It was December 4, 1971. The legendary band Deep Purple was in the small town of Montreux, Switzerland to record a new album in a rented studio.
Deep Purple were staying near the local casino, where Frank Zappa was performing with his band that day. So while about an hour had passed since the start of the live, a fanatical fan launched a flare, which was nailed to the ceiling made of bamboo, with the result that in "dete time" the whole building was engulfed in flames, which, naturally, was completely destroyed.
A man who was at the concert, Peter Schneider, posted on his personal blog on the Internet text describing that night.
"The fire spread so quickly that everyone in the front near the stage was trapped. There was a large door on the right side, but I don't know if it was open or closed. I stood behind the crowd trying to get out through the large glass windows that they covered the whole building. I owe my life to a Swiss fireman who with a huge ax started breaking the windows one by one. Everyone who was sitting in the front started jumping out. We were on the second floor, so you understand it was quite a big leap".
The next morning, the members of the band Deep Purple, waking up, saw from their room smoke from the previous night's fire, which had formed a large cloud near a lake.
Roger Glover spontaneously, seeing this image, exclaimed:"Smoke on the water", a phrase which he later suggested to Ian Gillan to use as the title of a song that Ritchie Blackmore was writing at the time.
Ian's initial response to the title was negative. He thought everyone who heard it would think it was a song about drugs. After pressure from the others, he changed his mind and this is how the ultimate rock legend was born. The lyrics even say that they were written on a napkin.