Guitar Legend Recalls Bizarre Onstage Moment With Ozzy Osbourne That Floored Fans

Rock guitarist Jake E. Lee recently revealed one of his favorite moments from his days touring with Ozzy Osbourne. The guitar legend was the lead guitarist for Osbourne from 1982 and 1987, and a highlight from that time was the Speak of the Devil Tour, which took place in 1983.

“One of my favorite Ozzy stories was from that tour,” Lee, 68, told Guitar World in an interview. “We were doing 'War Pigs,' and it’s the first verse, and Ozzy looks at me and mouths, ‘What are the words?’ I knew the words, but he stumped me. I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t want to say the wrong words, so I just said, ‘I don’t know…’ So he started singing ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”

Despite the bizarre choice of lyrics, Lee noted that “it worked perfectly.”

“It was genius,” he said. “It was like, ‘Old MacDonald haaaad a faaarm, he had some pigs with an oink oink here, and an oink oink therrrrrre.’ I remember it clearly, and it just worked so great. It was onstage, and I remember looking at the punters in the front row, and they were just like, ‘What the f--- is going on?’”

“War Pigs,” the anti-war opening track from the 1970 Black Sabbath album Paranoid, starts off with the dire lyrics: “Generals gathered in their masses/Just like witches at black masses/Evil minds that plot destruction/Sorcerer of death's construction."

Pretty far from the "E-I-E-I-O" lyrics from the old school children’s song.

While concertgoers were confused by Osbourne’s 1983 version of “War Pigs,” the Prince of Darkness performed the song live one final time at Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning farewell concert on July 5 without missing a beat.

"War Pigs" has also been covered by everyone from Faith No More to T-Pain to Judas Priest, the latter of whom recently noted they play the classic song “at every show around the world” and that fans always sing along to it.

Related: Sharon Osbourne Makes Major Announcement Following Ozzy’s Final Show