1980Released
6:39

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Black Blade. By Songfacts®.

This song details the misadventures of an unfortunate man who has been bound to a particularly evil blade. Its power and hold over him grows as he uses it to kill more and more people, and there is little or nothing he can do about it.

Blue Öyster Cult guitarist/keyboardist Eric Bloom sang lead on this track. He wrote the song with the science fiction author Michael Moorcock and songwriter John Trivers. The lyric is based on a character in Moorcock's books called Elric of Melniboné, who carries a sword called Stormbringer that feeds off the souls of its victims. Moorcock, who wrote several lyrics for Hawkwind, also co-wrote the Blue Öyster Cult tracks "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" and "The Great Sun Jester."

In our interview with Eric Bloom, he said that he first contacted Michael Moorcock as a "fanboy," which was harder to do before the Internet. Their communication was mostly by mail, with Moorcock sending the lyrics that Bloom would then adapt into songs.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Black Blade.
GKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
161BPM

Album

The album Black Blade is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Black Blade.
Columbia
(P) 1980 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

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