"Mama, I'm Coming Home" is a power ballad by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne from Osbourne's sixth studio album No More Tears, which first released on 17 November 1991. The song features Osbourne on vocals, Zakk Wylde on guitar, Bob Daisley on bass, and Randy Castillo on drums. Lyrics were written by Lemmy. Two music videos were also produced to accompany the song's release.
At the "Back to the Beginning" concert held on July 5, 2025, which marked Osbourne's final stage appearance, this song was the only one on Osbourne's set of 5 songs that did not belong to his debut album Blizzard of Ozz.
Background
As Zakk Wylde recalled in a 2022 interview, "I remember me and Ozzy originally did that on a piano in my apartment in North Hollywood...I transposed it to guitar when we got in the studio when we were working on the record, and then y'know it sounded great...the song started off with the pedal steel kind of thing. I mean it just sounded great...I mean everybody's performances and everything like that but I mean just the overall sound of it – the guys knocked it out of the park for sure."[6]
According to American Songwriter magazine, the lyrics are inspired by Ozzy's realization that he would be dead if he did not get sober, and the song is dedicated to his wife Sharon for staying with him during his crazier early days.[7]
Music videos
Two music videos were created for the single. The first was a surreal video that Osbourne disliked because he felt the video's plot did not match the song's concept. A second music video was then created with Samuel Bayer as its director, which subsequently augmented Osbourne's interest. Osbourne compared the effects in the second video to the hazy smoke effect seen in the video for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which was also directed by Bayer.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of music website AllMusic stated the song "may not appeal to Ozzy's headbanging hardcore following, but it's a very good hard rock ballad and one of his finest singles."[3]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 31. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 31. týden 2025 in the date selector. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
