Music of the Day, 8 September 2024
impenetrable lyrics but a terrific song
Courtesy of my mother’s younger siblings, I grew up hearing Deep Purple (DP), but not really appreciating most of it, to be honest. I was in single digits when their cover of “Hush” became a hit, and while I have no memories of my reaction to it then, I strongly suspect I dug the music but did not grok the lyrics.1
I think that was the pattern for most of their songs. Another complicating factor is that Deep Purple went through a lot of lineup changes. Since I was never a big fan, there are likely songs by the group that I misattribute to someone else. That isn’t a question that’s worth my time to investigate.
I’ve been thinking about the music of my youth lately, and I suspect that’s why today’s MotD came to mind. I doubt that in 1984, I connected this sound with the hits I liked from DP’s 1971 classic, Machine Head. Even though a line from the chorus is what I thought of, it’s the music that grabbed me from the very first note.
I can never get enough of that brooding organ sound by Jon Lord that launches “Perfect Strangers.” Now that I can really hear the music, I appreciate it more than I did back in 1984, when Perfect Strangers was released. The band—Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, singer Ian Gillan, Roger Glover on bass and synth, Ian Paice on drums, and Lord on keyboards—sounds tight and heavy.
When the line “we must remain perfect strangers” came to mind, I thought hearing the full song would give me the context for it… but no such luck. Turns out that’s because “Perfect Strangers” is inspired by a series of fantasy novels by Michael Moorcock. As I don’t generally read series any more,2 the meaning and I will remain perfect strangers, heh.
which I think is just as well, revisiting the song today
burned too many times by a great first book and then being disappointed, and/or getting to the end of a great book only to find that it’s a cliffhanger for a sequel that was due in a few years
We rocked heavy to Deep Purple during the Machine Head period and attended live shows just for Highway Star. Considered them "acid rock" and tripped to their use of the legendary Hammond B3 organ and synthesizer. The world's loudest band meant you're coming out with ringing ears. By 1976 their run was over, and we turned on them before 1980.
I never really listened to Deep Purple. In high school we had a biology teacher that loved them. We were all jerks and made fun of his taste in music (despite never having heard any of it ourselves). Listening to this track makes me want to investigate their music a little more.
On the topic of fantasy series, have you ever read the trilogy The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay? It’s my favorite book series of all time and is just wonderful.