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Not only is “The Wizard” a charming upbeat song it is very humorous when we pause to consider the lyrics. So a song about a magic man making every one joyful with his presence is rather calm in comparison, but I like it. Black Sabbath had a lot of intense songs about death, darkness, the devil and other dangerous themes beginning with a “d,” including dreams. In many ways “The Wizard” is a silly song. It is not a very heavy song, at least not by today’s standards but being “metal” does not by itself make a song good, style and pose levels and variety of sound are “The Wizard’s” strong suites. “magical.” It is probably the most blues inspired song by Sabbath and it gives a very unique sound even when compared to other Black Sabbath tracks. The way it opens with the long notes from the harmonica and allows Iommi, Ward and Butler to be introduced one at a time and then coming together in the first movement is. It was also a chronologically logical place to start discovering Black Sabbath, you know, at the beginning. So without much hesitation the second Sabbath album young me purchased was their debut self titled album “Black Sabbath.” This was a good purchase, obviously, because the entire first half of the album is amazing with songs like “Black Sabbath,” “The Wizard” and “Behind the Wall of Sleep/N.I.B.” while the second half of the album is also really good. The song is about a wizard and fuck yeah wizards! The distortion on Toni Iommi’s guitar is the exact amount necessary to create a unique sound that is catchy and fun and does not cross the line into distracting from the rhythm section. The harmonica is a fantastic and underused music instrument. It had blues influence which tied in with my love of the music of that time, most notably Led Zeppelin. It had a highly unique intro that my brother and I could recognize after only the first note during a trivia contest (true story). “The Wizard” is basically a perfect song for young me’s sensibilities. Back in my youth I was very dependent on the radio and friends to introduce music to me, and without the sufficient funds it was often a gamble to buy a whole album without first knowing what was on it, I needed a hook, I needed an incentive, and for me in my dire need to expand my Black Sabbath catalogue the next step was introduced by Sabbath’s fourth big radio hit, at least where I live, “The Wizard.” Like most young men of my time I feel in love with Black Sabbath through the songs I heard on the radio, their big hits like “Paranoid,” “Iron Man” and “War Pigs.” For the longest time my affinity for Black Sabbath resided entirely on the “Paranoid” album, the only CD of theirs I owned for a long time. When I was a kid discovering music I was drawn primarily to classic rock from the sixties and seventies, and one of my first loves was Black Sabbath.