Fairies Wear Boots
| "Fairies Wear Boots" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Black Sabbath from the album Paranoid | ||||
| Released | 18 September 1970 | |||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, psychedelic rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 6:14 | |||
| Label | Vertigo | |||
| Writer | Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward | |||
| Producer | Rodger Bain | |||
| Paranoid track listing | ||||
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"Fairies Wear Boots" is a song by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, from their 1970 album Paranoid.
In the liner notes to Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970–1978), Tony Iommi states that the song title comes from when "Geezer and Ozzy were smoking cannabis outside and witnessed fairies in the park, running around wearing boots. As far as Tony knows, it didn't come from an attack from skinheads."[1] Afterwards, they wrote the lyrics to "Fairies Wear Boots".[2] Geezer Butler states in the documentary film "Classic Albums: Black Sabbath's Paranoid" that the music which became the song was indeed inspired by an encounter with skinheads, who the band members then derogatorily referred to as "fairies" for the song.[3] The song contains an instrumental intro entitled "Jack the Stripper".[4]
An earlier version of "Fairies Wear Boots", taken from a session for the BBC's John Peel Sunday Show dated April 26, 1970, is on the bonus disc of the Ozzy Osbourne release The Ozzman Cometh.. The song also appears on the band's first compilation album, We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll.
Cover versions
- American metal band Phantom Blue covered the song on their 1995 album Prime Cuts & Glazed Donuts.
- American thrash metal band Flotsam & Jetsam recorded the song in 2008 and included it on the remastered version of their fifth studio album, Drift.
- American jam band Widespread Panic covered the song during their summer 2007 tour and opened the 10-31-2010 NOLAween show in tribute to Ozzy who was playing at the nearby Voodoo Experience.
- Mexican musician, Israel Cruz "Paquito de la Cruz" Soloist covered the song on their trip Showcase.
- American avant-rock band MiRthkon recorded the song in 2013 and included it on album, Snack(s).
- Mac Sabbath, a fast food-themed Black Sabbath tribute band, wrote a parody version of the song entitled "Cherries Are Fruits".
English band The Muffin Men, who specialise in versions of Frank Zappa music, have been including a mix-up of Fairies Wear Boots and Brown Shoes Don't Make It during shows in 2014
References
- ↑ Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath (1970-1978)
- ↑ Black Sabbath Black Box Original Black Sabbath
- ↑ Classic Albums - Paranoid, by Isis Productions/Eagle Rock Entertainment
- ↑ As noted on the labels of early North American Warner Bros. Records pressings of Paranoid, (catalog no. WS 1887), released January 1971.
External links
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