Mistreated (song)
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| "Mistreated" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Deep Purple | |
| from the album Burn | |
| Released | 15 February 1974 |
| Recorded | November 1973 Montreux, Switzerland |
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock |
| Length | 7:28 |
| Label | EMI (UK) Warner Bros. (US) |
| Songwriters | Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale |
| Producer | Deep Purple |
"Mistreated" is a song by the English rock band Deep Purple taken from their 1974 album Burn. The song was written by the band's guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and new vocalist David Coverdale, who, along with new bassist Glenn Hughes, brought new blues and funk elements to the band.
At live performances Hughes would introduce "Mistreated" as a song that Blackmore had written about two years prior to Burn.[1] Inspired by the Free song "Heartbreaker", the song had been considered for the band's earlier album Who Do We Think We Are, but Ritchie held it back. When work on Burn started, Coverdale wrote the lyrics to "Mistreated", and it is the only song on Burn where he sings the lyrics entirely himself.[2]
During the studio recording for "Mistreated", most of the instrumental tracks were recorded from 11PM to 7:30 AM. When it was time for Coverdale to hear his own vocal parts after the first playback, he found it to be mediocre, which upset him. Coverdale demanded it to be perfect for the next take. "It was so bad I just sat down and cried because I wanted it to be so good," Coverdale remembered the following night. The next night followed another session and Coverdale took a second try to attempt to get the perfect voice he wanted on the record. Coverdale admitted the pressure he was going through during the recording, although he was very timid at that time.[2] Blackmore's solo near the end of the song was at first layered heavily by Coverdale and Hughes' chorus vocals, making it extremely hard to hear the solo. As a result, the stems that aided the vocals were deleted, which again upset Coverdale.[3] Coverdale agreed with Blackmore's argument that it could not have too many vocal recordings, otherwise it would disorient the guitar's sound.[4]
During the mixing of "Mistreated", Coverdale and Hughes recorded a dozen vocal tracks for the final chorus towards the end of the song. In Blackmore's view, the backing vocals overlapped the guitar solo, so the vocal stems were muted throughout the process. Coverdale was upset about the change and felt that the drama created by overlapping vocal tracks had been almost completely lost.[3]
Hughes participated in songwriting but did not get credits due to contractual obligations with Blackmore. However, the 30th-anniversary edition of the album included Hughes in the credits for all the tracks except "Sail Away", "Mistreated", "'A' 200" and bonus track "Coronarias Redig".[2]
Composition
"Mistreated" is the longest track on the album. The song shifts gears and builds to a climax with Blackmore launching into a rapid solo, and Coverdale and Hughes building a wall of multi-tracked backing vocals before the song's end.
