"The Wizard" | ||||
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![]() Cover artwork for the single, as used in the Netherlands | ||||
Single by Black Sabbath | ||||
from the album Black Sabbath | ||||
A-side | "Paranoid" | |||
Released | 13 February 1970 | |||
Genre | Heavy metal, blues rock [1] | |||
Length |
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Label |
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Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Rodger Bain | |||
Black Sabbath singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
"The Wizard" is a song by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, taken from their 1970 album Black Sabbath . It is the second track on the record. The song was composed by all four members of the group and was produced by Rodger Bain. "The Wizard" was the B-side to the title track of the band's second album Paranoid .
"The Wizard" is about a wizard who uses his magic to encourage people he encounters. In a 2005 interview with Metal Sludge, Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler said the song's lyrics were influenced by the wizard Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings . [2] It was also believed to be about the band's drug dealer at the time.
The song was covered by Bullring Brummies for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black.. [4]
The song was covered by Zakk Wylde's band Pride and Glory on the second disc of the reissue of Pride and Glory . Wylde had also been a member of Ozzy Osbourne's solo band at the time.