Lazy (Deep Purple song)

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"Lazy"
Song by Deep Purple
from the album Machine Head
ReleasedMarch 1972
Recorded6–21 December 1971
Montreux, Switzerland
Genre Blues rock, hard rock
Length7:23
Label EMI (UK)
Warner Bros. (US)
Songwriter(s) Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice
Producer(s) Deep Purple

"Lazy" is a song by Deep Purple from their 1972 album Machine Head . A live performance of the song can be found on the album Made in Japan , released later the same year.

The song starts out as an instrumental, keyboardist Jon Lord plays an overdriven Hammond organ intro, followed by the main riff and with the solo swapping between him and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Vocalist Ian Gillan comes in with the vocals later in the song. He also uses harmonica both on the studio version and live. At over 7 minutes long, it is the longest track on the album, and live versions were often extended past 10 minutes.

The live version on Made in Japan features a theme from Hugo Alfvén's "Swedish Rhapsody #1", played by Ritchie Blackmore as a part of his solo. Additionally, Jon Lord includes the riff from the C Jam Blues in the intro. Ritchie Blackmore would sometimes include the main riff from "Lazy" in live performances of the song "Man on the Silver Mountain" by Rainbow. Gillan defined the song as rhythm and blues.

Later live performances after the band's reunion in 1984 tended to be much shorter, cutting out the intro and one of the verses. However, more recent performances with Steve Morse have gone back to the original arrangement. Other live versions can be found on Deep Purple in Concert , Nobody's Perfect and on videos like Live in Concert 72/73 and Total Abandon: Australia '99 .

Readers of Guitar World voted "Lazy" the 74th greatest guitar solo of all time. [1]

Sections of this song were often used in Australia on the Channel 9 Wide World of Sports program when cutting to an ad and used in Indonesia for opening song program Warna on the Trans7.

Jesse Gress, writing for Guitar Player magazine, noted that Ritchie Blackmore's "bluesy head to 'Lazy' (from Deep Purple's Machine Head ) fondly paraphrases Slowhand’s [Clapton's] Bluesbreaker-era showcase 'Steppin' Out' right down to the same style of third-position swing-sixteenth G blues riffing". [2]

Personnel

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References

  1. "Guitar World 100 Greatest Guitar Solos". about.com. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  2. Gress, Jesse (2 February 2010). "10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Ritchie Blackmore". Guitar Player . New Bay Media. Retrieved 5 May 2013.