Children of the Grave is a song by Black Sabbath from their 1971 album Master of Reality. This song just screams summer to me....The song lyrically continues with the same themes brought on by War Pigs and Electric Funeral from Paranoid. Two previously unreleased versions of this song will be released on the upcoming deluxe edition of Master of Reality. The first is a version with alternate lyrics, the second an instrumental version.
The song has been featured on several greatest hits and live albums. As well as being performed by Black Sabbath in concert, in its various incarnations, Ozzy Osbourne performed it in concert many times as a solo artist.
Cover Versions
Canadian rockers Jet Set Satellite covered the song on their 2008 album End of an Era. The song is the first ever cover recorded by the band and is presented on their third album, released summer 2008. "We had never really planned to include a cover on any of our albums but with 'Children of the Grave', something just clicked," said lead singer Trevor Tuminski. "Ozzy Osbourne really isn't credited for the brilliant lyricist he is. In our troubled times, the words to that song just seemed the perfect fit for the themes at work on the record, not to mention the doomsday feel of the music".
American band Racer X released a cover of the song that can be heard on the Japanese version of Technical Difficulties. The song has been covered by German power metal band Grave Digger. Also, hardcore punk band The Fartz covered it for their "Because This Fuckin' World Still Stinks" album. It has also been covered by the Finnish band Tarot on To Live Forever.
American straight edge hardcore band Earth Crisis covered the song for their covers album "Last Of The Sane."
The band White Zombie covered "Children of the Grave" for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black. It was later released as a promo single in 1994. It is the first White Zombie release featuring Terry Date who would later produce the band's bestselling album Astro-Creep: 2000. It was also the last release to have Phil Buerstatte playing the drums as he would be kicked out of the band later that year. The song contains the following vocal sample: "In Los Angeles, 1969, they shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned nine people to death committing one of the most heinous crimes in history.", a reference to the Tate/LaBianca killings by Charles Manson and the Family in 1969.