Ozzy Osbourne wonders how the hell he got to the California Jam in “California Jam.”

Track: “California Jam”
Album: Marsh Witch Visions (2017)

The California Jam was a music festival on April 6, 1974, where hundreds of thousands of people watched eight bands play in Ontario, California. The show was one of those “you had to be there” events, but I love the person who wrote the Wikipedia page for it who called it “one of the last original wave of rock festivals.” You could probably make a case for what they mean by that, but I think it more speaks to how people think about their own generation and the staying power of the major events of it. If you were there, or if you love any of the eight bands that played there, this was huge, significant, and what came after it could never equal it. Is that true? I don’t think it really matters if it’s true or not.

“California Jam,” the song, finds Black Sabbath taking the stage and Ozzy Osbourne considering what got them to this moment. Osbourne repeats “me and the ghosts of Birmingham,” referencing their home and the slaughterhouse life that seemed an unlikely home for a band that would play for a huge crowd in an era-defining event in California. We can picture Osbourne up there in front of that crowd, likely addled in some way or another, and Darnielle has him say “I am an oncoming train.” It’s a comparison that says a great deal about success and fear.