Lady in Black

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Lady in Black is a rock ballad by British hard rock band Uriah Heep . The piece was released as a single from the 1971 LP Salisbury .

Origin and text

The song was written in the fall of 1970 by Ken Hensley , the group's keyboardist , supposedly after meeting a woman in Munich in the summer of 1970. They were close friends for a while later. Hensley had to sing Lady in Black himself, as the song sounded too "banal" to the singer at the time, David Byron .

The pacifist text, presented by a male voice, is about the encounter of the first-person narrator with a "Lady in Black" ( German  woman in black ) at a time when the narrator is in an unspecified conflict. The woman asks him to refer to her as her “Foe” ( German  enemy, opponent ), and the narrator mentions the urge of some people to fight and kill their brothers. He then asks the woman to him, "Horses" ( German  horses to give), with whom he crush his opponents ( English to trample down ) will, but the woman refuses because conflicts easy to start and be almost impossible to stop. She refuses his request to accompany him from now on. When she turns away, she assures the narrator that she will not be far away if he should need her. Thus the statement of the piece is that the “bad” cannot be overcome with the “bad”, even if the “good” is temporarily not present.

Hensley sings the text without pauses, divided into five stanzas. In between there is a four-bar chorus that gets by without words.

Music and instrumentation

The song is composed in A minor and consists only of the two chords A minor and G major . The introductory instruments are the acoustic guitar , which is played offset to the basic rhythm, and the drums . From the second verse on, the electric bass and electric rhythm guitar set in , which together form the distinctive and at the same time monotonously repetitive basic riff of the song. In the further course, keyboards and a second vocal part are added.

Publication and chart successes

The 4:44 minute long song was recorded in October 1970. It was first published on the 1971 LP Salisbury and later released as a single - shortened by about a minute. The song was particularly successful in Germany, where it was re-released on singles several times during the 1970s and made it into the singles hit parade three times (1971 number 24, 1975 number 44 and 1977 number 5). Live the song was sometimes played twice or three times longer.

Cover versions

Cover versions exist of u. a. Torment , Ensiferum , the Puhdys , Blackmore's Night and Gregorian . Rex Gildo sang it with a German lyrics ( Spare me with tears ), Caterina Caselli with an Italian ( L'uomo del paradiso ). In addition, there are countless adaptations and satires , including one by Norbert and the cowards .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NDR: Uriah Heep - "Lady In Black". Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  2. ↑ mdr.de: Oldie history: "Lady in black" by Uriah Heep | MDR.DE. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Uriah Heep - Lady in Black - Zurich 1971. Retrieved on November 10, 2019 (German).
  4. ↑ Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit-Bilanz, Deutsche Chart Singles 1956-1980 . Taurus-Press, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 209.