"When I became a songwriter, I thought what better thing to do than do what no one else is doing...to tell fantasy tales. Smartest thing I ever did."
"I've lent myself to that portion of the population that does have a brain, who likes to think and be challenged. I'm not saying that my challenges are anywhere close to Keats or Edgar Rice Burroughs, but in my small way, I've made people think not only about themselves, but also about others and the world we live in."
-- Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio died on this date back in 2010. Earlier today, Brian Murphy put up a post looking at Ronnie's entire legacy. This blog entry only seeks to glorify Ronnie's lyrics which fall basically into the "fantastic" vein of songwriting; a category of rock lyrics which RJD helped pioneer.

Ronnie, as he stated in numerous interviews, grew up on a diet of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sir Walter Scott and the Arthurian legends. His lyrics reflected that from early on--though not as much as some might guess--and kept doing so throughout his career.

Ronnie James (Padavano) Dio rose up through the ranks of the New York state rock underground during the Sixties, eventually becoming the frontman of the hard rock band, Elf. Dio's vocal prowess caught the attention of Deep Purple's bassist, Roger Glover, who featured Ronnie on his solo album. In turn, that appearance intrigued Ritchie Blackmore enough to bring on Ronnie--and most of Elf--for 1975's Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Ritchie later stated that, "I felt shivers down my spine," when he first heard Ronnie singing live. This was a man who had heard both Ian Gillan and Robert Plant wailing in person.

For our purposes, the standout track from Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is "Man on the Silver Mountain". As far as outright "fantasy" content, the title delivers more than the lyrics. Still, Dio was a subtle master of this sort of thing, "Falling Off the Edge of the World" being another great example. I like this verse:

I'm a wheel, I'm a wheel
I can roll, I can feel
And you can't stop me turning
Cause I'm the sun, I'm the sun
I can move, I can run
But you'll never stop me burning
Come down with fire
Lift my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again

The next Rainbow album, Rising, would see RJD bringing even more fantasy-inspired lyrics to mate with Blackmore's compositions. "Run With the Wolf" has to be one of the earliest rock songs about werewolves:

There's a hole in the sky
Something evil's passing by
What's to come - when the siren calls you go
To run with the wolf

When the world makes a turn
The eyes of one will learn
That a sound just like the wind
Only makes the change begin
By the end of the rain
The feeling's passed again
From things that snap and bite
An unholy light

The lyrics for "Stargazer" are justly-famed and would seem to provide some of the inspiration for Iron Maiden's "Flight of Icarus" almost a decade later:

High noon, oh I'd sell my soul for water
Nine years worth of breakin' my back
There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard
See how he glides, why he's lighter than air?
Oh, I see his face

Where is your star?
Is it far, is it far, is it far?
When do we leave?
I believe, yes, I believe

In the heat and the rain
With whips and chains
To see him fly
So many died
We build a tower of stone
With our flesh and bone
Just to see him fly
But don't know why
Now where do we go?

Kerrang! magazine, along with Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, has cited Rising as being one of the great metal albums--and who am I to argue?.

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll from 1978 would be Dio's last album with Blackmore. Once again, he worked fantasy themes into some of the songs. These lyrics from "Kill the King" could almost be imagined on the lips of Conan's would-be assassins in "The Phoenix on the Sword":

Kill the king
Tear him down
Kill the king
Got to take his crown

Kill the king
He'll rule no more
Strike him dead
The people roar
Kill the king
Take his head

As I've stated elsewhere, Side One of Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell is the most concentrated burst of epic heavy metal up to that time. It also marked the high point of Dio's fantasy-based lyrics, with such becoming far more rare with future decades and the changing of musical tastes.

That said, the lyrics for "The Mob Rules" from the next Sabbath album certainly hint at a fantasy setting while evoking universal truths:

The surprisingly cool cover painting from Greg Hildebrandt.

Close the city and tell the people that something's coming to call
Death and darkness are rushing forward to take a bite from the wall
You've nothing to say
They're breaking away
If you listen to fools
The mob rules

What a kick-ass tune.

Dio's debut album as a solo artist, Holy Diver, didn't really feature any songs with overt, fantasy-inspired lyrics. RJD made up for that with "Egypt (The Chains Are On)" from The Last in Line.

In the land of the lost horizon
Where the queen lies dark and cold
And when the stars won't shine then the story's told
When the world was milk and honey
And the magic was strong and true
Then the strange ones came and the people knew
That the chains were on

The title track from Dio's--underappreciated, in my opinion--Lock Up the Wolves album showcases some of Ronnie's last fantasy-tinged lyrics:

In the houses of the holy
To the middle of the mystic sea
At the cradle of the world
There's a black cat screaming
And it's not even midnight, no
At the cradle of the world

From then on, RJD generally limited himself to addressing more modern concerns while --sometimes--clothing them in fantasy-tinged language. We can only be thankful for what he did give us and for his legacy, which was carried forward by the likes of Manilla Road, Bal-Sagoth and many more.

When all is said and done, it is Ronnie James Dio as a person that emerges. Look out there on the Net: interview after interview, tribute after tribute...Ronnie James Dio was a good guy who cared about his fans and his fellow rock 'n’ rollers. Carry that forward. Let that be his legacy.

In closing, here’s some artwork in tribute to RJD, courtesty of Bebeto Daroz, the kick-ass cover artist for DMR’s Karnov: Phantom-Clad Rider of the Cosmic Ice.