Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath song)

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"Heaven and Hell"
Song by Black Sabbath
from the album Heaven and Hell
Released	April 25, 1980
Recorded	Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida & Studio Ferber, Paris, France,1979
Genre	Heavy Metal
Length	6:58
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Writer(s)	Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward
Producer(s)	Martin Birch
Heaven and Hell track listing
"Lady Evil" (3)	"Heaven and Hell" (4)	"Wishing Well" (5)

"Heaven and Hell" was the title track to Black Sabbath's 9th studio album, Heaven and Hell. It was written mainly by Tony Iommi, but as with almost all Black Sabbath albums, credit is given to the entire band. The lyrics were written entirely by then-newcomer Ronnie James Dio.

Although some Black Sabbath purists dismiss the album (let alone all the ones that would follow for the next 15 years) for the absence of singer Ozzy Osbourne and thus marking the end of the band's original line-up, the album was quite successful, being the band's biggest selling since 1975's Sabotage. It has also been cited as a personal favorite by many other Black Sabbath fans. Ronnie James Dio himself cites it as his over-all personal favorite song of his career, the one that he feels most proud of.

The lyrics to the song are allegedly about the hypocrisy and criticism of the Catholic Church and the way faith and religion can be used for power. Dio mentions in several interviews that the song mainly expresses heaven and hell as being things that are right here in the real world, as opposed to intangible realms. When the song has been performed live by Black Sabbath or Dio, it's usually stretched out with an extended guitar solo, audience participation, adlibbed lyrics and/or additional lyrics regarding angelic and demonic apparitions and personal judgement. Black Sabbath has performed this song live with both Dio and Ozzy at the same time. There is also a bootleg version with the powerful voice of Ian Gillan.

Keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, who joined the band with the recording of this album, is said to have been responsible for this song's famous bassline. A guitarist himself by trade (though his role with Sabbath has always been as keyboard player), Nicholls likely got the idea from the Quartz song "Mainline Riders." Nicholls himself was a member of Quartz before joining Black Sabbath.

"Heaven and Hell" was covered by the American doom metal band Solitude Aeturnus for their album Adagio