Black Label Society, fronted by long-time Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, just released their newest record Engines Of Demolition this past Friday (27th March), and with it, comes a tribute track for the Black Sabbath frontman titled, “Ozzy‘s Song.”
Zakk Wylde was the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and his solo work for nearly forty years – taken under Ozzy‘s wing in 1987, Wylde stood by Osbourne‘s side until the very end, playing lead guitar alongside him at his final performance at Back To The Beginning.
Speaking to Guitar World both about the passing of Ozzy and how the track ended up coming together, Wylde said that: “I don’t think any of us were picturing Oz passing away two weeks after the gig [referring to Back to the Beginning].”
“So I just figured… hopefully we’ll make records, and then hopefully, because the festival went so well, Mom [Sharon Osbourne] puts together a Back to the Beginning once a year… we’ll do one in Brazil, do one in Japan. You know that one was in Birmingham, then do another one in the States somewhere.”
In a similar vein, the song had already been in progress before Osbourne passed, “I wrote the music before Oz passed away. But after Oz passed away, when we went back to England and we laid Ozzy to rest, when I got right from that, I went straight to Pantera celebrations with Phil [Anselmo], Rex [Brown], and Charlie [Benante]. So I hooked back up with the fellas, and we were back rolling.
“And then when I got done, when we got done with the Pantera celebration run, when I got home, I was just sitting in the house and [this] is when I wrote the lyrics and just sang the song. I was just thinking about Oz, and then I just wrote the lyrics.”
With the release of Engines Of Demolition, Black Label Society and Zakk Wylde hosted a special live-streaming special in which both the music video and the first live performance of the song debuted. In a 30-minute clip, available to be streamed here, Wylde is interviewed ahead of the performance.
You can find the music video for “Ozzy‘s Song” below, and you can stream the new Black Label Society record here.
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