Chris Caton-Greasley
Aug 1, 20231 min
Updated: Aug 2, 2023
"Paranoid" is a song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1970 off the band's second studio album Paranoid.
Download the lyrics and chords from Ultimate Guitar or purchase from Sheet Music Direct.
"Paranoid" was the first Black Sabbath single release, coming six months after their self-titled debut was released. Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler (from Guitar World magazine, March 2004):
A lot of the Paranoid album was written around the time of our first album, Black Sabbath. We recorded the whole thing in about 2 or 3 days, live in the studio. The song "Paranoid" was written as an afterthought. We basically needed a 3 minute filler for the album, and Tony came up with the riff. I quickly did the lyrics, and Ozzy was reading them as he was singing.