By: Brad Gallagher
The great songs of classic rock and roll found their origins in many different ways. Some were derived from a dream that the artist had, while others where inspired by a painting or sculpture. Others were inspired by a beautiful view of the sky, or the sea, or a mountain. While others were a reflection of a true event. For years I have heard the song “Smoke On The Water” by Deep Purple played on the radio, but it wasn’t until recently that I found out it was based on actual events.
As The Story Goes:
Back on December 4th in 1961, the band, Deep Purple was in Montreux Switzerland for the purpose of recording their next album at the Montreux casino, which was situated on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. In verse 2 the casino is referred to as “The Gambling House”. It was scheduled to close the next day for their annual winter renovations, and Deep Purple had arranged to record their next album there while it was vacant. They had rented a mobile recording studio from the Rolling Stones, which they referred to as “a mobile” in the first verse, and as “Rolling truck Stones thing” in the third verse. As they sat in their hotel room on the night before they were scheduled to begin recording, which was also the last night of operation for the casino for the season, they could hear Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention playing in the casino. At some point during the concert, one of the members of the audience pulled a flare gun out of his pocket and fired it into the ceiling. The ceiling of the theater was covered with rattan, which is a climbing tropical plant used in the making of wicker furniture, and it ignited immediately and burned the casino to the ground. In the song, they refer to the flare gun guy as “some stupid”.
Verse 1: “We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn’t have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground”
As the casino burned, the founder of the Montreux jazz festival, Claude Nobs, who they referred to as “Funky Claude”, was seen running in and out of the burning building helping audience members escape. The band could do nothing but watch the casino burn down, and they quickly realized that they would need to find a different place to record their album. Unfortunately they didn’t have much time, since they only had the use of the mobile studio for a few weeks.
Verse 2: “They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Uh, Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids on the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race”
Fortunately, with the help of Claude Nobs, they were able to secure the Grand Hotel de Territet to use for their album recording. As the lyrics say, it was “empty, cold, and bare”, but it had light and beds, and they used the hotel to record their most successful album, “Machine Head”, which they went on to dedicate to Nobs in appreciation for all of his help.
Verse 3: “We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty, cold, and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights, a few old beds
We make a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
Ha, I know, I know we’ll never forget”
The single, “Smoke On The Water” rose to #4 on the Billboard Pop Single chart in 1973, and the album “Machine Head” reached #10 on the album chart. And, the success of the song put the town of Montreux on the map. Out of appreciation, the town erected a sculpture on the shore of the lake in honor of the Deep Purple and their hit song “Smoke On The Water”.
So, the next time you find yourself in Montreux Switzerland, take a selfie in front of the sculpture and send it to me. And come back and see me real soon on As The Story Goes.
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AS THE STORY GOES 