Snowblind

by

Black Sabbath

Album: Black Sabbath, Vol. 4      Released: 1972

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This song is about addiction to cocaine. The "Snowflakes" are baked goods, "Snowblind" is the addiction, and when "My eyes are blind but I can see" it can either mean the trip, going cold turkey, or an overdose. (thanks, Max - New York, NY)

The band did a lot of drugs, including a lot of cocaine while they were making this album. Ozzy was in and out of rehab clinics, including Betty Ford, for a long time before going sober in 1991.

This was going to be used as the title to the album. The record company would not let them because of the drug reference.

In the liner notes of the album, the band thanks "The COKE-cola Company," a reference to the drug.

System of a Down covered this on the 2000 Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity In Black II.

Styx also did a song by the name of Snowblind about cocaine. Different songs, same names, same subject matter. (thanks, Mike - Los Angeles, CA)

At least 2 Black Sabbath tribute bands are named Snowblind. One is from Long Island and the other is from the Maryland/Pennsylvania area.

This was covered by Sleep, Converge, Golgotha, Evoken, and After Forever (who are named after a Sabbath song). (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

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Comments:

"Snowblind" isn't about cocaine. It's about dying of a brain tumor. Think about it: "Something growing in my head/Wings of ice that soon will spread." And how about this?: "Going to freeze my very soul/Makes me happy, makes me cold." No one who's done cocaine would tell you that it made them feel happy. Bold and self-assured, maybe, but not euphoric. And cold? No way. But a tumor would definitely cause weird thoughts and feelings as it at away at the brain. Sorry to burst your bubble, folks...
- Pikadon, Haleiwa, HI

Great song, especially the middle part, when Ozzy sings "my eyes are blind, though I can see!"
- oldpink, New Castle, IN

Twice when I saw Black Sabbath live, they had it snow onstage for this song.
- Lester, New York City, NY

ozzy was into all sorts of drugs but he specialized in free basing cocaine
- Darren, Doylestown, PA

Hey, uh, Kevin from Calgary.....marijuana is a drug to. It is evry psychologically addictive. I know because I smoked that crap for 12 years. The dangers of weed are very underrated. The crystals are not as beautiful as you seem to think.
- paul, california, PA

Now, who the heck was in charge of letting System of a Down('s) cover this song. Man... Talk about messing up the classics. Have any of you heard their version? It's got nothing to do with anything! It makes me mad... It makes me want to hunt down the ones responsible and biting their fingers off... Damn it! Oh... Before I forget; Yay, Sabbath! :P
- Sindre, MosjÃ?en

Its weird that metal was created accidentaly
- Rocco, , Canada

"my eyes are blind but i can see"... great singing by the prince of darkness, and the guitar part that goes just before "my eyes are blind..." is great, good arpeggios, but someone knows which chords is he strumming?
- Joaquin, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

i dont think "snowblind" is tuned down to c#. at least it is playable in standard tuning (unlike "killing yourself to live")
- claudio, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

a lot of their songs are tuned down 1 1/2 steps. It makes it easier to do string bends. This is one of my favorite Sabbath tunes because how heavy it is. Iommi invented down tunings.
- Devon, Westerville, OH

The song is obviously about cocaine, about that there can be no doubt. Now, is it a positive drug song or a negative one? I think the latter. The line: "the sun no longer sets me free" is the most powerful line in the song, I think. It sums it all up. Whatever nice, drugged out things he has to say about drugs, this is the heart of it. He needs the drugs to be happy. He can't be happy without them. "Will my ice age ever come?" is the desperate longing to get high again. On a side note: whenever he sings "the snowflakes glisten on the tree" I think of staring at marijuana bud closly and seeing the beautiful, beautiful crystals (kif) containing the THC. As with all songs about (hard) drugs, it should serve as a warning too and be read in context. When getting (ready to get) high you feel euphoric, but when coming down you get more depressed, and when sober you are depressed, and you just want it, always, all the time.
- Kevin, Calgary, Canada

if you listen to the song after he says "icicles within my brain, you can here him say softly, "cocaine"!
- Jeremy, Warren , RI

I absolutely love this song!
- Ravyn, Hell, NY

The tips of tony's fret hand ring and middle fingers were cut off the on his last day at his factory job before he quit to become a fulltime guitarist. He got fake tips for his fingers but he could only play really light guitar strings. He didnt like the light sound so on Master Of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage and other songs after those albums, he tuned down three half steps
- Fred, Washington, DC

okay, damien is right on what this is about. michael is right SABBATH RULES. answering billy, tony always tuned down because he had that accident (which was the day before he was going to quit the factory to persue his musical career) and he had a hard time playing the standard tuning and fortunatly gave the guitar the doomier sound, BIRTH OF METAL. Geezer on the other hand tuned down on this song.
- robert, chicago, IL

yes...tony lost his fingers not too long before begining touring with the band...and has always played with caps on his fingers...
- Ben, Aguadilla, United States

this i think was the only song where black sabbath didnt use standard tuning. the song is down 1 1/2 steps
- Billy Ross, Hagerstown, MD

also, my friend said tony iommi had to tune down 1 1/2 steps because he lost two of his fingers in a machining accident. does anoyone know anything about this?
- Billy Ross, Hagerstown, MD

I love the way Tony made it sound frosty-ish on the Small scale part you know before the lyrics but not right before the lyrics. A very sweet Song to Blast!!!SABBATH RULES
- Michael Picard, Lapwai, ID

snowblind is a term used to describe being out oif your nut on cocaine
- damien, somewhere, Ireland

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