Smoke on the Water

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This article is about the song by Deep Purple. For the song by Red Foley, see Smoke on the Water (Red Foley song).
"Some stupid with a flare gun" redirects here. For the Ass Ponys album, see Some Stupid with a Flare Gun.

"Smoke on the Water"
Song
B-side"Smoke on the Water" (live)
(From Made in Japan)

"Smoke on the Water" is a song by the English rock band Deep Purple. It was first released on their 1972 album Machine Head. In 2004, the song was ranked number 434 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time,[4] ranked number 4 in Total Guitar magazine's Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever,[5] and in March 2005, Q magazine placed "Smoke on the Water" at number 12 in its list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks.[6]

Composition

The Smoke on the Water riff

"Smoke on the Water" is known for and recognizable by its central theme, developed by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. It is a four-note blues scale melody in G, harmonised in parallel inverted fifths. The riff, played on a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar by Blackmore, is later joined by hi-hat and distorted organ, then drums, then electric bass parts before the start of Ian Gillan's vocal.

We all came out to Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline
to make records with a mobile, we didn't have much time

— Opening lyrics

Jon Lord doubles the guitar part on a Hammond C3 organ played through a distorted Marshall amp, creating a tone very similar to that of the guitar. Blackmore usually plays the main riff using a finger pluck [7] or occasionally a plectrum upstroke (to accentuate the tonic).[8]

In the August show in 1972 in Tokyo, Japan, Blackmore plays the intro as such:

-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
------8-10_----8-11-10__------8-10_-8-----
---10-8-10_-10-8-11-10__---10-8-10_-8-10__
---10-------10-------------10---------10__


The song order is intro(riff)-verse-chorus-riff-verse-chorus-riff-guitar solo-riff-verse-chorus-riff-organ solo. The first solo is performed on guitar by Ritchie Blackmore, and the second and final solo is performed on an organ by Jon Lord until the song fades out.

History

The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on 4 December 1971 Deep Purple were in Montreux, Switzerland, where they had set up camp to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio—referred to as the "Rolling truck Stones thing" and "a mobile" in the song lyrics) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session, a Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention concert was held in the casino's theatre. This was to be the theatre's final concert before the casino complex closed down for its annual winter renovations, which would allow Deep Purple to record there. At the beginning of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on "King Kong", the place suddenly caught fire when somebody in the audience fired a flare gun toward the rattan covered ceiling, as mentioned in the "some stupid with a flare gun" line.[9][10] The resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song (credited to bass guitarist Roger Glover, who related how the title occurred to him when he suddenly woke from a dream a few days later) referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel. "It was probably the biggest fire I'd ever seen up to that point and probably ever seen in my life" said bass guitarist Roger Glover, "It was a huge building. I remember there was very little panic getting out, because it didn't seem like much of a fire at first. But, when it caught, it went up like a fireworks display". The "Funky Claude" running in and out is referring to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival who helped some of the audience escape the fire.

Claude Nobs (2006), the "Funky Claude" mentioned in the song

Left with an expensive mobile recording unit and no place to record, the band was forced to scout the town for another place to set up. One promising venue (found by Nobs) was a local theatre called The Pavilion, but soon after the band had loaded in and started working/recording, the nearby neighbours took offence at the noise, and the band was only able to lay down backing tracks for one song (based on Blackmore's riff and temporarily named "Title No. 1"), before the local police shut them down.

Finally, after about a week of searching, the band rented the nearly-empty Montreux Grand Hotel and converted its hallways and stairwells into a makeshift recording studio, where they laid down most of the tracks for what would become their most commercially successful album, Machine Head (which is dedicated to Claude Nobs).

The only song from Machine Head not recorded entirely in the Grand Hotel was "Smoke on the Water" itself, which had been partly recorded during the abortive Pavilion session. The lyrics of "Smoke on the Water" were composed later, primarily by Gillan and based around Glover's title, and the vocals were recorded in the Grand Hotel.

Because of the incident and the exposure Montreux received when "Smoke on the Water" became an international hit, Deep Purple formed a lasting bond with the town. The song is honoured in Montreux by a sculpture along the lake shore (right next to the statue of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury) with the band's name, the song title, and the riff in musical notes.

On the Classic Albums series episode about Machine Head, Ritchie Blackmore claimed that friends of the band were not fans of the classic "Smoke on the Water" riff, because they thought it was too simplistic. Blackmore retaliated by making comparisons to the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, which revolves around a similar four note arrangement.

Impact

"Smoke on the Water" was included on Machine Head, which was released in early 1972, but was not released as a single until a year later, in May 1973. The band members have said that they did not expect the song to be a hit, but the single reached number 4 on the Billboard pop singles chart in the United States during the summer of 1973, number 2 on the Canadian RPM charts, and it propelled the album to the top 10. Live performance of the tune, featuring extended interplay between Blackmore's guitar and Jon Lord's Hammond organ would become a centrepiece of Deep Purple's live shows, and a version of the song from the live album Made in Japan became a minor hit on its own later on in 1973.

The principal songwriters included the song within their subsequent solo ventures after Deep Purple had split up. Ian Gillan in particular performed a jazz-influenced version in early solo concerts. The band Gillan adopted a feedback-soaked approach, courtesy of Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme. This song was also featured live by Ritchie Blackmore's post-Deep Purple band Rainbow during their tours 1981–83, and again after Rainbow was resurrected briefly in the mid-1990s.

During Ian Gillan's stint with Black Sabbath in 1983, they performed "Smoke on the Water" as a regular repertoire number on encores during their only tour together. It remains one of the few cover songs that Black Sabbath has ever played live.

The song is popular among beginner guitarists, but Blackmore himself has demonstrated that most who attempt to play it do so improperly.[11] Actually played using "all fourths" as specified by Blackmore (or double stops), a power chord-driven variation on the main recognizable riff is not difficult, and consequently it is played by learners.

"Smoke on the Water" has received the following rankings:

  1. 434 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004)[4]
  2. 37 in VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs[12]
  3. 12 in Q magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks (March 2005)[6]
  4. 11 in VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" (January 2009)[13]
  5. 4 in Total Guitar magazine's "Top 20 Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever"[5]

Charts

Chart (1973) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 54
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[14] 11
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[15] 27
Canadian RPM Top Singles[16] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 11
France (SNEP)[18] 64
Invalid chart entered Germany2 20
South African Chart[19] 7
US Billboard Hot 100[20] 4
Chart (1977) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[21] 21
Chart (2012) Peak
position
France (SNEP)[22] 134

Alternative versions

  • The 1997 Roger Glover Remix version which appears on the 25th Anniversary Edition reissue of Machine Head features a version of the song with an alternate Blackmore guitar solo recorded at the time, and includes Ian Gillan uttering the phrase "Break a leg, Frank", among other comments. This is a reference to injuries that Frank Zappa had sustained as a result of being attacked onstage by an audience member at a concert in London, six days after the Montreux fire. A broken leg was among those injuries.
  • The version that appears on Deep Purple in Concert also includes Gillan's "Break a leg" comment.

Personnel

Sales accomplishments

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[23] Gold 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Rock Aid Armenia version

"Smoke on the Water"
Song

Rock Aid Armenia, a charity project to help victims of 1988 Armenian earthquake made a charity re-recording of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", with different vocalists singing various verses. The single made it to the UK Top 40 Singles Chart.

The track was recorded by an elite group of contemporary prog rock, hard rock and heavy metal musicians who gathered at the historic Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, London. Recording began on 8 July 1989 and was completed over 5 different sessions.

The rock musicians involved in the recording included Bryan Adams, Ritchie Blackmore, Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Downes, Keith Emerson, Ian Gillan, David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Alex Lifeson, Brian May, Paul Rodgers, Chris Squire and Roger Taylor. John Paul Jones and Jon Lord were credited as "helping" behind the scenes with the track. The track's producers were Gary Langan and Geoff Downes. Talent co-ordination for the record was overseen by Jon Dee, with David Gilmour being the first to join up after a call from Dee. Ian Gillan's manager Phil Banfield also helped out with talent recruitment.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by many bands including the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, power metal band Metalium, Polish heavy metal band Acid Drinkers, Korean thrash metal band Crash, Canadian indie artist Nash the Slash (re-titled 'Dopes on the Water'), Brazilian progressive power metal Angra, and many others, and was recorded by Rock Aid Armenia. It was performed by rock act G3 and featured on the release G3: Live in Tokyo.

During Ian Gillan's tenure as lead vocalist for Black Sabbath, specifically on the Born Again Tour, the band would occasionally perform the song as a closing track to the set list.

"Weird Al" Yankovic included this song in his first polka medley, "Polkas on 45."

Loudhouse recorded a version appearing in the movie Point Break.[24]

Rolf Harris did a swing jazz version of the song on his 1993 album Rolf Rules OK.

The song has been covered by the humorous reggae-influenced band Dread Zeppelin.

The riff is performed on bass to end the original 1985 demo recording of TISM's song "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Whittle Away My Furniture".

R&B/swing singer Pat Boone covered the song in his 1997 album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, with Blackmore doing a guest appearance as lead guitarist and Dweezil Zappa performing a guitar solo. German DJ/techno veteran Uwe Schmidt covered the song in a Latin lounge style as "Señor Coconut" on the 2003 album Fiesta Songs.

CJ Crew and The Firelighters Showgroup covered the song in the 2005 Dancemania compilation Covers 01.[25]

Carlos Santana covered the song on his 2010 solo album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time. The song features Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach on lead vocals.

A segment of the riff is played in the Blue Öyster Cult song "The Marshall Plan".

German industrial metal band Knorkator recorded a German-language polka version titled "Nebel auf dem Wasser" (its exact translation) as High Mud Leader, on their eponymous album under that name.

Notable performances and uses

In events

In games

The iconic nature of the song has led to its inclusion in several music-related video games.

In television

  • The song features prominently in the Better Call Saul season 1 finale episode, "Marco" (airdate 6 April 2015). First, Marco hums it while waiting in the alley for Slippin' Jimmy and his mark. Next, Jimmy drums it on his steering wheel, when leaving the courthouse in Albuquerque, after standing up his interview for a partnership-track job. Finally, the song plays just before the closing credits.[28]
  • The song features prominently in the Simpsons season 13 episode, "weekend at Burnsie's"

In world records

  • In 1994, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 1,322 guitarists gathered to play the world-famous riff all at the same time for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.[31]
  • On Sunday 3 June 2007, in Kansas City this record was topped with 1,721 guitarists[31] just 20 days later, in the German city of Leinfelden-Echterdingen by the group 'Party Blues In Bb' with over 1,800 other people involved.[32]
  • The record was again topped on 1 May 2009, in Wrocław, Poland, when 6,346 guitar players, joined by current Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, performed the song during the Thanks Jimi Festival.[33][34]

Further reading

  • Christe, Ian (2003). Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-81127-8.
  • "Smoke On The Water - the story". Deep-Purple.net.

References

  1. ^ Andrew Winistorfer. "VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs list only slightly less annoying than their hip-hop list". Prefix. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
    11 Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water"
  2. ^ Gary Graff (1996). Visible Ink Press (ed.). MusicHound rock: the essential album guide. ISBN 978-0787610371. "Purple's heyday came during the early 70s- when "Smoke on the Water" entered the pantheon of hard rock classics"
  3. ^ Christe (2003), pg. 13, " Though Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" was a bona fide metal anthem and the first basic riff of a longhairded guitarist's repertoire, the band did not consider itself heavy metal."
  4. ^ a b 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Deep Purple, 'Smoke on the Water' Rolling Stone. Retrieved 18 December 2011
  5. ^ a b Guns N' Roses top rock riff poll, BBC News, 2 May 2004, retrieved 4 January 2010
  6. ^ a b Tracks 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever! Q Magazine. Retrieved 18 December 2011
  7. ^ Classic Albums - Machine Head. BBC. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
  8. ^ Deep Purple - New York 1973 (Full Concert). YouTube. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  9. ^ The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa with Peter Occhiogrosso, pg. 112, ISBN 0-671-63870-X
  10. ^ Bang Your Head by David Konow, page 26, ISBN 0-609-80732-3
  11. ^ Video of Ritchie talking about the riff on YouTube
  12. ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1–4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed 10 September 2006.
  13. ^ "spreadit.org music". Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  14. ^ "Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  15. ^ "Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  16. ^ "Smoke on the water in Canadian Top Singles Chart". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  17. ^ "Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  18. ^ "Smoke on the water in French Chart" (in French). Dominic DURAND / InfoDisc. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013. You have to use the index at the top of the page and search "Deep Purple"
  19. ^ John Samson. "Smoke on the water in South African Chart". Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  20. ^ "Machine Head awards on Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  21. ^ "1977 Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive - 7th May 1977". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  22. ^ "Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water" (in French). Les classement single.
  23. ^ "American single certifications – Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water". Recording Industry Association of America.
  24. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102685/soundtrack
  25. ^ Discogs, Dancemania Covers 01
  26. ^ "Guttenberg departs Defense Ministry with full military honors". Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  27. ^ "Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and Queen band members perform at charity rock show". NME. Retrieved 4 November 2012
  28. ^ Neumyer, Scott (6 April 2015). "'Better Call Saul' Season One Finale Recap: 'Marco'". WSJ Speakeasy.
  29. ^ Music You Heard on the Sopranos
  30. ^ Episode 67: Join the Club
  31. ^ a b Spread Firefox, Crazy Records
  32. ^ "Die Geschichte des Gitarrenweltrekords". Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  33. ^ "Official Steve Morse Blog". Retrieved 4 May 2009.
  34. ^ ""Thanks Jimi Festival" 2009 and Guitar Guinness Record". Retrieved 4 May 2009.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smoke_on_the_Water&oldid=706464763"