Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Morrison know how it sounds, naming their new song "Crack C*caine"- "The song's not about crack c*caine," Osbourne recently told Rolling Stone. " ... But it's kind of what you might think Ozzy Osbourne would do. It's, like, the two loves in my life: drugs and women."
The song, however, is about a toxic relationship that everyone knows is going bad, but the speaker just can't quit it. Loving you is driving me insane / I put you down and pick you up again ... like crack c*caine, Osbourne sings in the chorus. Morrison also spoke about the song to RS, noting that Osbourne's lyrics are nuanced and poignant.
"I love Ozzy's lyrics," he said. "They're very, very poignant, and they're not on the nose. It's about that dysfunctional relationship that we all know about that doesn't feel right. But it's like a drug. You keep going back for more."
Billy Morrison Wrote Music with Ozzy Osbourne During the Pandemic, But Didn't Know What to Do With It
Billy Morrison, who plays guitar in Billy Idol's band, said that he wrote a ton of music with Ozzy Osbourne during the pandemic, but wasn't sure what to do with it after that.
"But Sharon [Osbourne] said, 'That one song that you've got with Ozzy, you should release it as a single and do the whole thing: Do the video, do the press,' which is a hugely generous offer," he said. "It didn't make sense releasing it just by itself, so I took some of the music that I'd written in [pandemic], and I got a few more friends and made this album."
The album includes contributions from not only Osbourne, but also Billy Idol, D.M.C., Ministry's Al Jourgensen, Steve Vai, and Linda Perry. Osbourne revealed that he was given the music and wrote the lyrics in record time. "I don't know where the f***ing thing comes from," he said. "Inside 20 minutes, it was done. When it comes to me quickly like that, I go, 'Is it that good?'"
As for the video, Morrison wanted to showcase Osbourne in the center of the narrative. Interspersed throughout the story is Osbourne sitting in his home theater overlaid with performance footage.
"I wanted to present Ozzy in his best light," Morrison explained. "The truth is, everyone knows he's gone through some hard times... Everyone loves to report on how frail he looks, and that's just not true. I know he looks powerful, and magnificent, and still as vital as we all want him to be, and that's what I wanted to show."
