Though the Beatles are a far cry from Black Sabbath, that doesn’t mean Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t influenced greatly by the Fab Four. In fact, Osbourne has talked about his affinity for the rock greats on a number of occasions. So, when he got the opportunity to step in studio with Paul McCartney, Osbourne was aptly excited. Despite his fervor for a potential collaboration, Macca declined. Find out why below.
The Collaboration with a Legendary Artist Paul McCartney Refused to Accept: “He Said He Couldn’t Improve on the Bassline”
The light in the window is a crack in the sky
A stairway to darkness in the blink of an eye
A levee of tears to learn she’ll never be coming back
The man in the dark will bring another attack
Your momma told you that you’re not supposed to talk to strangers
Look in the mirror, tell me, do you think you life’s in danger, yeah?
The Beatles changed Osbourne’s life. They were a guiding force for him growing up–as they were for many kids in his generation. He used their music as an escape from his immediate surroundings.
“I come from the backstreets of Aston in Birmingham and it wasn’t a very cool place when I was growing up,” Osbourne once said. “I used to sit on my doorstep and think, ‘How the hell am I going to get out of here?’ And then one day ‘She Loves You’ came on the radio.”
That early love of the Beatles–amongst other things–moved him to forge his own career in music. A few successes later, Osbourne found himself in the same room as his hero, McCartney. He did what any self-respecting musician/Beatles fan would do: asked the former Beatle to add a bassline to his track.
“Meeting Paul McCartney was f***ing phenomenal,” Osbourne continued elsewhere. “I was in the studio at the same time as him and tried to get him to play bass on one of my songs. But he said he couldn’t improve on the bassline that was there. I said, ‘Are you kidding? You could piss on the record and I’d make it my life.’”
Though we missed out on this potential collaboration, Osbourne’s catalog is still rife with exciting moments. However, it’s nice to think about what could’ve been. We don’t know which song Osbourne was recording at the time, but we think McCartney could’ve added an unexpected element to many of his biggest songs. Revisit one below.
No more tears (Tears, tears)
No more tears (Tears, tears)
No more tears (Tears, tears)
No more tears (Tears, tears)
(Photo by Wood/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
