"Strange Kind of Woman" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple that was originally released as a follow-up single to "Black Night" in early 1971. The song also became a hit, peaking at No. 8 on the UK chart and Germany, and No. 1 in Denmark. The 1996 remix by Roger Glover later appeared on the re-release of the band's 1971 album Fireball, while the original version can be found on various Deep Purple compilations. Although not part of the Fireball recording sessions, "Strange Kind of Woman" was included on the US and Canadian editions of the album, in lieu of the track "Demon's Eye" on the UK edition.
The B-side song, "I'm Alone", was later released on The Deep Purple Singles A's and B's as well as on the 25th anniversary reissue of Fireball.
History The song was originally called "Prostitute". Vocalist Ian Gillan introduced the song on Deep Purple in Concert: "It was about a friend of ours who got mixed up with a very evil woman and it was a sad story. They got married in the end. And a few days after they got married, the lady died." In Wordographys section Gillan gives a slightly different version of the song's history:
When Deep Purple performed the song live, Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore would engage in a call and response guitar-vocal duel in the middle. This would always end with an extremely long, high-pitched scream from Gillan before the band returned to playing the original song. An example can be heard on the live album, Made in Japan, recorded in 1972.
Charts Chart (1971)Peakposition Australia (Go-Set)34 Australia (Kent Music Report)Australian chart peaks:
Top 100 (Kent Music Report) singles and albums peaks to 26 June 1988: ARIA Chart singles and album peaks (top 50 from 26 June 1988; top 100 from January 1990) to December 2010: For "King of Dreams"44Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)14Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)27Denmark (IFPI)1West Germany (Official German Charts)8
Personnel Ian Gillan – vocals Ritchie Blackmore – guitars Roger Glover – bass Jon Lord – keyboards Ian Paice – drums
References