Fireball (3:23)

Fireball is the opening song of the album of the same name by the English hard rock band Deep Purple. It was Deep Purple’s second single release in 1971.

The song begins with the fan-like sound of a Leslie speaker cabinet (which eventually fades out) being turned on and the drums begin at bar 2 at 240 bpm. The guitar, bass, organ and vocals join in on bar 10 in the key of A, although most of the song’s riff is in Bm.

“Fireball” is an odd song for Deep Purple as it features no guitar solo. Instead it features a bass solo in the key of F#m which then modulates into an organ solo in Bm. The song ends in a fade out with ad-libbing from the organ. The beat is accented with a tambourine played by Ian Gillan.

“Fireball” (take 1 - instrumental), a bonus track on the remastered Fireball album, features a guitar solo near the end, at 3:30, after the fade-out of the original version.

It is one of the only Deep Purple songs to feature Ian Paice using a double-bass pedal; when performed live, a roadie brings on another bass drum to perform the song, only to remove it when it is finished. Hence it is not performed live very often. However, it has been performed during the ongoing Rapture of the Deep Tour.