Deep Purple
© 1969 EMI
Chasing Shadows
(Lord/Paice)
An original idea of ian's, who is heard playing drums,
timbales, maracas and cowbell. Jon is playing claves. The percussion
instruments were tracked on afterwards of course. The song is about one
of jon's nightmares. Nicky's bass line is a gas.
Jon Lord said this about the song in April 1996:
The song was
something to do with a nightmare I'd had and the lyrics as I wrote them
were:
Chasing shadows, over my walls
with myself hardly sleeping
Dwarfs and giants, twenty feet tall
fill the room with their creeping
Sounds of breathing sharpen my ears
then they fade into nothing
Someone's laughter out in the street
fills the night with their loving
I feel the ice in my head
Running its hands through my bed
Not even dreaming I seem to be dead
Colours of yellow and colours of red
All I'm asking some secret voice
is to lead me to darkness
Jon forgot the two last lines:
I'm so tired, dawn never comes
I just hide in the shadows
Blind
(Lord)
Jon plays harpsichord on this track, which is a love song,
sort of squeezed into the format of a twelve bar blues. The middle
section is a descending chromatic sequence which is intended to give a
sort of "slowing down" effect.
I see reflections in the water
Autumn colours, summer's daughter
And as as the year is growing older
I see winter on my shoulder
I stand in the haze
Watching stormy ripples grow on my own
Never knew your needed
Till I found myself standing here alone
And in the water, such a sad face
Slowly drowning, such a sad face
If only I could change the seasons
Like a poet, I've my reasons
It started to snow in the middle of July
Wonder why
Never did understand you
My sorrow is hanging in the grey sky
In the summer days we flew to the sun
On melting wings
But the seasons changed to fast
Leave us all behind
Blind
But then the stone fell on the water
Putting end to summer's daughter
And me, I turn away remembering
All the seasons, such a sad thing
It started to rain in the middle of the sun
Winter's begun
Never did understand you
My sorrow is hanging in the grey sky
In the summer days we flew to the sun
On melting wings
But the seasons changed to fast
Leave us all behind
Blind
Lalena
(Donovan)
Donovan's song done how we thought Donovan might like to
have heard it. The only double tracking on this cut is the guitar
passage at the end. The slightly "jazzy" feel to the organ is a bow in
the direction of Donovan's mellow yellow days.
When the sun goes to bed
That's the time your raise your head
That's your lot in life Lalena
Can't blame you Lalena
Arty Tart la de da
Can your part get much sadder
That's your lot in life Lalena
Can't blame you Lalena
Run you hand thru your hair
Paint your face with despair
That's your lot in life Lalena
Can't blame you Lalena
When the sun goes to bed
That's the time your raise your head
That's your lot in life Lalena
Can't blame you Lalena
Arty Tart Oh so la de da
Can your part ever get, ever get much sadder
That's your lot in life Lalena
Can't blame you Lalena
Oh, Lalena
a) Fault Line
(Blackmore/Lord/Simper/Paice)
Recorded when we heard that we were going to be in L.A. at
earthquake time. The drum track was recorded first (with organ) and then
reversed.
(instrumental)
b) The Painter
(Blackmore/Lord/Evans/Simper/Paice)
This track was recorded live; no double tracking.
Painter
Come colour up my life
Oh painter
Come colour up my life
Take away the misery
Take away the strife
Writer
Make me up a play
Writer
Make the meaning gay
[For I don't know who I am]
Just give me words to say
Singer
Let me sing a song
Singer
Let me sing a song
You don't have to worry
Cause singer you can sing along
Why Didn't Rosemary
(Blackmore/Lord/Evans/Simper/Paice)
Vaguely inspired by an Otis Spann number, and again it's an
attempt to widen the scope of a plain 12 bar sequence; in fact the
verses are 14 bars long and the guitar solo verses are 17 bars long.
Interesting words from Rod.
There's a black hill
We had a climb
Everything I need but nothing's mine
Satan's world, I've had a kill
Why didn't Rosemary ever take the pill?
Lying there waiting, waiting for the kill
Oh man won't do it, but the devil will
I'm losing time and my mind
Why can't I ever have what's naturally mine?
I got life and the things that go with it
If there's something else, where can i get it?
Lying there waiting, waiting for the kill
Oh man won't do it, but the devil will
Well here's my views, I always lose
Things I want to do are yesterday's news
Say life's a ball, I've had it all
Out there in another dance hall
Lying there waiting, waiting for the kill
Oh man won't do it, but the devil will
Take me as I am, an excuse for a man
Wherever I push someone stops my hand
As a matter of interest, tell me if you will
Why didn't Rosemary ever take the pill?
Lying there waiting, waiting for the kill
Oh man won't do it, but the devil will
Oh, why won't Rosemary ever take the pill?
Bird Has Flown
(Evans/Blackmore/Lord)
A different recording from the version released on a single.
Ritchie tracked the wah-wah guitar on afterwards and also the guitar at
the end of the middle section.
Oh the beggar on his cornerstone
Catches pity in his wrinkled hand
But the lover whose bird has flown
Catches nothing only grains of sand
All the children in the distant house
They have feelings only children know
But the lover whose bird has flown
Catches nothing only flakes of snow
The sensation is not new to you
It's something we all have known
You get it - it goes right through you
Yes it's something we all have known
And the bird it has flown
To a place on it's own
Somewhere all alone
Now the hermit in his lonely cave
Has himself to keep him company
But the lover whose bird has flown
He has heartaches same as you and me
The sensation's not new to you
It's something we all have known
You get it - it goes right through you
Yes it's something we all have known
And the bird it has flown
Now the hermit in his lonely cave
Has himself to keep him company
But the lover whose bird has flown
He has heartaches same as you and me
Oh it's started snowing
April
(Blackmore/Lord)
A sort of 3 part of concert about the month of april. The
first section is played by just Jon and Ritchie. Jon played piano and
organ, and Ritchie played acoustic guitar (a rhythm pattern and a double
tracked lead pattern) and electric guitar. The choir was added
afterwards. The whole section used about 11 different tracks. Also Ian
on timpani can be heard in the background. The second section is Jon's
orchestral description of April. The instruments used were : two flutes,
two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, two violins, viola and two
cellos. The third section is a treatment of the chord sequence of the
first section in a more "Purple" way. As a whole, we hope April hangs
together as personal evocation of a beautiful, but sad (to us) month.
April is a cruel time
Even though the sun may shine
And world looks in the shade as it slowly comes away
Still falls the April rain
And the valley's filled with pain
And you can't tell me quite why
As i look up to the grey sky
Where it should be blue
Grey sky where I should see you
Ask why, why it should be so
I'll cry, say that I don't know
Maybe once in a while I'll forget and I'll smile
But then the feeling comes again of an April without end
Of an April lonely as they come
In the dark of my mind I can see all too fine
But there is nothing to be done when I just can't feel the sun
And the springtime's the season of the night
Grey sky where it should be blue
Grey sky where I should see you
Ask why, why it should be so
I'll cry, say that I don't know
I don't know
Deep Purple was, unusually, the band's third album, recorded
between January and April 1969. It was the last album to feature the
band's original line up, which survived until June 1969. The album was
their most ambitious at the time; combining hard rock and classical
music together - hardly the most obvious combination. The track "April"
was a taste of things to come later that year - the "Concerto for Group
and Orchestra"....
The song notes that appear before the lyrics on each track are the
sleeve notes that were issued with the original gatefold sleeve
album.