Deep Purple. Here are two words that, depending on your age, can define an entire generation. Who knew?

What led me onto this particular revelation was Facebook, or maybe it was iTunes, or a combination of them both. See, a former squeeze several months back sent me an invite to Facebook. I signed up because I sign up to all social networking services. I find them fascinating and flawed and evolving, like primordial creatures trying to survive and pull themselves out of the muck and ooze.

Over the months I've played around with Facebook apps, looked at the API, and watched the company become more and more successful. Last month I added the iLike app to my profile and downloaded its plugin for iTunes. iLike adds a sidebar to iTunes that lets you add music to your profile, for others to see on Facebook.

I haven't paid much attention to iLike until today, as I trid it out by adding some songs to my profile. In this process is where I ran across a group of songs I have in iTunes that I have no idea where they came from. I don't know if they originated one of the ancient MP3 players I've managed to accumulate over the years, or from a CD I stumbled across from who knows where, or what.

But I listened to a catchy song that seemed to be titled Deep Purple.

Now, all I knew of Deep Purple was that it was a band that did songs like Smoke on the Water and My Woman From Tokyo. As a young stoner growing up in Albuquerque, Smoke on the Water had been sort of a teen counter-culture battle cry.

At the time, I didn't know that the song was based on actual incidents involving Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention--then including Flo (aka "Phlorescent Leech") & Eddie after they'd left the Turtles--in Montreux, Switzerland where the concert hall in which The Mothers were performing burned down in 1971.

Getting back to the song I had relatively unidentified in iTunes, I was curious so I transcribed some of the lyrics and did a search on the net. It took me a couple of attempts, but I finally found it: a song called Deep Purple recorded by the Dorsey Brothers.

The Dorsey Brothers? The song I had in iTunes didn't sound like the Dorsey Brothers, unless there was a Dorsey Sister involved, reading the lyrics mid-song instead of singing them.

So I dug a little deeper. And of course I found a Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Purple_(song)

Deep Purple was written by pianist Peter De Rose in the 1930s. It became so popular in sheet music sales that lyrics were written in 1939 by Mitchell Parish (who was also the lyricist on the songs Star Dust, Volare, and Moonlight Serenade). Deep Purple became a gigantor hit, reaching number one on the charts. It was a favourite with Babe Ruth, etc, etc.

Nino Tempo and April Stevens (brother and sister) recorded the version I somehow have on my computer. It won the 1963 Grammy for best rock and roll record.

It is also notable for April Stevens' speaking the lyrics in a low voice during the second half of the song while her brother sings. Apparently she did this because her brother forgot the words. Somehow the version with her speaking the words was included in the release, and it became a huge hit, even though it was the B side to their intended hit song: I've Been Carrying A Torch For You So Long That I Burned A Great Big Hole In My Heart, which is still on record for being the longest title of a flip side of a Billboard number one record.

Donny and Marie Osmond revived Deep Purple as a hit in 1976.

Wikipedia Deep Purple Trivia:

The band Deep Purple got their name from the song after guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's grandmother repeatedly asked if they would be performing the song, her personal favourite.

The Tempo and Stevens version of the song was No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 the week before John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The 45 rpm recording of the song by Tempo and Stevens is notorious for sounding unclear, perhaps due to improper processing or duplicating during manufacture.

Hell, no wonder it took me a couple of tries to find the following lyrics:

Woooo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo
When the deeeeep purple falls
over sleepy garden walls
and the stars begiiin to twinkle in the ni-iyiy-ight
in the mist of a memory
you wander all back to me
breathing my name with a sigh-eyigheyighee, ooh whoo.
In the still of the night
once again I hold you tight.
Tho' you're gone your lo-ooovve lives on when light beams
and as long as my heart will beat,
sweet lover, we'll always meet
here in my deep purple dreams.

(lines spoken then sung)

When the deep purple falls
Over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle
In the night
In the mist of a memory
You wander all back to me
breathing my name with a sigh
In the still of the night
once again I hold you tight.
Tho' you're gone your love lives on when moonlight beams

(back to just singing)
And as long as my heart will beat,
sweet lover, we'll always meet
here in my deep purple dreams.
And as long as my heart will beat,
sweet lover, we'll always meet
here in my deep purple dreams.
Wo-o-oo-wo-wo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo, Wo-o-oo-wo-wo

Finally, you can listen to this compelling tune here: www.youtube.com/watch