The singer Ozzy Osbourne was born in Marston Green, Warwickshire, England and was only 11 when the 60s started, so he had the chance to see all the revolution in Rock and Roll music when he was just a teenager.
Not long after he formed Black Sabbath alongside Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward and shocked the whole world with their heaviness and doomy lyrics. Besides all his legendary career with the Heavy Metal band, Ozzy also had a huge solo career that made him become one of the few artists who were lucky be successful as a member of the group and as a solo act.
Over the decades he talked about many other groups and even revealed which is in his opinion, one of the greatest songs ever written.
The song that Ozzy Osbourne said is one of the best ever written
Although Ozzy became the “Prince of Darkness” and was always more linked to heavy music, he always loved many other music genres. Especially when there was melody involved. It was in the early 60s, when he first heard The Beatles on the radio that everything changed for him.
The musician was hooked and decided that it was the path he would choose for his future. Decades passed and he is still a huge fan of the Fab Four and back in 2004 he listed in an interview with Rolling Stone some of his favorite songs of all time. He mentioned “Hey Jude”, saying: “Hands down one of the greatest songs ever written.”
That track was credited to Lennon-McCartney but it was Paul McCartney who first had the idea for the song. After seeing how Lennon’s son Julian was sad after he find out his parents were divorcing, Mccartney wrote “Hey Jules”. It was a way of telling him everything would be alright.
Of course, the name was later changed to “Jude” and the hit was first released as a single in 1968. Since then became one of the songs that McCartney played the most on his solo shows.
Ozzy used to fantasize about his sister marrying Paul and he had the chance to meet the Beatle later on
Back in 2002, Ozzy was invited to perform at the Queen’s Jubilee concert and after performing “Paranoid” alongside Tony Iommi and Phil Collins. That night, the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra accompanied the musicians playing the track. Later on he cameback alongside all the musicians who played that night to sing “Hey Jude” with Paul.
He recalled that experience in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2002. “Prince William said to me later,’ It would have been great if you had done ‘Black Sabbath.’ If I had done ‘Black Sabbath,’ the fucking royal box would have turned to stone. The Archbishop of Canterbury would have had to douse them in holy water.”
He continued:
“At first, I thought the reason they picked me for the show was that I’m the in-house joke. But everyone — the royal family, all the princes — was headbanging, giving it plenty. And the atmosphere backstage was great. I was there with Sir Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Joe Cocker. All in the dressing tent. It was like sitting in a bar with every celebrity in the world.”
“You have to understand. I come from Aston in Birmingham, a very poor industrial neighborhood. I remember sitting on my doorstep when the Beatles first happened. (Was) thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if Paul McCartney married my sister?’ And there I am, 36 years later, singing ‘Hey Jude’ with him at the end of that show. I absolutely worshiped the Beatles. Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols once said to me, ‘I hated the Beatles.’ To me, that’s like saying you hate air,” Ozzy Osbourne said.
Although Ozzy didn’t covered “Hey Jude” on his solo career, the musician made versions for several other Beatles tracks. On his 2005 covers album “Under Cover”, he made a version for “In My Life” and also for the John Lennon’s tracks: “Woman” and “Working Class Hero”. He also released in 2010 a version for Lennon’s “How?”.