Hand of Doom – Memorial Day

There is a song by the band Black Sabbath that I’ve always enjoyed because it had a cool jam, but I never really paid attention to the lyrics; honestly, until recently. This song is called “Hand of Doom” from the Black Sabbath Paranoid album.

I write this note, in particular on this Memorial Day, for two reasons. First, heavy metal bands, for the most part are terribly misunderstood. For example, Ozzy Osbourne is NOT the devil, nor anti-Christ or Lucifer. In fact, Ozzy is a nice family orientated person who deeply cares about people and society. Gene Simmons is another ‘fake news’ fabrication. This guy, Gene, who was supposedly the “Devil” but is anything but. It turns out that Gene is actually an educated family man as evidenced in his reality show Gene’s Family Jewels.

Secondly, this particular song entitled ‘Hand of Doom’ and its lyrics are completely anti-drug. Read them for yourself! The lyrics tell a story of sad destruction and an awful death if you use drugs. Hand of Doom is a story about terrible drug addiction in our armed forces and the song identifies the consequences of continuing this behavior.

Anyhow, back to the topic of Hand of Doom, it’s a disturbing (yet honest) reflection on the times during those years of late-60’s and early-70’s. The Wikipedia description is perfect below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Doom_(Black_Sabbath_song)

“The song was conceived after the band had observed a growing number of US soldiers arriving in England in the late 1960s from the Vietnam War with severe drug addictions.[1] It’s about them taking drugs to forget the atrocities of war, only to see it catch up on them and slowly destroy them from the inside.”

Share this song if you feel compelled:  https://youtu.be/p1Y9oOusoQs

 

Hand of Doom

Black Sabbath

Whatcha gonna do?
Time’s caught up with you
Now you wait your turn
You know there’s no return

Take your written rules
You join the other fools
Turn to something new
Now it’s killing you

First it was the bomb
Vietnam napalm
Disillusioning
You push the needle in

From life you escape
Reality’s that way
Colours in your mind
Satisfy your time

Oh you, you know you must be blind
To do something like this
To take the sleep that you don’t know
You’re giving death a kiss, oh, little fool now

Your mind is full of pleasure
Your body’s looking ill
To you it’s shallow leisure
So drop the acid pill,

Don’t stop to think now

You’re having a good time baby
But that won’t last
Your mind’s all full of things
You’re living too fast

Go out enjoy yourself
Don’t bottle it in
You need…

 

Love,

Kevin

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