Speed King (16:15)

Speed King is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple from their 1970 album In Rock. The song is one of the loudest from the album, and featured some of the band’s greatest amount of improvisation in a song, on both the original version and later live versions across the years. It was released as the B-side of the single “Black Night”

The song was the first song to be written by vocalist Ian Gillan, who wrote the lyrics by writing down a mix of lines from Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry songs in the order that they came to mind. Possibly because of this, the song was never played without him. However, during the years that he has been in the band, it has been one of the band’s staple live performances.

The song opens with a guitar solo by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore featuring large usage of the whammy bar. He is soon joined by bassist Roger Glover, organist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. The four of them jam together for a minute, before the guitar, bass and drums leave the song, and Lord plays an organ solo. On the original U.S. edition of In Rock, the intro was cut out. The version on the compilation Deepest Purple starts with the organ intro. The organ solo lasts a few seconds, before the more recognizable section of the song begins, with Gillan’s vocals coming into the song. After the second verse, a keyboard-guitar battle is played between Blackmore and Lord. This is followed by a guitar solo by Blackmore, mainly consisting of one lick played several times in different keys.