"Knocking at Your Back Door" is a song by the English hard rock band Deep Purple, the first track of the album '' Perfect Strangers'', which was released in October 1984. The song was written by

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

and

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

. The track received heavy

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

at the time, playing on heavy rotation. It was used by the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

in their lineup intro during home games.

Background

The song is lyrically about anal sex, as it uses various sexual innuendos throughout the song. Ian Gillan commented: After receiving considerable airplay, the song was released commercially in the US in December 1984, while in the UK, it was released as the second single from the ''Perfect Strangers'' album in June 1985. "Knocking at Your Back Door" was a permanent part of the band's live set until 1994 and sporadically since then. Live albums that include the track are: '' Nobody's Perfect'' (1988), '' In the Absence of Pink'' (1991), ''

Come Hell or High Water ''Come Hell or High Water'' is a CD and DVD by the hard rock group Deep Purple. It was recorded on 16 October 1993 at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany and at the NEC in Birmingham on 9 November. The album is one of the las ...

'' (DVD, 1994), ''

Live in Europe 1993 ''Live in Europe 1993'' (alternative title: ''On Tour MCMXCIII'') is a live box-set, released by Sony/BMG, containing two concerts recorded by Deep Purple in 1993. Each concert has its own gatefold sleeve and paper CD-liners, being housed in a ca ...

'' (2007), and ''

Live at Montreux 2011 ''Live at Montreux 2011'' is a live release by English hard rock band Deep Purple's mk VIII lineup credited as Deep Purple with Orchestra, and performed alongside the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt conducted by Stephen Bentley-Klein. This conce ...

'' (2011)

Charts

References

{{authority control 1984 songs Deep Purple songs Songs written by Ritchie Blackmore Songs written by Ian Gillan Songs written by Roger Glover