"Child in Time" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

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 ...

, released on their fourth studio album, ''

Deep Purple in Rock ''Deep Purple in Rock'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released on 5 June 1970. It was the first studio album recorded by the Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Pai ...

'' in 1970. It is the longest track on the album, running over ten minutes. The song's lyrics are loosely inspired by the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The song is notable for showcasing singer

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 ...

's full vocal range and the instrumental jam section between guitarist

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 ...

and organist

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 ...

History and characteristics

said that the organ riff in "Child in Time" is based on

It's a Beautiful Day It's a Beautiful Day is an American band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1967, featuring vocalist Pattie Santos along with violinist David LaFlamme and his wife, Linda LaFlamme, on keyboards. David LaFlamme, who as a youth had once p ...

's 1969 song " Bombay Calling". It's a Beautiful Day in return borrowed Purple's "Wring That Neck" and turned it into "Don and Dewey" on their second album '' Marrying Maiden'' (1970). The song started with organist

playing "Bombay Calling", which the band then re-arranged and changed the structure. Gillan had never heard the original song, and created lyrics about the Cold War to fit the music, later saying it "reflected the mood of the moment". The band then worked out instrumental lines to accompany this. Gillan is quoted as saying that the song was created "using the Cold War as the theme", adding "the words came easily because we were all aware of the nuclear threat looming over us at what was probably the height of the Cold War." With themes of war and inhumanity, the song is regarded as a heavy metal anthem and an example of

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

. The first live recording was in September 1969, almost a year before the release of Deep Purple in Rock, during the performance of

Concerto for Group and Orchestra ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'' is a live album by Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. Recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall in September 1969, it consists of a concerto composed by Jon Lord, w ...

. The recording was not included on the original album, but was later released in 1977 on the Powerhouse compilation album. Other live versions can be found on the 1972 live album '' Made in Japan'', the '' Scandinavian Nights''/'' Live in Stockholm'' live album, recorded in September 1970 and the BBC recordings released as

Deep Purple In Concert ''Deep Purple in Concert'' is a live album by the English hard rock band Deep Purple, recorded by the BBC for their "In Concert" live series in 1970 and 1972. First released in 1980 in the UK, with the current US edition being made available in ...

. Gillan also featured a live jazz influenced version of the song in his

Ian Gillan Band The Ian Gillan Band were an English Progressive rock, progressive Jazz fusion, jazz-rock band formed by singer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple in 1975. Their sound is a departure from the Heavy metal music, heavy metal of Deep Purple by featuring a ...

project of the late 1970s on '' Live at the Budokan'' album. A staple of the Deep Purple live concerts in 1970–73 and later after their initial reunion tours of 1985, 1987–88, and 1993, the song was not featured regularly at concerts after 1995. It was re-added to the setlist for the band's 2002 European tour, with its final appearance in Deep Purple's live set being at

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

's Opera Theatre in March of that year. A shortened version of "Child in Time", with vocals by

Candice Night Candice Night (born May 8, 1971) is an American singer and musician. She has been the vocalist/lyricist and multi-instrumentalist for the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night since its origins in 1997 with her husband, guitarist Ritch ...

and preceded and followed by their instrumental " Mond Tanz", appeared on the 2006

Blackmore's Night Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpa, and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyr ...

album '' The Village Lanterne''.

Charts

Accolades

"Child in Time" was ranked no. 1 on

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and was on air for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands, to stimulate the sales of ra ...

's "Super All-Time List" in 1989. The song ranked at no. 16 in ''

Guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

s 1998 readers poll of Top 100 Guitar Solos of All-Time. English disc jockey

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

's 1976 list of Festive Fifty featured the song at no. 25. It was second, third or fourth place for many years on the annual Dutch Top 2000 songs of all time.

Covers and references in popular culture

* Ian Gillan performed the song with his

on the 1976 album ''

Child in Time "Child in Time" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, released on their fourth studio album, '' Deep Purple in Rock'' in 1970. It is the longest track on the album, running over ten minutes. The song's lyrics are loosely inspired by the ...

''. * The song was covered by

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish-American guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal, neoclassical playing style in heavy metal music, heavy metal, and has ...

for his 1996 album ''

Inspiration Inspiration, inspire, INSPIRE, or inspired commonly refers to: * Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production * Biblical inspiration, a Christian doctrine on the origin of the Bible * Inhalation, breathing in Inspiration and rel ...

''. *The song was covered by

Rata Blanca Rata Blanca ("White Rat" in English) is an Argentine heavy metal band, formed in 1986. History Beginnings The guitarist Walter Giardino replaced Osvaldo Civile in V8 for a short time, and left the band when his songs were rejected. Hi ...

and Tarja in a show in Buenos Aires on 9 June 2009. *

Anu Malik Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is the recipient of a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film ...

drew inspiration from this song for the opening and closing portions of ''Aisa Zakhm Diya'' from the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film ''

Akele Hum Akele Tum ''Akele Hum Akele Tum'' ( ''I'm Alone, You're Alone'') is a 1995 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film starring Aamir Khan, Manisha Koirala, and Master Adil. It was directed by Mansoor Khan. The music is by Anu Malik and the lyrics are by ...

''. *The studio version of the song is played by character Dusty (

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character actor, character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productio ...

) during a driving montage in the 1996 film ''

Twister Twister most commonly refers to a tornado. Twister or Twisters may also refer to: Aviation * Pipistrel Twister, a Slovenian ultralight trike * Silence Twister, a German homebuilt aircraft design * Wings of Change Twister, an Austrian paragli ...

''. The live footage playing on his television is from Deep Purple's appearance 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 ...

in 1974, though "Child in Time" was not performed during this set. *It was used in the final sequence of the 1999 Kevin Macdonald documentary ''

One Day in September ''One Day in September'' is a 1999 documentary film directed by Kevin Macdonald examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Michael Douglas provides the sparse narration through ...

'' examining the 5 September 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Arabic terrorists at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. *The 2022 Netflix series ''

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

'' features the song in the second episode before the end credits. *In July 2025, a significantly remixed version of the song was used throughout the first trailer for the fifth and final season of the science fiction series

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

.Stranger Things has championed another pioneering heavy metal band in the brand-new trailer for season five
''Louder''. 16 July 2025. Retrieved 16 July 2025.

References

External links

Video Clip of Deep Purple – Child In Time 1970
available under the open "

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

" at "

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...