When a Blind Man Cries
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| “When a Blind Man Cries” | |||||
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| Single by Deep Purple from the album Machine Head |
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| A-side | "Never Before" | ||||
| Released | March 18, 1972 | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | December 6 - 21, 1971 Montreux, Switzerland |
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| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 3:32 | ||||
| Label | EMI (U.K.) Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) |
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| Writer(s) | Ian Gillan Ritchie Blackmore Roger Glover Jon Lord Ian Paice |
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| Producer | Deep Purple | ||||
| Deep Purple singles chronology | |||||
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| Machine Head track listing | |||||
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"When a Blind Man Cries" is a song by British rock band Deep Purple, originally only available as the B-Side of the single "Never Before", released in 1972. It was recorded during the Machine Head sessions in December 1971.
[edit] Live performances
Because guitarist Ritchie Blackmore disliked "When a Blind Man Cries", the band never played the song live during his stay with the band, with the exception of one occasion, on April 6, 1972 in Quebec, Canada, when Blackmore was ill, and the late Randy California from Spirit stood in for him. Ian Gillan performed the song live with Ian Gillan Band during the 70's and 80's.
When Joe Satriani replaced Blackmore during The Battle Rages On tour in November 1993, "When a Blind Man Cries" joined the setlist as early as December 5, 1993. The song has become a staple live performance ever since, and has appeared on most of the live albums the band has released with Steve Morse.
After Steve Morse joined the band, much of the song was re-written, and the song is usually extended to around 7 minutes when performed in concert with him, often including a highly complex emotional guitar solo, while the original song was only 3 minutes. The guitar parts for the song also mainly consist of some improvised licks by Morse between the song's lines, while Roger Glover and Jon Lord play the main rhythm section. The live versions performed with Morse differ so greatly from the studio version that when the song appears on live albums, it is credited to Gillan, Morse, Glover, Lord, and Ian Paice, while it was credited to Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice on the original version.
In addition the song has also been released on the Gillan's Inn CD/DVD by Ian Gillan, featuring the famous blind guitarist Jeff Healey.
In 1999, Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi appeared as a guest musician on a Stuart Smith album “Stuart Smith’s Heaven and Earth” performing a cover of this song.
[edit] Personnel
- Ian Gillan – vocals
- Ritchie Blackmore - guitar
- Roger Glover – bass guitar
- Jon Lord – keyboards
- Ian Paice – drums
