“Changes” stands out distinctly in the Black Sabbath discography: Rather than the typical guitar-driven metal or rock, it presents an emotional piano ballad. This unique quality made it an ideal choice for Coldplay’s Chris Martin to pay tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, who sadly passed away yesterday (July 22) at the age of 76.
During Coldplay’s performance in Nashville last night, Martin took a moment early in the show to honor Osbourne (you can find a video of this moment), stating, “We’d like to dedicate this whole show to the incredible genius, talent, and character-full gift to the world who was Ozzy Osbourne. We send our love to his family.” Following this heartfelt tribute, Martin played a brief and simplified version of “Changes” on the piano, which begins with the lines, “I feel unhappy, I feel so sad / I’ve lost the best friend that I ever had / She was my woman, I loved her so / But it’s too late now, I’ve let her go / I’m going through changes / I’m going through changes.”
Upon finishing the song, Martin expressed, “Ozzy, we love you, wherever you’re going.”
In his 2010 autobiography I Am Ozzy, Osbourne reflected on the creation of the song, writing (as noted by American Songwriter):
“We wanted to impress ourselves before we impressed anyone else. If other people happened to like what we were doing, that was just a bonus. That’s how we ended up doing songs like ‘Changes,’ which didn’t sound like anything we’d ever done before.
When many people hear the name ‘Black Sabbath,’ they often think solely of the heavy music. However, there was so much more to us than that — particularly when we began to move away from all that black magic stuff. With ‘Changes,’ Tony [Iommi] simply sat down at the piano and created this beautiful riff, I hummed a melody over it, and Geezer [Butler] penned these poignant lyrics about the breakup Bill [Ward] was experiencing with his wife at the time. I thought that was brilliant from the moment we recorded it.”
“Changes” is a notable exception in the Black Sabbath discography: Instead of the usual guitar-driven metal or rock, it is an emotional piano ballad. This made it the perfect choice for Coldplay’s Chris Martin to honor the late Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away yesterday (July 22) at 76 years old.
During Coldplay’s concert in Nashville last night, Martin took a moment early in the show to pay tribute to Osbourne (you can watch a video of this), saying, “We’d like to dedicate this whole show to the incredible genius, talent, and character-full gift to the world who was Ozzy Osbourne. We send our love to his family.” After this tribute, Martin performed a quick and stripped-down version of “Changes” at the piano, which opens with, “I feel unhappy, I feel so sad / I’ve lost the best friend that I ever had / She was my woman, I loved her so / But it’s too late now, I’ve let her go / I’m going through changes / I’m going through changes.”
After completing the song, Martin concluded with, “Ozzy, we love you, wherever you’re going.”
In his 2010 autobiography I Am Ozzy, Osbourne shared insights about the song’s creation, writing (as noted by American Songwriter):
“We wanted to impress ourselves before we impressed anyone else. If other people happened to like what we were doing, that was just a bonus. That’s how we ended up doing songs like ‘Changes,’ which didn’t sound like anything we’d ever done before.
When a lot of people hear the name ‘Black Sabbath,’ they often think only of the heavy stuff. But there was so much more to us than that — especially when we started trying to move away from all that black magic nonsense. With ‘Changes,’ Tony [Iommi] just sat down at the piano and came up with this beautiful riff, I hummed a melody over it, and Geezer [Butler] wrote these heartbreaking lyrics about the breakup Bill [Ward] was going through with his wife at the time. I thought that was brilliant from the moment we recorded it.”
“Changes” is a distinct outlier in the Black Sabbath discography: Instead of the typical guitar-driven metal or rock, it’s an emotional piano ballad. This unique aspect made it the perfect song for Coldplay’s Chris Martin to use to honor the late Ozzy Osbourne, who sadly passed away yesterday (July 22) at 76 years old.
Coldplay performed in Nashville last night, and early in the show, Martin took a moment to pay tribute to Osbourne (here’s a video), stating, “We’d like to dedicate this whole show to the incredible genius, talent, and character-full gift to the world who was Ozzy Osbourne. We send our love to his family.” Following this tribute, Martin performed a quick and stripped-down rendition of “Changes” at the piano, which opens with, “I feel unhappy, I feel so sad / I’ve lost the best friend that I ever had / She was my woman, I loved her so / But it’s too late now, I’ve let her go / I’m going through changes / I’m going through changes.”
After finishing, Martin concluded, “Ozzy, we love you, wherever you’re going.”
In his 2010 autobiography I Am Ozzy, Osbourne discussed the song’s genesis, writing (as American Songwriter notes):
“We wanted to impress ourselves before we impressed anyone else. If other people happened to like what we were doing, that was just a bonus. That’s how we ended up doing songs like ‘Changes,’ which didn’t sound like anything we’d ever done before.
When a lot of people hear the name ‘Black Sabbath,’ all they think of is the heavy stuff. But there was a lot more to us than that — especially when we started making an effort to get away from all that black magic sh*t. With ‘Changes,’ Tony [Iommi] just sat down at the piano and came up with this beautiful riff, I hummed a melody over the top, and Geezer [Butler] wrote these heartbreaking lyrics about the breakup Bill [Ward] was going through with his wife at the time. I thought that was brilliant from the moment we recorded it.”
