‘Planet Caravan’ is the strangest song that Black Sabbath had ever recorded. I mean, the song is not strange at all by itself, but it’s totally “out” of their catalogue. Sabbath were the fathers of metal, known and praised for the powerful riffs, dark imagery, anti-establishment lyrics, and they certainly were not part of the psychedelic rock and space-rock wave from the late sixties and early seventies, when they formed and made a name for themselves. But this is a psychedelic song, aural, smooth, floating, mind-expanding as if it was written by Jefferson Airplane or even Pink Floyd. Geezer Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist and principal lyricist, wrote the lyrics that talk about mysterious space-travelers sailing past the Earth and beyond, undetermined if they visit or escape our planet. It’s sort of a love letter to the Earth, which supports the rest of the politically charged and ecological songs on ‘Paranoid’. Butler once stated that the song's meaning is floating through the universe with one's lover.
Iommi’s jazzy/bluesy guitar and Butler's smooth, soulful bass create a dreamy effect, soundscaping a mesmeric voyage out of this world. Ozzy’s vocals are processed through a Hammond organ reverberation effect, to match the ethereal quality of the song. Bill Ward plays some bongos, and the track features a piano, which is rare on Black Sabbath records, played by album engineer Tom Allom. Overall, it’s a beautiful song, one of my favorite Sabbath numbers, which showed that they were not just these wild rocking pessimists, but also skilled musicians and gentle souls.
PLANET CARAVAN Lyrics
We sail through endless skies
stars shine like eyes
the black night sighs
The moon in silver trees
falls down in tears
light of the night
The earth, a purple blaze
of sapphire haze
in orbit always
While down below the trees
bathed in cool breeze
silver starlight breaks down the night
And so we pass on by the crimson eye
of great god Mars
as we travel the universe
