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Ian Gillian on Jesus Christ Superstar

Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2012

"TIM RICE MADE the call to Deep Purple's management. Apparently, he thought of me for Jesus when he heard 'Child In Time' (Concerto For Group And Orchestra, released December, 1969). So I went round to their apartment. Andrew played a piano melody, then Tim gave me the words to a difficult song called 'Gethsemane' (e.g. 'Nail me to your cross and break me/Bleed me, beat me/Kill me'). Tim said, 'Feel free to extemporise. Andrew looked over his shoulder and said, 'But not too much!'

Total word count of piece: 802

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