No More Tears (Ozzy Osbourne song)

"No More Tears"
Single by Ozzy Osbourne
from the album No More Tears
B-side	"S.I.N." "Don't Blame Me" "Party with the Animals"
Released	June 1991
Genre	Heavy metal glam metal progressive rock
Length	7:23 (album version) 5:54 (The Ozzman Cometh edit-single version)
Label	Epic
Songwriter(s)	Ozzy Osbourne Zakk Wylde Mike Inez Randy Castillo John Purdell
Producer(s)	John Purdell Duane Baron
Ozzy Osbourne singles chronology
"Close My Eyes Forever" (1989) "No More Tears" (1991) "I Don't Want to Change the World" (1991)

"No More Tears" is the fifth song and title track on the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne album of the same name. With a running time of 7:23, it is the longest solo song that Osbourne has ever recorded on a studio album. It reached number five on U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks, number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100,^[1] number 17 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 32 on the UK Singles Chart.

Overview[]

The song originated from a jam session, according to guitarist Zakk Wylde: "We were just messing around in rehearsals. Mike started jamming that on the bass, then Randy started playing drums, and then John started doing that keyboard bit."^[2] Osbourne considers this song to be "a gift from God", as stated in the Prince of Darkness liner notes.^[3]

A shorter edited version of this song was released to some radio stations, and can be heard on the 1997 compilation album The Ozzman Cometh. The full-length version appears on The Essential Ozzy Osbourne.

Theme[]

In the 2002 remaster booklet for the No More Tears album, Osbourne stated that the song was about a serial killer.

Music video[]

The video consists of Osbourne singing alone at times and with his backing band at others, intercut with footage of a woman entering a room, sitting in a chair, and crying until she is completely submerged in her own tears. The video was shot to accommodate both the album version and the edited version of the song. Some channels played the full-length video, and others played the shortened version. His daughter Kelly is seen at the end of the video in an angel costume lip syncing the words at the end of the song, "It's just a hand in the bush". "In the bush" repeat Ms until the video fades out.

Critical reception[]

Richard Gilliam of AllMusic wrote "the song has precisely the sort of hard, rhythmic drive that marks good heavy metal" and "Osbourne’s sharply edged vocals are among the strongest of his solo efforts" but "near the end of the song there’s a pointlessly overproduced art-rock bridge that mars the song’s otherwise fine dynamic flow."^[4]

Consequence of Sound called it, "a successful song indebted to both glam metal and prog rock released the same year as Nirvana’s Nevermind", and ranked it as the best song on the album, with "Mama I'm Coming Home", as "a close second."^[5]

Cover version[]

The song was redone by guitarist Zakk Wylde as a bonus track on the second reissue of the Black Label Society album Sonic Brew as well as on its own promotional E.P. called No More Tears.

Releases[]

• 7" single, 1991, Epic Associated Records. Additional track is "S.I.N." Catalog #35-73973 for US.
• 7" single, 1991, Epic/Sony. Additional track is "S.I.N." Not available in the US.
• CD single, 1991, Epic/Sony. Special UK package. CD single in an embossed CD wallet with room for each solo studio record. Each sleeve has a different picture. Additional tracks are "S.I.N." and "Party with the Animals".
• CD single, 1991, Epic/Sony. Promo only version, one track.
• 12" picture disc, 1991, Epic/Sony. Additional tracks are "S.I.N." and "Party with the Animals". Not available in the US.
• CD single, 1991, Epic/Sony. "Maxi single" with "No More Tears", "S.I.N.", "Don't Blame Me", and "Party with the Animals".

Personnel[]

• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Zakk Wylde – guitars, slide guitar
• Bob Daisley – bass
• John Sinclair – keyboards, piano
• Randy Castillo – drums

References[]