I'm So Glad

"I'm So Glad" is a song originally recorded by Skip James in the early 1930s. The song is derived from a 1927 song by Art Sizemore and George A. Little entitled "So Tired". It was recorded by Cream on their first album,^[1] Fresh Cream, then later put on their last studio album Goodbye as a live performance.

Deep Purple version

"I'm So Glad" was also recorded by Deep Purple in 1968 for their debut album Shades of Deep Purple. The Skip James-song itself starts after a medley consisting of excerpts from the instrumental arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's classical Scheherezade. This medley named "Prelude: Happiness", stretches the song over the seven-minute mark.

The band decided to record the song after vocalist Rod Evans and drummer Ian Paice had recommended it. Evans and Paice had previously, (around the mid-sixties), played in a band together, called The Maze. The Maze had also recorded "I'm So Glad", which Evans and Paice both thought had potential for a song that Deep Purple could succeed commercially with.

Deep Purple supported Cream on their Farewell Tour in October 1968 where Cream's Goodbye version was recorded, and recorded their own live album, entitled Inglewood - Live in California on the same night. This album is the only live-recording by Deep Purple's earliest line-up, Mark 1, released on an album, besides very rare bootlegs. The album was shelved by the label in 1968, but it was finally released in 2002, after 34 years away from public.

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