Eric Clapton wasn't happy with Ozzy Osbourne rejecting Jesus Christ on Patient Number 9 collaboration

Ozzy and Eric Clapton — (Image credit: Ozzy - Alex Pantling/Getty Images / Eric Clapton - Harry Herd/Redferns)

Ozzy Osbourne predicts that a chorus lyric from One Of Those Days, his collaboration with Eric Clapton on his forthcoming Patient Number 9 album will "cause shit", and admits that the legendary English guitarist wasn't entirely comfortable hearing the line in question.

In the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, Osbourne goes deep on the making of his follow-up to 2020's Ordinary Man, and lavishes praise upon Eric Clapton for his "fucking great" contribution to One Of Those Days, one of the album's highlights. The song features the chorus lyric “One of those days that I don’t believe in Jesus”, a sentiment Ozzy fully expects to "cause shit."

“It’s not an I Am An Anti-Christ song,” he clarifies. “It’s about those days where everything goes fucking wrong, and you’re going nuts trying to fix everything up."

The singer admits that, on first hearing the lyric, 77-year-old Clapton expressed some concern, causing Ozzy to consider altering the lyric.

"He said, ‘Oh, I’m not sure about that lyric'," Ozzy reveals. "So we tried to replace it with some alternatives. We did ‘One of those days where I don’t believe in Christmas” but it didn’t sound right. Losing faith in Jesus makes much more sense when the world is turning to shit."

“I think that song and the whole album turned out great,” Ozzy concludes.

Admitting that making the record took his mind off some of the setbacks he has faced in recent years, Osbourne adds, "One of the reasons I made this record is so that people don’t forget me, and by hook or by crook I’ll be onstage again one day to say ‘thank you’ to the fans. If I can’t, I can’t, but my desire is strong."

You can read the full interview with The Prince Of Darkness in the new issue of Classic Rock, which is on sale now.

Classic Rock 305 cover — (Image credit: Future)

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A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.