Ozzy Osbourne’s upcoming album, Patient Number 9, features a plethora of legendary guest musicians, including guitarist Eric Clapton on the track “One of Those Days.” In a new interview, Osbourne revealed that Clapton wasn’t exactly on board with one of the song’s lyrics.
While speaking with Classic Rock magazine, Osbourne predicted that the line “One of those days that I don’t believe in Jesus” in the chorus would “cause shit” once the song is released. In fact, he revealed that Clapton questioned the lyric while they were recording the tune.
“[Clapton] said, ‘Oh, I’m not sure about that lyric’,” recalled Osbourne. “So we tried to replace it with some alternatives. We did ‘One of those days where I don’t believe in Christmas,” but it didn’t sound right. Losing faith in Jesus makes much more sense when the world is turning to shit.”
The metal icon went on to note, ““It’s not an ‘I Am an Anti-Christ’ song. It’s about those days where everything goes fucking wrong, and you’re going nuts trying to fix everything up.”
In the same interview, Osbourne explained that he quickly recorded a follow-up to 2020’s Ordinary Man to let his fans know that he’s still around despite his recent inability to tour due to his various health issues. “One of the reasons I made this record is so that people don’t forget me, and by hook or by crook I’ll be onstage again one day to say ‘thank you’ to the fans. If I can’t, I can’t, but my desire is strong.”
Patient Number 9 is set to arrive on September 9th, and has already been preceded by the title track (featuring Jeff Beck) and “Degradation Rules” (featuring Tony Iommi). Other musicians on the album include Zakk Wylde, Chad Smith, Mike McCready, Robert Trujillo, Duff McKagan, Chris Chaney, and the late Taylor Hawkins.
Osbourne, meanwhile, made his return to the stage earlier this month at the closing ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in his hometown of Birmingham, England. He was joined by Black Sabbath bandmate Iommi for a surprise performance of “Paranoid.”
While Osbourne’s tour plans remain in limbo, a 25-foot inflatable version of the metal legend is currently touring the United States to help promote the new album.