Spiral Architect by Black Sabbath

Album: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

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Sabbath bass player Geezer Butler, who wrote most of the their lyrics, had the words for this song come to him in a dream. He woke up the next morning and wrote them down. Later that day he called lead singer Ozzy Osbourne and read them to him - Ozzy was very impressed. >>
Suggestion credit:
Chris - Philly, PA
Wil Malone arranged the strings on this track. Other artists he's worked with include Todd Rundgren and Iron Maiden.
Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi originally attempted to play bagpipes on this track by simply going out to a music store, buying some, and bringing them back to the studio. The experiment was not a success: after struggling to fill the instrument's bladder with air, the band tried using a vacuum cleaner to inflate it. No luck there either. Tony was not destined to become a bagpipe player in a single day, and after wasting a bit of valuable studio time they scrapped the idea. (Source: Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath.)
Geezer Butler told Kerrang this song contains his favorite lyrics on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. He explained: "I had written them on my front lawn watching the sun come up, and it was a particularly good time in my life."

Comments: 9

Sabfan from SydneyI’ve always felt it was a continuation of A National Acrobatic. The spiral is DNA and it can only have 1 designer (architect), God, who looks upon his work & sees good. I’m not religious except for when I listen to Gezeer’s lyrics.
Luna Loud from Royal Woods, MichiganGary Lizzard from Home: I wasn't around back then, but according to setlist.fm, this song was played at least a few times on their '73-74 tour.

According to genius.com well, one section says the "Spiral" is DNA strands, i.e. people's genes. An architect is someone who builds, constructs, or designs. Who designs people's genes? It's God. The song is about the man upstairs. And life. And the things the narrator values in life. And they make him feel good. These lyrics along with the major progression of a lot of the riffs (some of the melodies are kind of dark, it's a really complex song, mind you, with a lot of parts) make this one of Sabbath's more positive, more upbeat songs. Awesome.
Mal from EarthSpiral Architect, the Great Fashioner of the Universe. His language is mathematics, in this instance Phi, the Golden Ratio. Used to be a common belief amongst many occultists, now reached mainstream attention (Google Fibonacci Sequence).
Spanish Sid from ManhattanI always got the impression that the song is about a dying man reliving his memories before he dies. The lyric “Of all the things I value most in life, I see my memories and feel their warmth and know that they are good” in particular stuck out to me as it comes across as somebody reliving their fondest memories throughout the years and reminiscing on the accomplishments and good times they had during their time on earth.
Gary Lizzard from HomeThis is one of my favorites for sure. Black Sabbath had plenty of overplayed hits, but I don't think this song was played live until their "reunion tours". After hearing War Pigs and Iron Man about a million times, play this in your basement and enjoy a real treat. Those guys were probably really proud of that song - the fun of putting out fresh music which was every bit as good, if not better, than anything else they had ever written to date.
Cindy from Pure DeliriumAttention people (or haters) who call Sabbath Satan worshippers...listen to this song!! Whenever i listen to this song I think of ozzy sitting cross legged in a field of grass and flowers, looking up at the sky, eyes closed and the wind blowing gently through his beautiful long (70's hair haha) ...ahhhhhhhh Sabbath freakin Rules!!!
Kieran from Brisbane, AustraliaSome of the most amazing lyrics I've ever heard. Sheer poetry!
Laura from Perth, Australiagreat song---the beginning guitar and the drone of the bass seems to reflect a bit of The Who's 'pinball wizard'...the beginning part particularly.
Andrea from Savona, Italyi'm not that sure about it, cause i heard in an ozzy's interview that he called geezer by phone asking him if he had any new lyric for a song but geezer had not.
just one hour later geezer phoned ozzy back and red the spiral's lyric.

ozzy was impressed and asked geezer where the hell he cought it. geezer stated that he wrote it lying down on his garden by the time between their the two phone calls. ozzy laughing said: can i buy you garden?

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