"War Pigs" was originally by Black Sabbath on their 1970 album Paranoid.
The initial title of "War Pigs" was "Walpurgis", dealing with the witches' sabbath. "Walpurgis is sort of like Christmas for Satanists. And to me, war was the big Satan", said bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler. "It wasn’t about politics or government or anything. It was Evil itself. So I was saying 'generals gathered in the masses / just like witches at black masses' to make an analogy. But when we brought it to the record company, they thought 'Walpurgis' sounded too Satanic. And that's when we turned it into 'War Pigs'. But we didn't change the lyrics, because they were already finished."
The song starts with the lyric, "Generals gathered in their masses. Just like witches at black masses." Bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler was asked during a 2013 interview with Spin magazine why he used "masses" twice rather than coming up with a different word. "I just couldn't think of anything else to rhyme with it," he admitted. "And a lot of the old Victorian poets used to do stuff like that - rhyming the same word together. It didn't really bother me. It wasn't a lesson in poetry or anything."
During the time of "War Pigs" release, mandatory army service had recently ended in England but with the Vietnam War raging, many young men feared they'd be conscripted to fight in it. "That's what started this whole rebellion thing about not going to war for anybody", said Butler. "I was dreading being called up", the lyricist recalled.
Prior to it's official release, the band often altered the lyrics significantly when performing it live. An example of this can be found on Ozzy Osbourne's compilation The Ozzman Cometh, which features an early version recorded by Black Sabbath for BBC Radio 1 on April 26, 1970. While Butler has said that "War Pigs" is "totally against the Vietnam War, about how these rich politicians and rich people start all the wars for their benefit and get all the poor people to die for them", vocalist Osbourne has stated that the group "knew nothing about Vietnam. It's just an anti-war song." The song's instrumental outro is entitled "Luke's Wall" on US releases of the album.
Drummer Bill Ward's first memory of performing the song was at The Beat Club in Switzerland in 1968. The band was required to play multiple sets every night and had little material in their repertoire at that point, so they would perform lengthy jam sessions to fill in the sets. Iommi has said that "War Pigs" originated from one of those jam sessions.
The addition of the air-raid siren and the speeding up of the song's end were done by producer Rodger Bain and engineer Tom Allom. The band had no input in these decisions, though they were pleased with the results.
The band wanted to use "War Pigs" as the title of the album, but the record company thought it was too controversial and made them use "Paranoid," another song on the album, instead.
The song's iconic guitar riff largely inspired the Arctic Monkeys' 2014 single "Arabella" from AM.
"War Pigs" has been used as the name of various Black Sabbath tribute bands.
lyrics
Words and music by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bill Ward
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh, lord, yeah
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight
They leave that role to the poor, yeah
Time will tell on their powered minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'til their judgment day comes, yeah
Now, in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs of the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgment, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings
Oh, lord, yeah
(Come on, sing it with us)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
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