This text is taken from the official Ian Gillan homepage www.gillan.com. One section on his homepage is called Wordography and there Ian explains the meaning of his songs. So far he's done three Sabbath songs, Born Again,Trashed and Digital Bitch and I have included them here. Enjoy!


It's hard to say what was going through my mind. Sometimes you're trying to express an intangible feeling. 'Grey and plastic retards' is probably a dig at some of the less inspired members of our profession, (that would be on the business side of things). There's always a need for rhyme, but reason is an altogether more elusive little devil. Overall it's a quite an introverted study about something rising inside. I get off balance sometimes and I was on the way to getting centred again. It was good being with Sabbath and maybe there's a hint of the future there. The DP reunion was only a year or so ahead.
© Ian Gillan

Born Again
(Butler,Gillan,Iommi,Ward)
As you look through my window
Deep into my room
At the tapestries all faded
Their vague and distant glories
Concealed in the gloom
The icy fingers of forgotten passions
Softly brushing my lips
At the tips of my primitive soul

As you look though my door
Deep into my room
Can you feel the mighty wall of power
It's waiting waiting in the gloom
The distant shadows of forgotten champions
Those who live in me still
And will rise when we challenge and kill

Born again
You'll be born again

Look at this prince of evil
Fighting for your mind
Fighting all priests of shame
For the thrust of my challenge is aimed
At the hearts of mutant gods
Who think we're all the same
They're controlling our minds
And they use us for fame and fortune

As you look though my window
Deep into my room
At your future and freedom
The grey and plastic retards all floating in circles
And as you taste the fruits of new sensations
Softly brushing your lips
As we rise when we challenge and kill

Born again
You'll be born again

If you want to be king for a day
Just what do I say
Everybody's got to think like a hunter
Just search for your prey
Be alive though the night and day

I was drunk. Returning from the local pub in my small inflatable dinghy by way of the canal I decided to do some laps in my Ford on the small Go-Kart racetrack which Richard Branson had kindly installed at 'The Manor' (a residential studio he owns near Oxford in England). I did have a small mishap though. Clipping a pile of tyres on a previous lap, I ran over one of them on the next and was instantly flipped, skidding and spinning upside down along the road until I stopped inches short of a swimming pool. I would surely have drowned because it took me an age to release myself from the inertia seatbelt from which I was suspended. Ever safety conscious, I was lucky enough to be wearing a crash helmet. This I'd brought along with my motorbike (Ossa 250) as I was building a ramp near my tent in the grounds with the idea of jumping the lake the next morning. That never happened as I was feeling a bit rough, but I did go into the studio and write this song over a backing track written the day before by Tony, Geezer and Bill.
© Ian Gillan

Trashed
(Butler,Gillan,Iommi,Ward)
It really was a meeting
The bottle took a beating
The ladies of the manor
Watched me climb into my car and
I was going down the track about a hundred and five
They had the stopwatch rolling
I had the headlights blazing I was really alive
And yet my mind was blowing
I drank a bottle of tequila and I felt real good
I had the tape deck roaring
But on the twenty-fifth lap at the canal turn
I went off exploring
I knew I wouldn't make it the car just wouldn't make it
I was turning tires burning
The ground was in my sky
I was laughing the bitch was trashed
And death was in my eye

I had started pretty good and I was feeling my way
I had the wheels in motion
There was Peter and the Greenfly laughing like drains
Inebriation
The crowd was roaring I was at Brands Hatch
In my imagination
But at the canal turn I hit an oily patch
Inebriation

I was turning tires burning
The ground was in my sky
I was laughing the bitch was trashed
And death was in my eye

Ooh Mr. Miracle, you saved me from some pain
I thank you Mr. Miracle, I won't get trashed again
Ooh, can you hear my lies
Don't you bother with this fool just laugh into my eyes

I was turning tires burning
The ground was in my sky
I was laughing the bitch was trashed
And death was in my eye

Ooh Mr. Miracle, you saved me from some pain
I thank you Mr. Miracle, I won't get trashed again
Ooh, can you hear my lies
Don't you bother with this fool just laugh into my eyes

I went back to the bar and hit the bottle again
But there was no tequila
Then we started on the whiskey just to steady our brains
'Cos there was no tequila
And as we drank a little faster at the top of our hill
We began to roll
And as we got trashed we were laughing still
Well bless my soul

I remember exactly who inspired this story, but the only thing I can reveal about her identity is that neither she, nor her father, had anything to do with computers. I just loved the line...'a greedy emotional looter' and the rhyme would not be denied.
© Ian Gillan

DIGITAL BITCH
(Butler,Gillan,Iommi,Ward)

She wears her leather just to satisfy
She really throws it around
There ain't one thing she can't afford to buy
She's the richest bitch in town

Her big fat daddy was a money machine
He made a fortune from computers
She's got more money than I've ever seen
But she's a greedy emotional looter

Keep away from the digital bitch
Keep away from the digital bitch
Keep away from the digital bitch
She's so rich the digital bitch

She's got five rollers and a fine estate
A big house up on the hill
She throws parties just to celebrate
Her life is just one gynormous thrill

She buys poor people just to have around
She has a trophy for each lover
The bitch is rich but baby pound for pound
She's got a lot more to discover

Maybe she could please me if I saw
Beneath her veil
But she's just an irritation
Woman up for sale

She got so famous that she's on TV
She's got a professional smile
But I switch over 'cos she ain't for me
She disturbs me all the while

She looks so happy but she's got it wrong
She's always going faster
She sings her life to such a different song
She needs a loving and dominant master
Heh, heh