Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman is the boogie-soaked hit that was originally titled Prostitute, reached number eight in the UK in 1971, and became one of the most explosive live vehicles the Mk II lineup ever had.
Deep Purple Fireball (1971) — the album era of Strange Kind of Woman
Affiliate Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate and if you purchase through any amazon links on this site i may earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.
▼ Quick Navigation
- What Is Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman
- The Song That Was Originally Called Prostitute
- How Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Was Recorded
- Why Strange Kind of Woman Was Not on the UK Fireball
- Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman on the UK Charts
- The Call and Response Live Phenomenon
- The Made in Japan Version
- Strange Kind of Woman Still Played Live Today
- People Also Ask
- Watch Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Live 1973
- Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Legacy
- You Might Also Like
- Get Fireball on Amazon
What Is Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman is a hard rock single released February 12, 1971, serving as the follow-up to Black Night.
It peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and reached number one in Denmark.
The song was written during sessions at a house called The Hermitage in Welcombe, North Devon, where the band retreated to write material for the Fireball album.
It runs 3 minutes and 49 seconds in its single version but extended into a completely different beast in live performance.
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman is credited to all five Mk II members: Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice.
The Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Song That Was Originally Called Prostitute
The working title of Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman was Prostitute.
Ian Gillan’s original lyric concept was more explicit about the subject matter than the final version.
The title was changed before recording for obvious commercial reasons.
The finished lyric is built around a narrator who encounters a woman he cannot read or predict, someone who operates outside the rules he understands.
Gillan’s vocal delivery gives the song its energy: he attacks each line with the kind of grinning aggression that made the Mk II lineup impossible to look away from.
The title change from Prostitute to Strange Kind of Woman softened nothing about the song’s intent.
Anyone who listens carefully knows exactly what Gillan is singing about.
How Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Was Recorded
Strange Kind of Woman was recorded in January 1971 at De Lane Lea Studios in London.
The sessions took place between legs of a grueling touring schedule that saw the band travel between Germany, Scotland, Australia, Iceland, and multiple UK dates.
Management carved out just enough studio time to finish the song and its B-side, I’m Alone, before the touring commitments resumed.
The production was handled by the band themselves with Martin Birch engineering, the same team that had built Child in Time and the In Rock album.
The recording was released as a single in February 1971, months before the Fireball album was finished.
It was designed to keep Deep Purple in the public eye while the album was still being assembled.
That strategy worked: Strange Kind of Woman hit the top ten and kept the band’s commercial momentum running through the first half of 1971.
Why Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Was Not on the UK Fireball
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman was not included on the original UK pressing of the Fireball album.
The UK edition included Demon’s Eye in its place, following the standard British practice of keeping hit singles off albums.
The US and Canadian editions of Fireball replaced Demon’s Eye with Strange Kind of Woman, meaning American listeners got a different version of the album entirely.
The 1996 25th Anniversary Edition of Fireball finally included Strange Kind of Woman as a bonus track on the standard edition, along with a Roger Glover remix.
That reissue is the version most listeners encounter today, and it gives Strange Kind of Woman its proper context alongside the rest of the Fireball sessions material.
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman on the UK Charts
Strange Kind of Woman was released February 12, 1971 and peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
It reached number one in Denmark, making it one of the band’s biggest international singles outside the UK.
It also charted in Germany, where Deep Purple had built a particularly strong following through regular touring.
The single proved that the success of Black Night was not a one-off commercial accident.
Deep Purple could write hard rock singles that connected with mainstream radio audiences without softening what they did.
That combination of commercial reach and musical uncompromise was rare in 1971 and remains rare today.
The Call and Response Live Phenomenon
The live version of Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman developed into one of the most distinctive audience interaction moments in hard rock history.
Ian Gillan turned the song into an extended call and response between himself and the crowd.
He would sing a phrase, stop, and the audience would sing it back.
Then he would push the phrase further, higher, harder, and the crowd would follow.
This back and forth would escalate through multiple rounds before the band crashed back into the main riff.
It was completely improvised every night and completely different at every show.
The crowd participation element gave audiences genuine ownership of the song in a way that few rock performances managed.
People who saw Deep Purple live between 1971 and 1973 still talk about the Strange Kind of Woman call and response as one of the defining memories of those concerts.
The Made in Japan Version of Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman
The live version of Strange Kind of Woman on Made in Japan, recorded in August 1972, captures the call and response at its most developed.
The studio single runs under four minutes.
The Made in Japan version runs well beyond that, with Gillan and the Osaka crowd locked in an escalating exchange that the studio recording could never have anticipated.
Roger Glover later described Strange Kind of Woman on Made in Japan as one of the clearest examples of what Deep Purple was as a live band: something that existed in real time and could not be replicated or controlled.
The Made in Japan version is considered by many fans to be the definitive recording of the song.
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Still Played Live Today
Strange Kind of Woman is one of the few songs from the Mk II era that Deep Purple has continued to play live after Ian Gillan’s vocal range changed with age.
The current lineup, featuring Simon McBride on guitar since 2022, still performs the song regularly.
The call and response element has evolved but the essential dynamic between vocalist and audience remains.
Its continued presence in the setlist fifty-five years after its release confirms that Strange Kind of Woman is not a nostalgia piece.
It is a song that still works in a room full of people every time it is played.
People Also Ask About Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman
What album is Strange Kind of Woman on?
Strange Kind of Woman was a standalone single in the UK. It appeared on the US and Canadian editions of Fireball (1971) in place of Demon’s Eye. It was added to the 25th Anniversary edition of Fireball as a bonus track.
What was Strange Kind of Woman originally called?
The working title was Prostitute. The title was changed before recording for commercial release.
Did Strange Kind of Woman chart?
Yes. It peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Denmark, and also charted in Germany.
Why is the live version so much longer than the studio version?
Ian Gillan developed an extended call and response section with the audience that was improvised differently at every show. The Made in Japan version captures this at its peak.
Is Strange Kind of Woman still played live?
Yes. The current Deep Purple lineup continues to perform it regularly. It is one of the most durable songs from the Mk II era in the band’s live set.
Watch Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Live 1973
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman Legacy
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman is the song that proved the Mk II lineup could sustain commercial momentum across multiple singles while never once compromising the heaviness of their album work.
It followed Black Night into the UK top ten and did so with a song built on a boogie groove rather than a straight hard rock riff, showing the range the band had even in their most focused commercial period.
The live version on Made in Japan turned it into something larger: a communal event that audiences participated in rather than simply watched.
That is a rare quality in any rock song from any era.
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman remains one of the most complete expressions of what the Mk II lineup was capable of both in the studio and on the stage.
You Might Also Like
Get Fireball by Deep Purple on Amazon
Affiliate Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate and if you purchase through any amazon links on this site i may earn a small commission at no extra charge to you. This helps support classicrockartists.com and allows me to keep providing deep-dive content on the legends of rock. Thank you for your support!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Fireball
The Mk II album that includes Strange Kind of Woman on the 25th Anniversary edition
25th Anniversary Edition with 9 bonus tracks
Deep Purple’s first UK number one album
Deep Purple in Rock
The album that launched the Mk II era with Speed King and Child in Time
25th Anniversary Edition with bonus tracks
Where the Mk II sound was first fully realised
Made in Japan
The definitive live version of Strange Kind of Woman
The call and response captured at its peak in 1972
The greatest hard rock live album ever recorded
Machine Head
Highway Star, Smoke on the Water, the Mk II peak
Number one UK album in 1972
Essential for any hard rock collection
Deep Purple Strange Kind of Woman is the song that started life as Prostitute, became a top ten hit, and turned into something nobody could have planned every time it was played live.