"Neon Knights" is a song with lyrics by Ronnie James Dio and music by Dio, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler. It is the first track from their landmark Heaven and Hell album. Although Butler is credited on the album with co-writing all the songs, this is the only one with definite input by him. Butler shared in the book Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces: "About three or four songs into it [the album], I had some traumatic personal problems back in England and, on top of the change with Ozzy [leaving], I had to get out of there to clear my mind. So I went back to England for a few months."
This song is about English legends of myth and medieval culture. Although it's the first song on the album, it is the last one to be written. It is also the only song from Heaven and Hell to not be recorded in Miami, but in their California Bel Air estate.
This song is the first track on the album and is in a pressure point: for many fans it was the very first taste of Black Sabbath without former lead singer Ozzy Osbourne. Compare it to "Hell's Bells," the first song on Back in Black, which introduced an AC/DC without Bon Scott. Ronnie James Dio had a lot to prove, and the whole band comes through strong.
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