitch
Disturbing the priest
Trashed
Zero
The hero
Born again
I wrote this poem on 6/20/2009 while listening to Black Sabbath's 1983 album Born Again. But it didn't look like this until last night when I plucked it from my journal and "finished" it. For a while in 1983, Born Again was my favorite record. I was just recovering from my Southern Baptist church trying to convince me (and convincing my Dad, who had burned all my records) that rock music was of the Devil and that Led Zeppelin and Genesis records were inhabited by demons (but pillhead Elvis's were apparently not). After a visit to West Virginia where my cousin (last name Mays, but embarrassingly, I can no longer remember his first) turned me on to his dozen or so Black Sabbath tapes and I wasn't struck by lightning as I half expected to be, I ordered Born Again on cassette through one of those Columbia House deals where you'd get 12 albums for a penny and agree to buy four more for far more than they cost in the store at some point in the future. I was excited to get it and loved the music and what I could understand of the lyrics. But I was bummed to learn that the vinyl LP version that went for the same price as the cassette included a full lyric sheet that my cassette did not. I felt ripped off — and was eager to figure out what the hell Ian Gillan was saying in some of those songs' most powerful moments. The next time I was in the Hills department store in Elyria, Black Sabbath proved my Baptist pastor right by causing me to sin. I saw an LP of Born Again on the rack and began lusting for the lyric sheet inside it. But I had no money and there was no way in hell I was gonna shoplift the whole album. So I simply opened it up, pulled out the lyric sleeve that covered the vinyl disc, stuck the disc back into the album without the sleeve, folded up the lyrics, stuck them in my pocket, put the record back on the shelf, and walked out of the store. Sheer stupidity! I don't know how I didn't attract attention. But sinner or no, at age 16, I had the words to every song on Black Sabbath's Born Again. I memorized them ASAP and listened to my cassette over and over for a month or two until I made myself sick of it and moved on to Loverboy.
To read the lyrics and hear song clips from Born Again, click here.
Posted by Jesus Crisis at 8/3/2009 8:10 AM 
Categories: Music, JC's Childhood, Poetry by JC
Tags: Black Sabbath Born Again
Categories: Music, JC's Childhood, Poetry by JC
Tags: Black Sabbath Born Again
Interesting... I've never gotten a chance to get into Black Sabbath.. living under a rock as I do.
But I'm always intrigued with your memory about music your heard and the when and how of it.
You have a keen mind for details.. mr..B..
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I was just telling Geri this morning I feel a need to be a bit more diligent about writing my life down. My memory won't last forever and part of me can't stand the thought of my life being totally gone when it's gone.
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In the crashpad commune I lived at in LA, someone brought their eponymous first album. We were Ohio college kids, and our tastes were more uppa-crust, though I liked Zeppelin's first album a lot. But I could not go to where Osbourne was. It was a doorway to the 70s, and it felt to me like decline. Lots of fine storm and fury but not a lot of wit, or soul. I must have been a pussy, but I preferred the Velvets, Captain Beefheart, Leonard Cohen, Creedence, even the Doors. They seemed "smarter" somehow. Pure metal felt like an abdication.
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I feel that way now - but at the time I was breaking out of a very sheltered 24/7 fundamentalist church existence and anything that was utterly different from my norm had immense appeal. A year after this, I went through a phase where I pretty much abandoned metal and began immersing myself into bands like Joy Division, the Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode, and the Smiths. It wasn't till a few years later (the late 80s) that I discovered and came to love the Velvet Underground and Zappa, who led me to dive into Beefheart. In the early 90s (round the time Oliver Stone's movie came out) I became fixated on the Doors as my favorite band. Sadly, I didn't discover Cohen (I knew some of his songs but didn't know who they were by) till later, after my release from prison in 2004. Now he's one of my favorite songwriters.
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If you want to get a real taste of Ian Gillan listen to the original Jesus Christ Superstar album where he sings the part of Jesus. I remember when I was in high school I traded all my albums for this one. I still love it to this day! Also, the first 3 Black Sabbath albums were the best. I was on the basketball team in high scool (70,71, & 72) & I used to listen to the first 2 BS albums to get psyched up for a game. Much better than Sweet Georgia Brown...
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The story sounds familiar about your dad burning the records. Marc's dad got up in the middle of the night and threw an LP across the room since he couldn't sleep with the music going and it stuck in a wall. lol Go to You Tube and type in "Black Sabbath Born Again story" and you will hear Ian Gillan describing how he learned the lyrics. Funny story. There also are a couple of videos of Black Sabbath throwing their hair all over their faces and whacking the drums and screeching. LMAO Chacun a son gout.
I decided not to import this to my profile. Ha ha....
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I had the JC Superstar soundtrack on cassette in prison and dug it - especially since I was writing musicals for the joint's Ministry of Theatre at the time - but I had no idea that was Gillan in the role of Jesus - wouldn't have guessed in a million years. Now that you mention it and I hear the songs in my head, however... yes! Wow....
I just checked on Wikipedia and found out something else I didn't know - Judas Iscariot's role was played by Murray Head (the guy who went on to have a hit with "One Night in Bangkok" in the early 80s. And Yvonne Elliman played Mary M. Wow - this is why it sucks that the older cassettes rarely had liner notes.
You're right about the 1st two BS albums. I got those later and they took a longer for me to wear out. I still love most of the music on Born Again, but now find that the lyrics range from unsatisfying to embarrassingly awkward. Still dig Gillan's voice - but maybe he'd have been better served to take a lesson from Geddy Lee and Roger Daltrey and hand the lyrical reins to a master. On the other hand, that could be unfair - because I'm not certain how much of the lyrics he actually wrote.
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Pretty good stuff.
LOL @ "moved on to Loverboy"!
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