Zakk Wylde has released “Ozzy’s Song,” the Black Label Society leader’s heartfelt, balladic tribute to his friend and mentor, the late Ozzy Osbourne.
We’d first found out about the song when BLS announced their Engines of Demolition album earlier in the year, and it had been described in press materials as both the band’s “most personally profound and heartfelt ballad to date” and a tribute to “the man who started this all for Zakk.”
The song officially hit streamers earlier today (March 27th), along with the rest of Engines of Demolition, and it will be given its live debut later tonight for an exclusive, free livestream event through VEEPS, which will additionally unveil a music video for “Ozzy’s Song.”
“Ozzy’s Song” begins with lithe, rhythmic piano chords and Wylde’s tunefully raspy remembrances on the passing of his friend (“I saw you yesterday / Before you went away”). He goes on to sing of troubled times, and the drive to persevere (“The skies may cry / But I’ll be holding on”). And then, he delivers an epic and passionate, near-two minute guitar solo, rising from a gently pensive vibrato towards an outpour of emotions-drenched bending and wailing.
“I wrote the music before Oz passed away,” Wylde had told Guitar World back in February. “But after Oz passed away… I went straight to Pantera celebrations with Phil [Anselmo], Rex [Brown], and Charlie [Benante].
“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.”
In a separate talk with Veeps, Wylde added that he wrote the lyrics in his library, while staring at a picture of Osbourne.
As previously reported, Black Label Society’s Engines of Demolition is out today through MNRK Heavy / Spinefarm. The record features previously released singles “The Gallows,” “Lord Humungus,” “Broken and Blind” and “Name in Blood.”
BLS are currently out on the road with Dark Chapel and Zakk Sabbath. Tonight, they play the Sylvee in Madison, Wisconsin. You’ll find more tour date details here.
VEEPS’ livestream event with Black Label Society begins at 10 p.m. ET. You can find out more on how to watch the event for free over here. The music video for “Ozzy’s Song” then makes it to YouTube at 9 p.m. ET. You’ll find the player for the upcoming vid below.