Ozzy Osbourne sings with strong emotion while performing on stage. PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
Travis Schuster
Staff Writer
Ozzy Osbourne shares a powerful message about those dealing with mental health issues and the conflicts that causes within themselves, as well as with the people trying to care for them.
On June 24, Ozzy Osbourne released his first single of 2022 “Patient Number 9,” which is the title track of his new album, “Patient Number 9.” The song features guitarist Jeff Beck.
The song takes you through the perspective of someone living in a mental institution who wants to escape.
However, cannot because of their internal struggles and their constant feud with an abusive staff who laughs at them and tries to convince them that they are insane.
“They” refers to a singular person throughout the lyrics of the song.
Before the first verses start, it starts out with the conflict the person has within themself, as well as with the staff.
“Is there a way out of here?” / “Hey, how long you been here?” / “I wanna go home” / “Hey, hahaha” / “Hahaha” / “Excuse me, could you tell how to get out of here?” / “Hahaha” / “I want to go home” / “Hahaha” / “Mommy, mommy,” Osbourne sings.
Because of this, they start listening to the voices inside their mind because they seem nicer than the staff.
“Making friends with strangers inside my mind / ‘Cause they seem to know me well,” Osbourne sings.
They want to leave, but cannot because of the environment they’re in, creating a place making them feel trapped and hopeless physically and mentally.
“When they call your name, better run and hide / Tell you you’re insane, you believe their lies / I’m not getting out, no, I’m not getting out alive / I’m not getting out, ’cause I’m patient number 9,” Osbourne sings.
This conflict and abuse leads to the person having a lot of mistrust with the staff and doctors.
“Hiding the pills inside your mouth / Swallow ’em down then spit them out / I hear the laughter scream and shout / No tomorrow,” Osbourne sings.
In addition to losing all trust with the doctors and the staff, they start to lose all trust within themself to where they don’t recognize who they are anymore.
“It’s the mirror’s face you don’t recognize / It’ll get you in the end,” Osbourne sings.
After detailing the battle that they’re having to fight everyday, both internally and externally, they start calling to question the existence of an eternal being. They question if God exists, then why do they have to go through this.
“When the walls of a padded cell become reality / How many tears ’til I drown myself ’cause no one cries for me? / If there’s a God, why’d he let the devil do his work on me? Oh, yeah / If there’s a God, what am I doing here?” Osbourne sings.
This song is just one of the many great songs featured on Ozzy’s new album, which features a variety of collaborations, including guitarist Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, guitarist Zakk Wylde.
The most exciting collaboration of the album is Ozzy’s reunion with his former bandmate, guitarist Tony Iommi, on two songs, “Degradation Rules” and “No Escape From Now.”
“Patient Number 9” is Ozzy’s 13th solo studio album, coming out after the rock star has had to deal with a variety of health problems, including undergoing life altering surgery that left him needing a cane to walk as he recovers, as well as testing positive for COVID-19.
Even with all of these health problems and being at the age of 73, he still sounds great. If you didn’t know anything about him, you would never know any of it.
