As the opening track of the influential Black Sabbath album, Paranoid, “War Pigs” was originally titled “Walpurgis.” Walpurgis Night takes place on the 30th April to mark the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century English missionary to the Frankish Empire. It is also believed to be the night of a witches’ meeting or sabbath. The instrumental outro is entitled, “Luke’s Wall.” It is one of the most-covered songs in history and is frequently ranked among the greatest rock songs of all time.
The song talks about war and—like the hippies—Black Sabbath was totally against it, specifically the Vietnam War (occurring at the time), and although Geezer Butler has stated that:
[“War Pigs” is] totally against the Vietnam War, about how these rich politicians and rich people start all the wars for their benefit and get all the poor people to die for them.
And in an interview with Mojo in 2017:
Britain was on the verge of being brought into it, there was protests in the street, all kinds of anti-Vietnam things going on. War is the real Satanism. Politicians are the real Satanists. That’s what I was trying to say.
Ozzy Osbourne has said that:
[The group] knew nothing about Vietnam. It’s just an anti-war song.
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