"Soldier of Fortune" is a blues rock ballad written by Ritchie Blackmore and David Coverdale and originally released on Deep Purple's 1974 album Stormbringer.
In the Jerry Bloom biography, Black Knight, former lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore says of "Soldier Of Fortune" it is "one of my favorite songs. It's got a few of those mediaeval chords." This slow, sentimental ballad was co-written with new vocalist David Coverdale for the first album by Deep Purple Mark Three. Unfortunately, the rest of the band didn't like the song, but Blackmore continued to play it after leaving the supergroup, including with Blackmore's Knight, where the soft feminine voice of Candice Night although obviously not as fitting as David Coverdale's, does not sound out of place.
Lyrics
I have often told you stories about the way
I lived the life of a drifter
Waiting for the day
When I'd take your hand and sing you songs
Then maybe you would say
"Come lay with me and love me"
And I would surely stay
But I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill going round
Guess I'll always be a soldier of fortune
Many times I've been a traveller
I looked for something new
In days of old when nights were cold
I wandered without you
But those days I thought my eyes had seen you standing near
Though blindness is confusing
It shows that you're not here
Now I feel I'm growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill going round
Guess I'll always be a soldier of fortune
I can hear the sound
Of a windmill going round
Guess I'll always be a soldier of fortune
I guess I'll always be A soldier of fortune
Songwriters: Ritchie Blackmore / David Coverdale Soldier of Fortune lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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