Song · Black Sabbath
“Fairies Wear Boots” by Black Sabbath
From the album Paranoid (1970)
“Fairies Wear Boots” by Black Sabbath appears on 15 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1990 and 2025. It was first released in 1970 on the album Paranoid. Its best result is #314 on the KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,146 classic rock song of all time.
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"Fairies Wear Boots" sits on Black Sabbath's Paranoid, released in 1970, and a year later it turned up as the B-side to "After Forever". Early American pressings split off its intro under the name "Jack the Stripper". Rodger Bain produced, and the band is all here: Tony Iommi's guitar grinding, Geezer Butler's bass rumbling underneath, Bill Ward swinging hard, and Ozzy Osbourne out front.
Nobody quite agrees what it's about. Butler has said Osbourne wrote the words after skinheads in London mocked his long hair, and that the second half drifts off into acid; Osbourne has pointed at LSD too, and later admitted in his memoir I Am Ozzy that he couldn't remember.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Classic Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 575 | Z-Rock | Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 650 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) | 998 |
| 2002 | 319 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2012 | 670 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) | 1200 |
| 2012 | 551 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) | 885 |
| 2013 | 469 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) | 1000 |
| 2014 | 850 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2015 | 469 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) | 1007 |
| 2016 | 541 | 100.7 WZLX | 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 | 1007 |
| 2020 | 314 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) | 1025 |
| 2022 | 637 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) | 1043 |
| 2022 | 320 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) | 1025 |
| 2023 | 948 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) | 1043 |
| 2024 | 716 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) | 1043 |
| 2025 | 747 | Q104.3 | Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) | 1043 |
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