Jon Lord – The Official Website

Carry On… Jon is the title of a new instrumental piece written by Ritchie Blackmore in tribute to his former band mate for 25 years.

The Deep Purple-esque track will feature on Blackmore’s Night‘s upcoming album Dancer And The Moon to be released in June.

Ritchie Blackmore spoke about Jon last July:

- Jon was not only a great musician, he was my favorite dinner companion.

- We are all deeply saddened. We knew he was sick but the word was that he was recovering and doing much better. This news came as a complete shock.

- Without Jon there would be no Deep Purple. He lives on in our hearts and memories, said Ritchie Blackmore.

Writing new music
For a few years, Jon had talked about writing new music with  Blackmore.

- I’d love to write something for Ritchie Blackmore to play. It’s been discussed by us, and we both keep saying it. His acoustic style is astonishingly good, Jon said at a Q&A session in Lichfield in 2009.

Deep Purple are dedicating their new studio album to Jon.

Titled NOW What?!, it comes out at the end of this month.

The band received the message of Jon’s demise while gathered in Tennessee last July to record the album.

- We knew it was coming to a certain extent but it was still a terrible shock, Ian Gillan later told Classic Rock magazine.

- So there was a moment of silence and a few hushed words… we could feel Jon’s spirit there.

- Before long, everyone chipped in with a few choice anecdotes and the mood lightened up a little. Because Jon wouldn’t've wanted us to be morose. He would’ve wanted us to get on with it, Ian Gillan said.

Jon’s departure left an impression on the recording of album.

- There was a great deal of poignancy to a couple of the lyrics that just naturally came in at that point. A line in one of the new songs is: ‘Souls having touched are forever entwined.’ That’s in a track called Above and Beyond. It felt as if Jon was spiralling up into the music, explained Ian Gillan.

- He was a great source of inspiration at that particular moment. Once you’re finished with your body… well, I won’t get into all that, but I think the spirit becomes more evident, especially with those that you’ve embraced throughout your life.

In this Planet Rock interview from last July, a choked up Ian Gillan speaks about losing Jon and using his inspiration to write new lyrics:

NOW What?! is released on April 30.