The irony is that the band itself never really had it as a favorite. Geezer Butler has said clearly that it is much more a fan favorite than a band favorite. And that fits with the way the song almost slipped out of their hands. It was not written as a manifesto. It was not written as Sabbath’s “big statement.” It was written as a practical necessity. And yet it stayed in history more deeply than songs in which they had invested much more.