“I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t have any money and I didn’t have any tickets”
— Lita Ford on hitch-hiking to the California Jam in 1974

LOS ANGELES, California — A brand new episode of the Get On The Bus podcast just dropped over the weekend and their latest guest is The Queen of Heavy Metal, Lita Ford!

Ford talks about her early teen years growing up in Southern California and joining the all-girl group The Runaways, then eventually going out as a solo artist.

She shares a cool story about how as a 14 year old she hitch-hiked to Ontario Motor Speedway from Long Beach to attend the California Jam to see Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

Ford tells GOTB: “I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t have any money and I didn’t have any tickets” but somehow she made it to the event, snuck in through a hole in a chain-link fence and ended up front row.

Fast forward a full decade, The Queen of Heavy Metal shares a few details about recording “Close My Eyes Forever” with the late Ozzy Osbourne.

“When Ozzy and I wrote, umm, “Close My Eyes Forever” it was on my record… and I already had a Top 10 with “Kiss Me Deadly”… it was Ozzy‘s first Top 10 single” says Ford.

Ford on what the song is actually about: “Umm, ya know… it could be about a lot of things. People play it at their funerals, umm, and I personally think, at the time… Ozzy was going through some hard, hardship with Sharon, and ahh, drugs and alcohol and a lot of things. I mean its, ya know… basically what he was saying was, ‘After I’m dead, will you still love me’, you know. If, if, if I screw up so bad, ya know… will you still love me. Umm, will you ever trust me, after I am gone. It’s kind of a life after death song.”

Ford, 67, has had a storied career with The Runaways and as a solo artist and more than 50 years later she is still playing shows and making appearances around the world.

Watch the full video below on Get On The Bus.

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