Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Crazy Train" (Ozzy Osbourne)

Welcome to the Bracket Busted Tuesday version of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!!  How does your bracket look?  This has been the a defining year for March Madness as team's you thought would make it past the first and second rounds have already been eliminated.  Here's hoping on this Tuesday that your favorite tournament team is still playing.  Needless to say, Mr. Buffett is probably secure in keeping his tournament prize of $1 Billion.  With much basketball still left to be played in both tournaments, there is a high probability, that this year's March Madness will get even crazier as it rides the rails to the final four...it might even be a road trip like this...

Honda Pilot - "Crazy Train"

Not exactly sure The Blizzard Of Ozz ever imagined his debut single winding up in a neuvo station wagon commercial.  He probably had something more along the lines of this in mind...

Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"

If you have attended a sporting event anywhere on the planet in the last 10 years...you have probably heard that "All Aboard....Ha ha ha ha ha ha" coming from the public address system.  Then the familiar crunching of Randy Rhodes guitar right before stereo enhanced..."Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay".  Maybe you've even sung along as our Pilot family did.  Well, maybe not like they did, but...you get the idea.  When you get past the bats, Black Sabbath, Ozzfest, Sharon, and the kids, it is hard to imagine with all of this attention that Ozzy has gotten, that the thing for which he is most remembered so far is his very first solo single from his first solo album...Blizzard Of Ozz.  Kinda crazy?

"Crazy Train" was written as an anti cold war rant by Ozzy and his band in 1980.  It catapulted Blizzard of Ozz to multiplatinum status, having sold 6,000,000 albums to date.  It features Randy Rhodes, a gifted guitarist, who died on in an aviation accident in 1982.  Blizzard Of Oz was going to be the name for the new band that Ozzy fronted after his departure from Black Sabbath, the album cover however, featured Ozzy's name much larger than had originally been intended so the album became the first solo album from the man who would be later given the moniker, "The Godfather Of Metal".  "Crazy Train" was the first single released from the album and began the launch of one of today's most recognizable icon's.

Perhaps there have been times in your life when you've felt like you were "going off the rails on a crazy train".  Confusing and tumultuous times seem to be the normal when one feels this way.  If you look around to the world, there is little in which to find the comfort that we so desperately need.  It may very well be, that looking at this world is part of the problem.  If we open the Bible, we can find the answers to the confounding times in the Word.  We see that there is peace and joy waiting if we will only embrace them.  There is strength to persevere through the "crazy train" moments in our lives.  This calm through the storm mentality can be referred to as "peace".  Contrary to the salutation of the seventies ("peace brother", or "peace out, man" extending the first two fingers upward, (insert your best Tommy Chong impersontation)), this type of peace is only available when one has had a renewal and restoration of their relationship with God.  This is possible by Jesus, death, burial, and resurrection actions, and possible through the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives DAILY.  The word "peace" is used in the Bible 420 times in the King James Version of the Bible.  This repetitious usage would more than likely indicate that there is some importance to this word.

One of the last things that Jesus told His disciples (that includes modern day disciples) was that He was leaving them peace:

John 14:27

King James Version (KJV)

²⁷ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Or as The Message paraphrase puts it:

John 14:27

The Message (MSG)

^25-27 “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.


Our lives will be inundated with storms that may seem like hurricanes, you may even get feeling so alone and cold that you feel your in the midst of a bizzard...but with this passage of scripture as a foundation, we can go about our lives, regardless of the troubles we may have, with a confidence that dissuades all of the fear, and a peace that passes all understanding.  Rest assured it's okay to be on the crazy train, but with this peace promise of Jesus, we never have to worry about going off the rails.


'Til Tuesday
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy