Tune of the Week for Tax Week 2008 -- Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water

I hope you all have finished your taxes by now.  If not, hey, you've got until the end of tomorrow even.  Why bother until, say, tomorrow evening around 9pm?  Yeah...that should do it...  I do know that a number of post offices will be open tomorrow until midnight, some of them even with workers on the curb to receive stamped returns from folks driving by.  Kinda nutty if you ask me.  I could brag and say we've had our refunds from the feds and the state for several weeks now, but that would be cruel, so I'll just pretend to do it and say I didn't.

Well, I'm posting Deep Purple's most recognizable and most popular song, "Smoke on the Water".  Truthfully, I'm not a big fan of this song, but I figured I'd not be doing this band justice if I didn't feature their most well-known ditty at least once.

The funny thing about this tune is that it was never intended to be an actual song.  According to some of the reading I've done, the song's introductory riff (a "riff" is simply a chord progression that repeats throughout a rock song, if you weren't sure) was used to warm up at the beginning of concerts.  When they'd play the riff, though, fans began to become increasingly excited and agitated, assuming it was a song and wanting to hear more.  The band finally decided that the only solution was to write a song around the riff, and the result is this week's Tune of the Week.

I hope you enjoy, and here's hoping none of you who've procrastinated in getting your taxes done have cardiac arrest in the process while you race the clock.  Seriously, though, I'm sure you will all be fine.  Good luck!

Deep Purple | The Very Best of Deep Purple | Smoke on the Water