Ozzy Osbourne Once Said He Wanted a Beatles Song Played at His Funeral

English singer and songwriter Ozzy Osbourne, best known as the original frontman of Black Sabbath and for his solo career under his own name, died on Tuesday, July 22, at the age of 76.

Over more than five decades, Osbourne helped define heavy metal with his distinctive voice and a catalog full of genre-defining tracks like “Paranoid,” “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “Crazy Train,” “Mr. Crowley,” and “No More Tears.”

Back in 2016, almost a decade before his death, Osbourne spoke to NME about the songs that shaped his life. When asked which track he would want played at his funeral, he bypassed his own music entirely, opting instead for a song by The Beatles.

His pick? “A Day in the Life.”

Ozzy explained the choice with a mix of blunt honesty and trademark sarcasm:

“I need a few more years to think about it, but probably something off ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ or ‘Revolver.’ I definitely don’t want my greatest hits album, I never play that @#$%! and I’m embarrassed by it. And I definitely don’t want a happy song, I’m dead.”

The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” is the final track on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, widely considered one of the most important rock records ever made. You can watch the song’s video at the link below.

Ozzy and The Beatles

Ozzy Osbourne’s obsession with The Beatles wasn’t a casual teenage phase. It shaped him, defined him, and, by his own admission, changed his life forever.

Born in Birmingham in 1948, young John Michael Osbourne heard “She Loves You” on the radio and something clicked. Not in a sweet, nostalgic way, but in a “drop-everything, this-is-it” kind of way. He’s said repeatedly that The Beatles were the reason he got into music at all. Not Black Sabbath. Not metal. Not doom or darkness. The Beatles.

In interviews over the years, Ozzy didn’t hold back. He called hearing “She Loves You” a religious experience. That might sound dramatic, until you remember this is the same guy who spent decades pretending to be the Antichrist on stage. The Beatles weren’t just a band to him, they were salvation.

He would later say, “Without The Beatles, I wouldn’t be here. They gave me a reason to live.” That’s not PR spin. That’s a working-class kid from Aston finding a way out through music.

The connection stuck. He went on to cover “In My Life” for a Beatles tribute compilation and has praised John Lennon in particular as a guiding influence, both musically and philosophically. Ozzy even visited the site where Lennon was shot, laying flowers and breaking down in tears.

When asked to name the most important album in his life, he often pointed to Revolver or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, depending on the day. His admiration wasn’t about trying to be cool or scoring music-nerd points. It was pure fandom, the kind that never really goes away, even when you’ve sold tens of millions of records yourself.

And unlike some artists who cite influences for clout, Ozzy actually sounded like someone who meant it. Sure, Sabbath brought the thunder, but buried under the distortion and darkness was always a deep appreciation for melody, harmony, and strange beauty, the stuff the Fab Four baked into their DNA.

That brings us back to his funeral song choice. “A Day in the Life” isn’t just a brilliant Beatles track, it’s a weird, haunting collage of routine and absurdity, life and death. It’s exactly the kind of thing that would speak to someone who saw the world as both hilarious and terrifying.

So when Ozzy picked that track to close the curtain on his life, it wasn’t just a tribute. It was a full-circle moment, a kid from Birmingham who made it to the top, never forgetting the band that gave him his first taste of something bigger.

The Beatles opened the door. Ozzy kicked it off the hinges.

RIP Legend 🤘

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