Song of the day for December 14 2023
Today’s song is a remade version of the Black Sabbath song Changes. This version is by Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne.
On this date 20 years ago, Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Changes’ a remake of a track first sung by Ozzy on the Black Sabbath album Volume IV in 1972. It was the first father and daughter chart topper since Frank & Nancy Sinatra in 1967.
Three decades after the original Black Sabbath release, Ozzy recorded another version of the song, this time with his daughter, Kelly Osbourne as a duet. The revised lyrics for this version, released on 8 December 2003, reflect the moments of their life together. The single reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the second father-daughter duet to top the chart after Frank and Nancy Sinatra did so with “Somethin’ Stupid” in 1967. “Changes” also reached the top 20 in Germany, Ireland, and Norway.
According to the Ozzy Osbourne official website, the single sold over one million copies. This version of the song was ranked number 27 on the “50 Worst Songs of the ’00s” list in a 2009 Village Voice article
The original song’s piano melody was composed by guitarist Tony Iommi, who was experimenting with the instrument in the studio. The lyrics were by bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne has referred to the song as “heartbreaking”. Quite different from Sabbath’s previous work, the song was described as a “forlornly pretty” ballad by critic Barney Hoskyns. It was inspired mainly by drummer Bill Ward’s breakup with his first wife.
Notably, “Changes” was not recorded with a real string ensemble. Instead, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi used a Mellotron to create the sound of an orchestra. The ballad is generally an outlier in the band’s discography as it does not feature guitar or drums. To alleviate concerns about the band departing their well-known heavy sound, Osbourne promised in a 1972 interview “We’re certainly not going to get any less heavy, we will probably do ‘Changes’ on stage with a Mellotron, but we’ll never take strings on stage with us or anything like that.”
The band first performed the song live in 1973.
“Changes” was ranked the 12th best Black Sabbath song by Rock – Das Gesamtwerk der größten Rock-Acts im Check.
