Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler listed his top five albums that he can’t live without to Spin. Bob Dylan‘s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin” made it on the list. Butler even shared the song from the album that inspired a Black Sabbath hit by saying:
“If ever a song summed up an era, the title track of this album spoke for a whole new generation. No electric guitars, bass, or drums, just a man with an acoustic guitar with the most incredible lyrics that perfectly encapsulated this post-war era. ‘With God on Our Side’ is still, to me, the greatest anti-war song ever written, and it inspired me to write the lyrics for Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs.’“
Pacifism was evident in Dylan’s songs, such as his lyrics in ‘With God on Our Side.’ So, Geezer was very much inspired by Bob’s protest, but his words were much darker. Here’s what he told Metal Hammer in 2019:
“Yeah, there were a lot of American bands, like Bob Dylan, talking of protest, but they were living in style, and I was still stuck in Aston with no money, so I was writing from the heart. Our lyrics were about what we were going through at the time, and we never thought we were going to get out of there.”
You can listen to Bob Dylan’s ‘With God on Our Side’ track from the ‘The Times They Are A-Changin” album and Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ below.
