Today (December 3rd) is John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s 71st birthday. The song “Diary of a Madman”was inspired by a classical guitar riff Randy Rhoads was playing in the London house they shared. “Diary of a Madman” is the title track and closing number of Ozzy Osbourne‘s second solo album. It was never a single but a fan favorite. Ozzy credits the late Randy Rhoads with providing the song’s creative spark.
“Randy [Rhoads] and I were living in an apartment in Kensington, London. And he started to have these classical guitar lessons and he was given this classical scale. I said to Randy, ‘That would make a really interesting beginning for a song.’ He said, ‘Wow!’ So I’d been out of my mind on some substance and I was crashed out on the couch and I heard this piece of music, and I’d woken up when he was coming to the end and it was just this one section. I didn’t know what the hell he was playing, y’know, so I went [sings] ‘Screaming at the window watch me die another day.’ It sort of came from there.”
