And even more respect for singing the original version of this song. Not the album version. The album version is different. So, to put it in the correct way, for these who don't know. War Pigs was originally called "Walpurgis" and had different lyrics and rhythm parts than the finalized album version. It's also here on yt for everyone who wants to check it out. Ozzy sometimes can be seen singing the original lyrics in the live shows Black Sabbath did in the early to mid 70s.
Not only were you guys some of Sabbaths very first fans, but to also cover their most iconic song this well before it was even officially released is insane!
Totally Amazing !!!!!! Covering Sabbath virtually before Sabbath was well known. What motivated this?? Respect? This is like going down to the bar down the street hearing a band then a few months later covering their songs at a gig. I know someone from this band was the sound man at Dumfries in Scotland and recorded Black Sabbath's earliest known recording. Great Band - Iron Claw.
It's one thing to know this band was covering War Pigs before it was even committed to record, but it's another to actually hear the recording of the song in such good quality, given that it is a bootleg from 1970. Absolutely incredible piece of history that was archived with this recording, plus it's a pleasure to listen to on its own.
It's highly possible they were first professional band to cover them, since they attended to their very first concerts. Suck surely did make cover as well, but it was a little bit later (still one of the first tho)
Hello Omar! Thanks for covering "Winter"! Hope you enjoy playing it! It's interesting to hear it without a flute, with a harmonica instead! Well done! Cheers, Alex (Iron Claw)
Alex Wilson Indeed. I'm sure you must be aware that this type of thing is much sought after by Sabbath fans. And this is a biggie as Sabbath hadn't even released the album by then. And even after the album HAD been released, Ozzy would occasionally sing those original lyrics. I'm just curious to how you would have heard the song to cover it and were able to work it out in the first place. Given the technology of the day. Not as if you could hold a mobile phone up at an early Sabbath gig to tape it. Heh. I'm aware they had a big fan base up there at that time such as Cumbria and Dumfries.I take it you must have seen them play up there?
Daz Cox One of my hobbies has been tape recording; I started taping when I was 14 in 1962 .... I recorded Black Sabbath at Rugman's Youth Club in November 1969 and met the band that night ..... you're right, no fancy technology, just one mike and a reel to reel recorder! Sabbath played a Sunday afternoon session on BBC radio in April 1970, so I just recorded the session from my radio via a microphone and as we (Iron Claw) were already playing the whole of Sabbath's first album we incorporated 2 new songs they played, which were "Warpigs" and "Fairies Wear Boots"!
I was never too hip on Sabbath's song, but this is a badass cover. I was confused at first and wasn't sure if I had just never understood what Ozzy was saying in the original song, or if they were changed here lol. But I like the alternate treatment of the lyrics. This would have been a insanely radical performance to attend
@@ironclaw2006 Really did man! I have loved Sabbath since I was 10 or so. You can deduce I was born in '64, so you get the idea! Great, great, cover my friend! And the fact it came out so currently with the original! Thanks for posting this!
@@ironclaw2006 I just got back from Wikipedia, thanks for recording Sabbath's show at Dumfries! I am of course familiar, you got the holy grail, man! I didn't get to see them until the "Never Say Die!" tour(twice). You struck gold, Zeppelin and Sabbath in their grinding, hard working days! You were there man!☮💽🎶🍺👍
I actually just thought to ask this here: do you by any chance have the lyrics to "Crossrocker"? It's definitely one of your coolest songs, but I've never been fully able to pick out what's being said. The parts I've been able to make out, though, seem to be about some sort of war or murderer, so I feel like it has to be something interesting.
"Crossrocker" - Verse 1 - "You've got your cape, you've got your crown, Cajun graves lie upside down... You found the deadly parson's daughter, strangled by my friend Crossrocker.... Psychoreactory..... Verse 2 - "Watching, waiting in your yard, illusion killings are so hard.... From above, your mind lives wild, 'Neath, your mind lives like a child....Psychoreactory.... Verse 3 - "Your victims young, your victims old, It's your wealth, they're bought and sold....Crime lies deeply in your head, You'll be next to be found dead..... Psychoreactory lies in your brain..... Verse 4 - "Left your weapons on, It's your bell, their burning soul..... Crime lies deeply in your head, You'll be next to be found dead.... Psychoreactory lies in your brain..... (gtr solo) - Verse 5 - (Repeat verse 2)" - (gtr solo)
@@ironclaw2006 Wow, thanks a ton! As a side note, I'm 20 years old. I had the good fortune to be raised by parents who were born in the late 60s, so I heard almost exclusively stuff from the 1970s-1990s growing up, and I made friends with good musical taste. Thanks to RUclips's recommendations, I discovered you guys about 2-3 years ago. Even decades later, new people (some of which, like myself, were born well after this stuff came out) are just coming across your music. In a manner of speaking, you're basically immortal.
@@ironclaw2006 Your conversation, the facts of who you are that having it, under what circumstances it happens and it's content, well, for me that is what metal is about! Or true music... What you doing and what you did with the band is really legendary! Be healthy and strong! Thank you for all...
The sound is all messed up now. I listened to it a few months ago, and it was great. Now its not listenable. *FIX* : make sure your phone audio is set to stereo, not mono. There is no middle mono in this mix, only left + right.
@@ironclaw2006 i figured out why i was getting no sound. I usually change my phone audio from stereo to mono so i can listen to audio through one headphone at work. This recording fully in side/stereo, instead of mid/no mono. Changed my phone back to stereo, and now it works again, in case anyone else has trouble with it. Anways, kick ass cover. Starting to really love your pioneering band, Iron Claw. You guys have to be the first band to do heavy /doom metal following Sabbath. Skull crusher is freaking amazing.
@@ironclaw2006 - yeah thats why I removed it, at last second I realized it was 2nd album song...all the old 1st+2nd album songs kind of blur together in my memory
How did the band know about the song before Black Sabbath released it? Also, is there any chance of Iron Claw ever reuniting and possibly recording a new album?
@@ironclaw2006 Wow ! Thanks - Im big Black Sabbath Fan - Dig Your Covers Of Black Sabbath , Very Kool / Now Im A Big Iron Claw Fan - I Also Have Some Videos On RUclips - Iron Claw , Great Work Then and Now - Great Bass Playing Also - tanks Again -
@@ironclaw2006 I thought so. I've been playing guitar as an amateur for 20 years and it's definitely not something I could do. I have just about every Sabbath bootleg out there and this version be could easily be mistaken for Sabbath themselves. My grandparents lived in Moffat in 1970 too!
NO! If you read the earlier comments, Iron Claw used to cover the first Sabbath album, and in March 1970 we heard Sabbath play Warpigs and Fairies, so we added them to the cover set. But these were the original lyrics Sabbath used in March 1970....
Hi, if you're referring to interference on sound, it plays back OK on laptop, desktop and smart tv's but for some reason not on android phone. A strangle "burbling" sound emerges! Don't know why...
Alex Wilson I think he’s referring to the fact that these aren’t the original warpigs lyrics. So maybe he’s thinking sabbath didn’t let you guys do the copyrighted lyrics?
@@SolidFoxHoundSF these are the original lyrics. The original was Walpurgis, with these occult lyrics, but they changed them to War Pigs for commercial release. Look up Black Sabbath - War Pigs
oh man, you guys were sabbath lovers before anyone had even heard their name. total respect there
And even more respect for singing the original version of this song. Not the album version. The album version is different. So, to put it in the correct way, for these who don't know. War Pigs was originally called "Walpurgis" and had different lyrics and rhythm parts than the finalized album version. It's also here on yt for everyone who wants to check it out. Ozzy sometimes can be seen singing the original lyrics in the live shows Black Sabbath did in the early to mid 70s.
Not only were you guys some of Sabbaths very first fans, but to also cover their most iconic song this well before it was even officially released is insane!
Totally Amazing !!!!!! Covering Sabbath virtually before Sabbath was well known. What motivated this?? Respect? This is like going down to the bar down the street hearing a band then a few months later covering their songs at a gig. I know someone from this band was the sound man at Dumfries in Scotland and recorded Black Sabbath's earliest known recording. Great Band - Iron Claw.
that would be Alex Wilson who did those recordings. Fantastic band.. one of my favs of all time
@TheOldBoy101 .. by the way, I dig your youtube profile name. I can't help but wonder about it's significance ;)
I read that Iron Claw approached Sabbath's management at the time and they were answered with a cease desist letter!
It's one thing to know this band was covering War Pigs before it was even committed to record, but it's another to actually hear the recording of the song in such good quality, given that it is a bootleg from 1970. Absolutely incredible piece of history that was archived with this recording, plus it's a pleasure to listen to on its own.
Before the album release?!?! This is beyond legendary!!!
Black Sabbath's lost twin. Couldn't say which is heavier but both are my favorite of anything ever.
Have you listened to Bedemon? They're Sabbath's American cousin.
@@fakesmile172 Don't forget Pentagram too
@@Mishool151 I may be wrong, but wasn't Bedemon like a side project of Pentagram?
@@Ailgadem Yeah, it was one of their other guitar player Randy Palmer's side project
Iron Claw... the first band to play Black Sabbath covers....!?!
As far as I know, Yes!
Alex Wilson This is pretty cool, Alex. Are you the bassist? I like the interpretation of Geezer’s lines.
A then Flower Travellin Band (japan) make the cover of Black Sabbath in October 1970
don't forget the band suck (from south africa)
It's highly possible they were first professional band to cover them, since they attended to their very first concerts. Suck surely did make cover as well, but it was a little bit later (still one of the first tho)
Wow, Walpurgis lyrics and everything. Great stuff.
Hello Omar! Thanks for covering "Winter"! Hope you enjoy playing it! It's interesting to hear it without a flute, with a harmonica instead! Well done! Cheers, Alex (Iron Claw)
For a 16 year old that's pretty impressive!
What if only we ever knew of Iron Claw and Black Sabbath just popped up on RUclips 50 years later?
Interesting concept!
Standing, on the left, Ian McDougall, standing on the right Mike Waller. Seated on left Alex Wilson, seated on the right Jim Ronnie.
I can tell Alex Wilson studied Geezer Butler as carefully as a Border Collie studies sheep! He got his sound PERFECTLY!
This is great!!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Amazing !!!!!! This song (with those lyrics) would have been called Walpurgis at this stage, not War Pigs.
Glad you liked it Daz, We always knew it as Warpigs, it wasn't until later the story of the origin of the song came out as Walpurgis. Alex (Iron Claw)
Alex Wilson Indeed. I'm sure you must be aware that this type of thing is much sought after by Sabbath fans. And this is a biggie as Sabbath hadn't even released the album by then. And even after the album HAD been released, Ozzy would occasionally sing those original lyrics. I'm just curious to how you would have heard the song to cover it and were able to work it out in the first place. Given the technology of the day. Not as if you could hold a mobile phone up at an early Sabbath gig to tape it. Heh. I'm aware they had a big fan base up there at that time such as Cumbria and Dumfries.I take it you must have seen them play up there?
Daz Cox One of my hobbies has been tape recording; I started taping when I was 14 in 1962 .... I recorded Black Sabbath at Rugman's Youth Club in November 1969 and met the band that night ..... you're right, no fancy technology, just one mike and a reel to reel recorder! Sabbath played a Sunday afternoon session on BBC radio in April 1970, so I just recorded the session from my radio via a microphone and as we (Iron Claw) were already playing the whole of Sabbath's first album we incorporated 2 new songs they played, which were "Warpigs" and "Fairies Wear Boots"!
Alex Wilson wow thats very kool Alex!!!! and exceptional cover by any standards!!!
I am hardcore sabbath fan have been since 1990....this version is pure and crisp!!!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Physically imposible to be trver than this.
Thanks for the compliment!
I was never too hip on Sabbath's song, but this is a badass cover. I was confused at first and wasn't sure if I had just never understood what Ozzy was saying in the original song, or if they were changed here lol. But I like the alternate treatment of the lyrics. This would have been a insanely radical performance to attend
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
they covered an early version of warpigs, called Walpurgis
You guys were ahead of your time, even at such a young age at the time.
Iron Claw fkn rules
I am so impressed! This is amazing!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! Only 50 years ago!
@@ironclaw2006 Really did man! I have loved Sabbath since I was 10 or so. You can deduce I was born in '64, so you get the idea! Great, great, cover my friend! And the fact it came out so currently with the original! Thanks for posting this!
@@ironclaw2006 I just got back from Wikipedia, thanks for recording Sabbath's show at Dumfries! I am of course familiar, you got the holy grail, man! I didn't get to see them until the "Never Say Die!" tour(twice). You struck gold, Zeppelin and Sabbath in their grinding, hard working days! You were there man!☮💽🎶🍺👍
Says you covered "Taste", friends in music forever? I LOVE Taste and solo Rory!Lol!
The "Walpurgis" version, it's awesome!
+Jason D Glad you like it Jason!
excellent job!
Holy crap they even used the original lyrics.... This isnt the recording that was going around called black sabbath "walpurgis" is it?
Any way to add this to spotify? Fantastic cover 👌
I agree 👍 💯
Dude this is sooo badd asss nice guyss!
Thanks for the compliment Jonathan!
I actually just thought to ask this here: do you by any chance have the lyrics to "Crossrocker"? It's definitely one of your coolest songs, but I've never been fully able to pick out what's being said. The parts I've been able to make out, though, seem to be about some sort of war or murderer, so I feel like it has to be something interesting.
Hi Judeau, thanks for your interest! Cheers, Alex
"Crossrocker" - Verse 1 - "You've got your cape, you've got your crown, Cajun graves lie upside down... You found the deadly parson's daughter, strangled by my friend Crossrocker.... Psychoreactory..... Verse 2 - "Watching, waiting in your yard, illusion killings are so hard.... From above, your mind lives wild, 'Neath, your mind lives like a child....Psychoreactory.... Verse 3 - "Your victims young, your victims old, It's your wealth, they're bought and sold....Crime lies deeply in your head, You'll be next to be found dead..... Psychoreactory lies in your brain..... Verse 4 - "Left your weapons on, It's your bell, their burning soul..... Crime lies deeply in your head, You'll be next to be found dead.... Psychoreactory lies in your brain..... (gtr solo) - Verse 5 - (Repeat verse 2)" - (gtr solo)
@@ironclaw2006 Wow, thanks a ton! As a side note, I'm 20 years old. I had the good fortune to be raised by parents who were born in the late 60s, so I heard almost exclusively stuff from the 1970s-1990s growing up, and I made friends with good musical taste. Thanks to RUclips's recommendations, I discovered you guys about 2-3 years ago. Even decades later, new people (some of which, like myself, were born well after this stuff came out) are just coming across your music. In a manner of speaking, you're basically immortal.
@@ironclaw2006 Your conversation, the facts of who you are that having it, under what circumstances it happens and it's content, well, for me that is what metal is about! Or true music... What you doing and what you did with the band is really legendary! Be healthy and strong! Thank you for all...
The sound is all messed up now. I listened to it a few months ago, and it was great. Now its not listenable. *FIX* : make sure your phone audio is set to stereo, not mono. There is no middle mono in this mix, only left + right.
What are you listening to it on? Mobile phone, laptop, desktop?
@@ironclaw2006 on my phone, but it had worked on my phone less than 2 months ago.
@@ironclaw2006 i will try on my laptop later
@@ironclaw2006 i figured out why i was getting no sound. I usually change my phone audio from stereo to mono so i can listen to audio through one headphone at work. This recording fully in side/stereo, instead of mid/no mono. Changed my phone back to stereo, and now it works again, in case anyone else has trouble with it. Anways, kick ass cover. Starting to really love your pioneering band, Iron Claw. You guys have to be the first band to do heavy /doom metal following Sabbath. Skull crusher is freaking amazing.
@@BSIII didn't even think to do this as I normally use one headphone at work. Thanks for the tip!
he recorded their live gigs of it
Regarding your earlier post, "Warpigs" and "Fairies Wear Boots" were on Sabbath's 2nd album, released September 1970
@@ironclaw2006 - yeah thats why I removed it, at last second I realized it was 2nd album song...all the old 1st+2nd album songs kind of blur together in my memory
How did the band know about the song before Black Sabbath released it? Also, is there any chance of Iron Claw ever reuniting and possibly recording a new album?
They recorded a live show of Sabbath. Then they tried the cover.
I know the names, but can you tell me/us who is who in the picture?
Thanks
thanks Fantastic ! what kind of guitar and amp used -
My Gibson SG Standard through Jimmy's Vox AC30....
@@ironclaw2006 Wow ! Thanks - Im big Black Sabbath Fan - Dig Your Covers Of Black Sabbath , Very Kool / Now Im A Big Iron Claw Fan - I Also Have Some Videos On RUclips - Iron Claw , Great Work Then and Now - Great Bass Playing Also - tanks Again -
Did you named your band after King Crimson? Have you ever seen their concerts in 1969?
Hi, yes I named the band from the lyrics of "21st Century Schizoid Man" and no, I have never been lucky enough to see King Crimson! Cheers, Alex
Did you guys ever release any vinyls? Iron Claw is one of my favorite old Metal bands and Skullcrusher is my favorite track.
Hi, Iron Claw vinyl should be available on Rockadrome web site.
Some creative deviation with the bassline but cool in its own way.
Thanks Glenn, we learned them by ear quite quickly so there was bound to be some differences! Cheers, Alex
I'd Really Like To Know How This Happened
Quite simple really, we heard Sabbath playing the song live, before the album was released, liked it and decided to cover it...
Alex Wilson Thank You For Letting Me Know Great Cover And Quality For 1970
@@ironclaw2006 right freakin on!!! its storys like this i like to read and hear!!!
This is a good version, even though it has different lyrics.
These were a take on the original lyrics..... Glad you like it!
How did they manage this, before guitar tabs?
All worked out by ear in 1969-70!
@@ironclaw2006 I thought so. I've been playing guitar as an amateur for 20 years and it's definitely not something I could do. I have just about every Sabbath bootleg out there and this version be could easily be mistaken for Sabbath themselves. My grandparents lived in Moffat in 1970 too!
Hey Alex, I remastered this song into mono so people can with audio issues can listen to it. Anyway I can send it to you via email?
You on Facebook?
@@ironclaw2006 no, it's been a few years since ive been on there.
@@ironclaw2006 i can delete this link as soon as you dl it
@@ironclaw2006 ok. I'll send it there!
I would love to meet you in real life alex
instead of " oh lord now"! we get " hey "!🙃
Yar, dood. Play Sweet Leaf!
wait damn it,so war pigs is not Sabbath's song but Iron Claw's?
NO! If you read the earlier comments, Iron Claw used to cover the first Sabbath album, and in March 1970 we heard Sabbath play Warpigs and Fairies, so we added them to the cover set. But these were the original lyrics Sabbath used in March 1970....
Oh ok,got a little scared hahaha,props to Iron Claw though a very fine cover!
MrAero164 Cheers!
The original songs??? WTF???
We heard them play it live and covered it before it was originally released!
telibe
Is that English? I couldn't understand a single word
English with a Scottish accent!
@@ironclaw2006 I need an Iron Claw to English dictionary.
Black Sabbath didn’t like em playing their Copyrighted music even though that law wasn’t enacted until September 9 1977.
Hi, if you're referring to interference on sound, it plays back OK on laptop, desktop and smart tv's but for some reason not on android phone. A strangle "burbling" sound emerges! Don't know why...
Alex Wilson I think he’s referring to the fact that these aren’t the original warpigs lyrics. So maybe he’s thinking sabbath didn’t let you guys do the copyrighted lyrics?
@@SolidFoxHoundSF these are the original lyrics. The original was Walpurgis, with these occult lyrics, but they changed them to War Pigs for commercial release. Look up Black Sabbath - War Pigs
I always thought iron claw world war pigs and Black Sabbath stole it from Them
Sadly, no!