Black Blade (song)

"Black Blade"
Song by Blue Öyster Cult from the album Cultosaurus Erectus
Released	June, 1980
Genre	Hard rock, progressive rock, heavy metal
Label	CBS Records
Writer	Michael Moorcock, Eric Bloom
Composer	Eric Bloom, John Trivers
Producer	Martin Birch

"Black Blade" is a song by rock band Blue Öyster Cult. The lyrics were written by Eric Bloom and British science fiction writer Michael Moorcock from the viewpoint of Elric, Moorcock's most famous character. Elric wields a sentient, soul-sucking sword named Stormbringer. Aside from a set of cryptic, blood red runes on the blade, the sword is black, hence the name "Black Blade". The music was jointly composed by Eric Bloom, lead singer of Blue Öyster Cult, and bass-player John Trivers. The song was featured in the Blue Öyster Cult album Cultösaurus Erectus.^[1] When Bloom was asked how he got in touch with Moorcock for the song he claims, "I went out of my way to send him a Fan Boy letter. He was living in England, and he came over to America, to meet with his publisher. He said, “Let's get together.” We got together, and bonded, and he started sending me lyrics. That is how "Black Blade," "Veteran of Psychic Wars" and "Great Sun Jester" happened.^[2]

In 2005, on the compilation "Day Late, Dollar Short," there is a cover of the song by the experimental metal band Thrones.

References

1. Blue Öyster Cult website
2. Archived June 5, 2009 at the Wayback Machine