"Burn" is a song by English rock band

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

. It was released on the album of the same name in 1974. In the US and Japan it was also released as the second single by the Mark III lineup, after " Might Just Take Your Life".

History

: "Burn" served as the band's concert opener for two years, taking over from " Highway Star". It opened Deep Purple's televised set at the

California Jam California Jam (also known as Cal Jam) was a rock music festival co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, on April 6, 1974. It was produced by ABC Entertainment, Sandy Fe ...

festival two months after its release, on 6 April 1974. After Purple's 1976 split, Coverdale formed his

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

, which over the years featured Purple members

Jon Lord John Douglas "Jon" Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English keyboardist and composer. In 1968, Lord co-founded the hard rock band Deep Purple. Lord performed on most of the band's most popular songs; he and drummer Ian Paice were the only ...

and

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician who is the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He remains the only member of Deep Purple who has served in every line-up since the band's incep ...

, and performed Deep songs from the lineups he was part of, Mark III and IV, such as "Burn", " Mistreated", " Might Just Take Your Life" and "Stormbringer". After the Deep Purple 1984 reunion, the song was no longer played, as Mark II vocalist

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

would not sing songs from the Mark III and IV eras. The band did perform "Burn" live in 1991, during the time in which Gillan was briefly replaced by

Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...

. Purple also played the "Burn" riff during "Speed King" medley in live performances in 1993. Glenn Hughes has regularly performed "Burn" live, both as a solo artist and with the band

Black Country Communion Black Country Communion is an English-American hard rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2009, the band is a Supergroup (music), supergroup composed of bassist and lead vocalist Glenn Hughes (British musician), Glenn Hughes, gui ...

. In a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' interview,

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

named "Burn" one of his all-time favourite guitar riffs.

Song structure

Both David Coverdale (all verses & chorus) and Glenn Hughes (chorus & bridge) sing lead vocals on "Burn". Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) and Jon Lord (organ, synthesizer) both have solos in the full-length version of the song. Blackmore's solo follows the first two verses and the bridge, while Lord's is between the second bridge and third verse. Lord uses both the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

and

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog circuit, analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Minimoog, Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, a ...

synthesizer in his solo.

Charts

Personnel

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake. Coverdale was also the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976; he has had a solo car ...

– vocals * Glenn Hughes – bass, vocals *

–

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

– guitars *

– drums

References

{{authority control 1974 songs Deep Purple songs EMI Records singles Songs written by David Coverdale Songs written by Ritchie Blackmore Songs written by Jon Lord Songs written by Ian Paice Warner Records singles