Lady Evil

Album: Heaven and Hell (1980)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Lady Evil" is the third track on the Black Sabbath album Heaven and Hell, their first with Ronnie James Dio. It was written by Dio, with the rest of the band: Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler. This song, like others on the album, reflects Dio's poetic turn with the lyrics, which were such a sharp departure from the Ozzy Osbourne-era Black Sabbath. As Tony Iommi mentions in the book Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, "None of those songs would have worked with Ozzy."
  • "Lady Evil" is an example of a song that gave Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath a reputation for misogyny. "Digital Bitch," from the Ian Gillan years, is another one. Think what you will of Dio's attitude towards women, but know this: he married twice, and his second wife was Wendy Galaxiola, who also served as his manager.

    Now for the other half of this title, there is definitely some association between Satanism and heavy metal music, and perhaps this song with its setting in "Witch's Valley" is a good place to examine it. Dio is allegedly the first to throw the "goat's head" (the "horns" made by raising the index and pinkie fingers from the upthrust fist), after all. Now, various music genres have found themselves inextricably linked with certain lifestyles. For instance, Trance music is associated with psychedelics, which prompted hacker-demigod-turned-'Frisco-club-owner Jamie Zawinski to lament the genre's single-mindedness: "There is no such song as 'Acid Acid Acid' by 'The Acid Heads' but there might as well be." Similarly, there is no Heavy Metal song called "Satan's 666 Pentagrams of the Antichrist" by Lucifer's Choirboys - but wouldn't it be cool if there were? Anyway, Dio himself asserts in this interview with HM Magazine that it's all an act! Isn't that right, boys and girls?

Comments: 1

  • Jason from Aurora, CoI wonder if Lady Evil is one of the Dirty Women!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Kristian Bush of Sugarland

Kristian Bush of SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.

Christmas Songs

Christmas SongsFact or Fiction

Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Gary Numan

Gary NumanSongwriter Interviews

An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.

The Fratellis

The FratellisSongwriter Interviews

Jon Fratelli talks about the band's third album, and the five-year break leading up to it.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.