Graham Bonnet recently sat down with VRP Rocks on YouTube and discussed the similarity between a Ritchie Blackmore song and one by the Rolling Stones.
The singer recalled the night Ritchie approached him and came up with a song idea, saying:
“I remember one night he [Blackmore] came and he said to me, ‘Do you know that Rolling Stones song ‘Out of Time.’ ‘Baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time.’ He said, ‘I’ve got this idea,’ and this idea is sort of like [mimicking Blackmore’s playing].”
Melodic Similarities Explored
Bonnet continued, revealing which Rainbow song is similar to ‘Out of Time’:
“The melody is the same as the song ‘All Night Long.’ ‘You thought you were a clever girl.’ Chris Farlowe did it; a guy called Chris Farlowe, and that was a hit record in England. I said, ‘Okay, well, I’ll make up a melody around that’ and that’s what happened with that.”
Blackmore’s Creative Process And The Rolling Stones’ Influence
He detailed how the two songs are close to each other and made a guess on the reaction of the Stones:
“But we have always started on pretty good and that was just one moment where he said, ‘You can make something up of this, and Roger can write the words.’ It’s pretty much a complete rip of the melody; sort of. It’s not exactly the same but I don’t think the Rolling Stones would mind.”
The ‘Burn’ Controversy
This is not the first time Blackmore has been claimed to rip off a song. The guitarist’s work on the Deep Purple hit ‘Burn’ has been likened to a 1940s tune by George Gershwin, named ‘Fascinating Rhythm,’ with some suggesting he copied it. Clarifying the issue in a recent conversation with Igor Miranda, Glenn Hughes said:
“I mean, I don’t think Ritchie ripped it off from ‘Fascinating Rhythm.’ It does kind of sound like it. I don’t think he did it deliberately, but when we listen to those two songs, Gene Simmons is the one that told me about that, so it’s Gene’s fault for talking about it. But yes, indeed, it does sound a little bit like that.”
Still, Blackmore himself actually admitted he copied some riffs from other songs in several interviews. For instance, he explained that Deep Purple’s ‘Black Night’ riff was part of a Ricky Nelson song. As the musician revealed, ‘Speed King’ was based on Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Stone Free.’ Another Deep Purple track, ‘Lazy,’ was inspired by Eric Clapton, while Blackmore drew inspiration from Mozart while creating ‘Highway Star.’
You can watch the full interview of Bonnet below.
