Ozzy Osbourne says that meeting Paul McCartney "was like seeing God"

2 May 2025, 12:22

Ahead of his last farewell, Ozzy Osbourne opens up about his love for The Beatles.

Black Sabbath's music might seem a million miles away from The Beatles, but the truth is you can hear the roots of their gloom metal in some of the Fab Four's melodic moments.

Songs like 'Helter Skelter', 'Revolution' and 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' arguably pointed in the direction of what would become heavy rock and metal, and the scene's godfather Ozzy Osbourne has always been an unashamed fan of The Beatles.

• Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's 10 greatest songs, ranked
• This mashup of The Temptations and Black Sabbath may be the best song you hear all day
• Listen to the Gold Radio Greats Live Playlist on Global Player, the official Gold app

As he prepares himself for the last ever Black Sabbath show, Ozzy has spoken frankly about his deep love for the Fabs and how blown away he was when he got to meet Paul McCartney.

"The Beatles were my thing, they were everything to me," Ozzy told The Guardian.

"When I met Paul McCartney it was like seeing God."

He added: "I was telling a guy about it one day.

"His kid was with him, and he said to me, 'You know what you said to that guy about meeting Paul McCartney? That’s what I felt like when I met you.'

"I was like, 'You what?' You never think about it.”

In My Life

Ozzy has covered The Beatles before, taking on John Lennon's 'In My Life' for his 2005 album Under Cover, which also included versions oof Lennon's solo tracks 'Woman' and 'Working Class Hero'. He has also covered Lennon's 'How?'.

Of his own presence at the Back to the Beginning Black Sabbath farewell, Ozzy has said: "We're only playing a couple of songs each.

"I don’t want people thinking, 'We're getting ripped off', because it’s just going to be … what's the word? … a sample, you're going to get a few songs each by Ozzy and Sabbath."