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Lady in Black (Uriah Heep song)

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"Lady in Black"
Song
B-side"Simon the Bullet Freak"

"Lady in Black" is a song by the 1970s rock band Uriah Heep. It is the fourth track of their 1971 album Salisbury.

The song is credited to Ken Hensley. It tells the story of a man wandering through war-torn darkness and encountering a goddess-like entity who consoles him. It is often praised, by fans and critics alike, as Hensley's most poetic work to date.There were too many b-sides for this song as a single the most famous was "Simon the Bullet Freak" but "Bird of Prey" has also been the b-side for the song.[1] In 1981 the band has released a single in Germany and in Netherlands and the b-side was "Easy Livin'".[2] The song has been written in the key of A Minor.

A brief comment on the cover of the original vinyl release commented that for Ken Hensley inspiration was a real case: a surprise visit to his daughter's rural vicar at a moment when he was in very depressed state. The result off this meeting, and-some kind of insight-and was the song "Lady in Black": philosophical parable tells us that evil can not be overcome by evil itself.

History

"Lady in Black" has been performed in the form of rock ballads (and not having the traditional verse-chorus), has become one of the most popular concert numbers of Uriah Heep, a great success using in Germany and Russia.[3] In the United Kingdom and United States the song has never been released as a single, but instead was released in Germany and became a major hit in 1977. It stayed on the top of charts 13 weeks,[4] it is prevented to take top position to Paul McCartney and his hit "Mull of Kintyre". For this achievement Uriah Heep got here the award "Golden Lion", the German equivalent Grammy and Brit Awards.[3]

"Lady in Black" is a hero of the story early Sunday morning, her long hair fluttering in the winter wind. He guesses on what grounds she finds him, in the make of destruction that are visible all round, as the result of battle in which he could not win (born...destruction lay around me from the fight I could not win).

Guests are asked to give name of his enemy, and he says, the enemy is this-people living in hunger fight and kill their brothers without thought of love and God (born...the need within some men to fight and kill their brothers without thought of love or God).

He begs the "Lady in Black" to give him horses to "trample enemies" (and I begged her to give me horses to trample down my enemies), but that it turns away from the idea of a battle that reduces man to animals which so easy to begin and yet impossible to end.

After receiving instructions from the woman he now calls "the mother of the human race" (Mother of all men), the hero, in the horror of loneliness, asks her to reach out and stay to being with her,he might be in the world. But "Lady in Black" replies: "Believe in God and believe me" (have faith and trust in me...), and that, his heart was "filed with life again"(born...she said and filled my heart with life..).

"You can not beat the number-she continues.-Do not amuse yourself with this illusion. When you need me,no doubt: I will always be near. Then she turns and walks away, he lost the power of speech, but accompanies her gaze. The narrative ends with words:

My labor is no easier but now I know I'm not alone I find new heart each time I think upon that windy day and if one day she comes to you drink deeply from her words so wise take courage from her as your prize and say hello for me...[5]

Cover versions

  • The song was covered by the Spanish folk metal group Mägo de Oz in a translated version as "Dama Negra". Serbian heavy metal band Kraljevski Apartman recorded a cover version with Serbian lyrics entitled Slike on their 2000 album Izgubljen u vremenu. Czech version Slečna závist (Miss Envy) is by metal band Arakain. It was huge hit in 1995 in Czech Republic.
  • In 2002 the Romanian group Iris together with Mick Box and Bernie Shaw from Uriah Heep made a new version of this song named "Doamna in negru". This new version was a collaboration between Iris and the two members of Uriah Heep and the lyrics are bilingual in Romanian and in English.[8]
  • Ken Hensley also covered this song on his album "The Wizard's Diary" in 2004 and the version 8 minutes long while the original is no longer than 4 minutes and 44 seconds.[9]

Chart positions

1971+1978+2008 Weekly Chart Peak
position
German Singles Chart[10] 1
Swiss Singles Chart[11] 6
1977 Year-End Chart Position
German Singles Chart 41[12]
1978 Year-End Chart Position
German Singles Chart 52[13]

References

  1. ^ http://heepfiles.info/search2/salb.htm
  2. ^ http://heepfiles.info/cover/ladyeasy.jpg
  3. ^ a b "LADY IN BLACK - SINGLE BY URIAH HEEP". Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2010-01-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |description= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Kirk Blows. "Uriah Heep Story, February 1970 - October 1970". www.uriah-heep.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
  5. ^ http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/LADY-IN-BLACK-lyrics-Uriah-Heep/A4D3E8855F7E49304825698A000A4777
  6. ^ http://www.uriah-heep-italia.com/old/curiosita/covers/altri_covers_heep/uriah_heep_italia_uomo_del_paradiso.htm
  7. ^ http://operemusicali.siae.it/OpereMusicali/musicaSearch.do
  8. ^ "Biografie Iris" (in Romanian). Rockmania Romania. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
  9. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMs7SLDFZdI
  10. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
  11. ^ http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Uriah+Heep&titel=Lady+In+Black&cat=s
  12. ^ http://ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~topsi/deu1977/deu_1977t.html
  13. ^ http://ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~topsi/deu1978/deu_1978t.html
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