Puddles Pity Party, the sad clown renowned for his sorrowful covers of classic songs, has launched a video for a version of Black Sabbath‘s already sombre 1972 classic Changes.
“Oh hello,” writes Puddles. “Here’s a Black Sabbath song written by Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi.”
“Ozzy!” he adds, before failing to add the rest of the credits, which include the words “Osbourne” and “Bill Ward”.
Changes was originally released on Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4 album, where it unveiled a depth of emotion not even hinted at by the band’s previous work. This daring vulnerability was compounded further by the release of a version by Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne in 2007. And now Puddles Pity Parth has compounded that vulnerability further still.
Fascinatingly, this is not the first time PPP has covered a song called Changes. In 2021 he released a “re-weirdoed” version of the David Bowie song of the same name. Nor is the first time he’s taken on Sabbath’s catalogue: Last year he released a melancholy take on War Pigs, while two years ago he released a heavy-hearted version of Paranoid smooshed up with The Police’s Driven To Tears.
Other songs starring in the Puddles Pity Party catalogue of gloom include a forlorn cover of Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage, a dejected take on the same band’s Wish You Were Here, and a glum version of The Who’s Pinball Wizard.
Puddles is currently on tour with Primus and Coheed and Cambria in the US, and will play a rare UK show next May at the Cambridge Theatre in London. For full dates, visit the Puddles Pity Party website.
Puddles Pity Party – CHANGES (Black Sabbath Cover) – YouTube 