Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Planet Caravan

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Recorded
  
16–21 June 1970

Length
  
4:35

Genre
  
Psychedelic rock

Label
  
Vertigo Warner Bros.

Released
  
18 September 1970 (1970-09-18)

Writer(s)
  
Iommi Ward Butler Osbourne

"Planet Caravan" is a song by the English rock band Black Sabbath. Geezer Butler has stated that the song's meaning is floating through the universe with one's lover. The lyrics to the demo version as available on the Special Edition reissue of Paranoid were ad-libbed by Osbourne about an outing in the woods. The song appears on their 1970 breakthrough album Paranoid. Lead singer Ozzy Osbourne uses a Leslie speaker to achieve the vocals' treble and vibrato effects. The piano parts on the track were played by album engineer Tom Allom. Iommi overdubbed flute to the reversed multitrack master which was then re-forwarded and treated with stereo delay.

Contents

Pantera cover

"Planet Caravan" was covered by American heavy metal band Pantera for their 1994 album Far Beyond Driven. It is often played as a bumper before commercials on the syndicated Jesus Christ show (originating from KFI AM 640) on Sunday mornings.

Music video

A video was produced for the song. All of the computer-generated visuals for the video were taken from Karl Sims digital animation "Panspermia" produced for the 1991 SIGGRAPH conference. The "Planet Caravan" video has been omitted from recent Pantera music video collections.

Release and reception

The song was released as the second single from Far Beyond Driven, and the follow up single to their hit single "I'm Broken" in 1994 on EastWest Records as a 12" single. It came in a 12" gatefold with a blood-red vinyl. Inside, the vinyl has a band picture with "To our fans: Thanks for the support!! You rule!! We'll see y'all next year!!" in silver. The pictures have also been signed in silver. The single became Pantera's highest charting single in the United States, peaking at #21 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, as well as charting on the UK Singles Chart, managing to peak at #26.

In the liner notes of Far Beyond Driven, it reads:

"This is a Black Sabbath song off of the Paranoid album. So don't freak out on us. We did the song because we wanted to. It has nothing to do with the integrity of our direction. It's a tripped out song. We think you'll dig it. If you don't, don't fucking listen to it. Thanks. On behalf of the rest of Pantera, Phil Anselmo '94."

Track listing

  • All tracks by Pantera unless noted otherwise.

    • Side A

    1. "Planet Caravan" (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward)
    2. "The Badge" (Poison Idea)

    Side B

    1. "Cowboys from Hell" (Live)
    2. "Heresy" (Live)

    Other covers

    "Planet Caravan" has also been covered by:

  • Mercury Rev as part of a 2001 John Peel radio session and as a B-side on CD1 of their 2002 single The Dark Is Rising.
  • Clive Jones of Black Widow and Agony Bag in 2007.
  • Cable on In These Black Days: Volume 4, a tribute to Black Sabbath.
  • Estonian band Rondellus covered this song in Medieval style, on their tribute album Sabbatum, for voice, lute and psaltery. In their version the lyrics are translated into Latin, and the song has been retitled "Planetarum Vagatio" (literally, "Wandering of the Planets").
  • Svarti Loghin on their album "Drifting Through the Void".
  • Black Sabbath – Planet Caravan (Poolside Rework)
  • Darkside as part of their Boiler Room (music project) concert in New York in 2013.

    • References

    Planet Caravan Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA