“Smoke On The Water” (1972) by Deep Purple

DEEP PURPLE

Smoke On The Water

written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillian, Roger Glover, Jon Lord

and Ian Paice

produced by Deep Purple

I’m making this page June 29th, 2021, the 73rd birthday of Deep

Purple drummer Ian Anderson Paice. The number 73 also matches

the two-digit year this song, “Smoke On The Water,” was released

as a single, though its album came out the previous year.

Happy Birthday, IP!!

One of the only drawbacks of constructing a website or any project focusing on disparate songs from so many different eras is that depending on your age, some of them will be from before your time. The upside is that in the technology age, the research is right at your fingertips. Couldn’t say the same for those who discussed or wrote about these songs as they were being unleashed upon the world.

Deep Purple’s from Hertfordshire, England, and signed with their first label to begin recording and releasing practically right after forming in 1968. Most of their albums yielded one or two singles at the most, though the band too released some hit non-album singles. Their first international #1, “Black Night,” fell into this category. It didn’t take long—until about this same time, 1970 or so—until DP’s material started wreaking havoc at the charts’ peaks. Studio album six, Machine Head, for instance, which contains this song, nailed the #1 album spot in six countries, appropriately enough.

One of their biggest commercial hits right behind “Black Night,” “Smoke” just narrowly missed out on hitting #1, and it’s been a few years since any DP singles have charted. But they’re still coming, and the most recent DP album, Whoosh!, dropped summer 2020. It’s the latest in a string of Deep Purple records that continues to score impressively, and hit album #1 in four countries. Over 50 years after the band formed and debuted. Now that’s impressive.

Have notes to add? Let me know!

YT:

full version

Deep Purple’s official website

1972

Lyrics

We all came out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline / To make records with a mobile, we didn’t have much time / A-Frank Zappa and the Mothers, were at the best place around / But some stupid with a flare gun, burned the place to the ground / Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky / Smoke on the water / They burned down the gambling house, it died with an awful sound / A-funky Claude was running in and out, pulling kids out the ground / When it all was over, we had to find another place / But Swiss time was running out, it seemed that we would lose the race / x1 / We ended up at the Grand Hotel, it was empty, cold and bare / But with the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside, heh, making our music there / With a few red lights, heh, a few old beds, heh, we made a place to sweat / No matter what we get out of this, heh, I know, I know we’ll never forget / x1

first release: Machine Head (1972/03/25)

SMOKE ON THE WATER {Single}—Deep Purple.jfif

audio treated sample

This page was originally made on June 29th, 2021 and last edited on July 28th, 2021