Child in Time

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"Child In Time" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple. Featured on their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock, the song is an epic, lasting for a full 10 minutes and 17 seconds. Written by the band in 1969, it is said by the band members themselves to have been inspired by a riff featured in a song by Purple contemporaries It's a Beautiful Day, called "Bombay Calling". However, that inspiration is not mentioned on the original cover of the In Rock album, justifying the current claims that this legendary song is in fact plagiarism.

Child in Time is a fairly simple composition, featuring an organ intro, one power chord, and a two minute long solo. Lyrically, it is quite deep and dark. In general, Ian Gillan, the lead vocalist of Deep Purple was at his prime in 1970 when he sang this song. He goes from quiet singing to loud, high-pitched, banshee-esque screaming. Many later singers of Deep Purple tried imitating Gillan at his best, by trying to sing this song like him. Band's guitarist Ritchie Blackmore comes in with a slow solo, which builds to a fast-pace and then ends abruptly, with the whole song cycle starting over again.

Its last appearance in Deep Purple's live set was at Harrogate in 2002. However, the song has not featured regularly at concerts since 1995. Gillan cites many personal reasons for leaving the song out, but it is likely that given his advancing years, the song is increasingly difficult to perform.

The lyrics as sung by Gillian on the Live CD Made in Japan are as follows:

Sweet child in time,
You'll see the line.
The line that's drawn between,
The good and the bad.
See the blind man,
He's shooting at the world.
The bullets flying,
Mmm... they're taking toll.
If you've been bad,
Lord I bet you have.
And youve not been hit,
You've not been hit by flying lead.
You'd better close your eyes,
You'd better bow your head.
Wait for the ricochet...

[edit] Trivia

Former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's current band, Blackmore's Night, featured a new version on their 2006 studio album The Village Lanterne.

A portion of this song was featured in the 1996 films Twister, Breaking the Waves and in 23.

A stunning live version later appeared on the 1972 live album Made in Japan. Another spectacular live version can be found on the Scandinavian Nights live album.

The song became an unofficial anthem of the underground democratic movement in the Eastern bloc during the 1980s

The song is used in the 1999 documentary One Day in September, which is about the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis. It plays during a rapid montage of the violent aftermath of the concluding airport shootout.

This song has inspired a bollywood song composed by Anu Malik.

The song was covered by Yngwie Malmsteen on his 1996 album Inspiration.

Some fans have suggested that the grammar in the lyrics is incorrect, and that the first line is in fact 'Sweet child, in time' rather than the line given by the CD, missing the comma.

Some fans see the song as being about politics; however, this has neither been confirmed nor denied by the band.

Gear item: R. Blackmore is associated with a Fender Stratocaster; however, on this solo (studio) he played a Gibson ES-335. Probably the easiest guitar to play 'fast' figures; Stratocaster: one of the hardest.. The player would agree, per data from interviews at various times. This fact is recently confirmed when hearing for the first time a live recording of this song (Montreux, CH) about the time the album was released.