Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple cover by Ted

[Ted]

Smoke on the Water

Originally Recorded by Deep Purple
By Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice

Ted: Vocals, Guitars, "Organ" (Boss SY-1 Pedal), Bass, Drum Programming
Drums adapted from Elvis Costello "Pump It Up" Free midi

Recorded on Micro BR
Mixed in Garageband
Audacity Tweaks

By Ted Johnson

We all came out to Tempe
On the hot Salt River shoreline
To throw condoms on the campus
Was edgy at the time*
Fast Freddy and Rip N' Tear
All had the best hair in town.
But some stupid called a bomb threat
The police shut us down.

Smoke on the water, the Salt River was dry
Smoke on the water

They cleared out the Union Hall
We all got out safe and sound
'Cause everyone was walking orderly
Hey, no clowning around.
When it all was over
We saw ourselves on the news
We got it all on VHS
A format we no longer use.

Smoke on the water, the Salt River was dry
Smoke on the water


HEY!

We ended up at a burger joint
To eat dinner, not to play
I think it was The Chuck Box if I recall.
It's a juice bar these days.
With a few old friends, a few girlfriends
A blonde and a brunette
No matter what we get out of this
I know, I know we'll never forget

Smoke on the water, the Salt River was dry
Smoke on the water

*The governor of Arizona was against distributing condoms on the state university campus. We tossed condoms to the audience from the stage.

I came up with the idea for an Afrobeat version of this song about 20 years ago. All that's left of that idea is the bass part during the main riff. I wasn't sure what to do for the verse groove until I saw this episode of Produce Like a Pro and decided to rip off be inspired by the groove of "Pump it Up" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

The lyrics tell the story of shows I played with my reunited high school band, the Nutrients in 1987. We were playing a political event supporting an effort to recall the governor of Arizona. Someone really did call a bomb threat while we were playing.

Fast Freddy is a shredder guitarist from our same high school. His band Rip N' Tear really did have amazing hair. They were on the same bill as us for one of these shows.

The vocals here were intended as a temporary scratch vocals. (If you listen closely, you can hear a Madagascan neighborhood rooster crowing right before the "Hey!") I asked the singer of the Nutrients to do the vocals for this. My idea was to send him a karaoke version of the song that I found on YouTube – so he could record the vocals while I recorded the rest. Neither of those ideas worked out. He couldn't find his Zoom recorder (buried deep in a storage unit in Arizona). However I realized later that the structure of the karaoke version is abbreviated – not the same as the original. So my version accidentally borrows the ending and the shortened structure. (Which is just as well. The original song is too damn long.) Maybe eventually I'll replace my vocals with his. But I'm already late for this festival, so here it is – before the grace period granted to me by 64G runs out.

[Zoltan]

I didn't know i needed this, but now this is all i want! This is too much fun.

The only thing i have to vehemently protest against is that part about VHS. Why on earth you're not using it anymore? The most nostalgic of video formats! (Boo to Betafans. There's a reason it's called "BETA" ).

I hope that you'll find he error in your ways and redeem yourself as soon as possible. The joys of VHS awaits y'all!

[Farrell Jackson]

A very creative version of this Ted. It's a fun, nostalgic, listen with all the changes and with the new lyric. I'm glad you got it in the festival!

[chapperz66]

Bloody marvelous.  You would probably still br asked to leave if you played this in a music shop - but that would be their loss.

This has brightened my day.

[thetworegs]

Excellent brought this old dinosaur up to date .......big smiles 😁

[TPB]

I was wondering who was going to cover this and this version is great got me smiling
Tim

[Rene Asologuitar]

************

Hi Ted,
Lovely bass!
Beautiful vocals, and the harmonies is perfect.
Very brilliant version.
I really love the guitar solo!!!
Very hip!!!
Rene

[Mike_S]

Wow, very rockin', very quirky, lots of fun and damn fine playing too. That is some absolutely shredding bass guitar, magnificent. That pedal for the organ sound adds a fabulous bonkers quality. Love the start/stop ideas in there, a hell of a story and a great ride.

Mike

[Pete C]

Nice refreshing change to listening to the original - love how you've re-worked this song !

Pete

[cuthbert]

Excellent interpretation and lyrical re-write - in many ways I prefer it to the original, even though that organ sound definitely refers back to it.

Very dynamic - well done, Ted!