1. A British rock band.<… Read Full Bio ↴Rainbow is the name of at least four bands:
1. A British rock band.
2. A K-Pop group (레인보우).
3. A U.S. psychedelic rock band.
4. Mid-80's Hi-NRG project.
1. Rainbow was a British rock band formed by Deep Purple founder and former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975. In addition to Blackmore, the band originally consisted of former Elf lead singer Ronnie James Dio, bassist Craig Gruber, drummer Gary Driscoll, and keyboardist Micky Lee Soule. Over the years, Rainbow went through many lineup changes. including bringing in other vocalists Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner, before it folded in 1999.
The name of the band was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill, a Los Angeles, California eatery which catered to rock stars, groupies, and rock enthusiasts. It was here that Ritchie spent some of his off time from Deep Purple and met Dio, whose band Elf had toured regularly as an opening act for Deep Purple. Blackmore originally got together with Dio to record "Black Sheep of the Family" as a single, and it turned out so well they needed a B side; when the B side was recorded, however, it turned out to be even better. This led to them recording an album, and that effort caused the formation of the entire band. Rainbow's debut album, 'Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow', was released in 1975; it featured the minor hit "Man on the Silver Mountain".
Blackmore fired everybody except Dio shortly after the album was recorded. He recruited drummer Cozy Powell (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboard player Tony Carey. This lineup went on to record the album 'Rising', which was released in May 1976 and was a big success in the U.S. (hitting #48 on the Billboard 200 chart).
For the next album, 1978's 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll', Blackmore kept Powell and Dio and replaced the rest of the band. Blackmore had difficulty finding a bass player for this record, so he played bass himself on all but three songs ("Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive to Light"). After the release and supporting tour, Dio left Rainbow.
Blackmore continued with Rainbow, replacing Dio with ex-Marbles vocalist Graham Bonnet. Powell stayed and was joined by former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover and keyboardist Don Airey. The first album from the new lineup, 1979's 'Down to Earth', featured the band's first single successes: "All Night Long" and "Since You Been Gone". Bonnet possessed a powerful voice on stage, yet he struggled with the band's quieter numbers and lacked Dio's range. In 1980, the band headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in England. This was Powell's final performance with Rainbow.
The next album saw yet another line-up change as Bonnet and Powell were replaced by Joe Lynn Turner and Bobby Rondinelli, respectively. The title track from their 1981 album, 'Difficult to Cure', notably was a version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The album also contained the guitar-driven piece "Maybe Next Time". Although facing mixed success commercially, the Difficult to Cure tour was the first tour in which Rainbow headlined in the U.S.
Rainbow's next studio album was 'Straight between the Eyes'. The band added a new keyboardist, David Rosenthal. The album was more cohesive than 'Difficult to Cure' and had more success in the U.S. The band, however, was alienating some of its earlier fans with its more slick, arena rock based sound. The single "Stone Cold", a popular power ballad, had some chart success and has since been included in several multi-artist collaboration albums. The successful supporting tour skipped the U.K. completely and focused on the U.S. market.
1983's 'Bent Out of Shape' saw drummer Rondinelli fired in favour of Chuck Burgi. The album featured the single "Street of Dreams". The song's video was banned by MTV for its supposedly controversial hypnotic video clip. The resulting tour saw Rainbow return to the U.K. and also to Japan, where the band performed with a full orchestra. Though fans greatly enjoyed the band's lively touring, the band's material was getting mixed critical reviews, and its members had a sense of needing to find direction.
By the early to mid-80s, Blackmore and Glover had reformed the Deep Purple "Mark II" lineup, and Rainbow was disbanded in 1984. A final Rainbow album, 'Finyl Vinyl', was patched together from live tracks and B-sides of singles. This album contained the instrumental "Weiss Heim", made widely available for the first time.
After Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple for the final time in 1993, he put together a new version of Rainbow in 1994, this time named Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. This incarnation of the band included Doogie White (vocals), Paul Morris (keyboards), Greg Smith (bass), and John O'Reilly (drums).
The new band released Stranger in Us All in 1995 and embarked on an extensive world tour to promote it from late 1995 to late 1997. For the tour John O'Reilly was replaced by Chuck Burgi and then by John Micelli for the U.S. leg of the tour (as well as their final show in Esbjerg, Denmark).
The tour proved very successful, and a show in Germany was professionally filmed by Rockpalast. It has never officially been released, but has been heavily bootleged. The live shows featured frequent changes in set lists and musical improvisations that proved popular with bootleggers, and many shows are still traded over a decade later.
However, fed up with stadium rock, Blackmore turned his attention to rennaisance and mediaeval music, a lifelong interest of his. Rainbow was put on hold once again and played its final concert in Denmark in 1999. Blackmore, together with his partner Candice Night as vocalist, then formed the renaissance-influenced Blackmore's Night.
2. Rainbow, the tag for all releases by the K-Pop group 레인보우, responsible for tracks: "A", "Gossip Girl", "Mach", and about a dozen more.
3. One of any number of Los Angeles, U.S.A.groups of their time (1968), Rainbow's best-known LP was After the Storm The album's one cover is a take with saxophone of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You". The lineup was: Darrell Devlin (drums), Bob Gay (bass),
W. David Mohr (keyboards), and Harry Vavela (guitars).
4. Rainbow was a short-lived Hi-NRG project by Allan Coelho (of Tapps and more) that released only one single, Humpty Dumpty, in 1986.
Hall Of The Mountain King
Rainbow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stories now will unfold
Tales of mystic days of old are hidden in these walls
Hear the witches play their tunes
Sing their songs to the moon
As they play the night will move, in the hall of the mountain king
Wild child so innocent
You took that away
Thoughts of wonder and surprise hide themselves in your eyes
As the smoke begins to rise inside the mountain halls
Ancient tales of witches' lore
Answers lie through that door
All you'd ever want and more, is calling for you now
Through darkened corridors
Try but you cannot break free
You took her innocence
Now you will answer to me
I am the mountain king
Are you not afraid?
I am the mountain king
Listen to the bells
In a midnight fantasy
More than any eye can see
Hear them laughing crazily, It's out of your control
Mysteries of ages told, stories now will unfold
Tales of mystic days of old are hidden in these walls
Through darkened passages
Run but you cannot escape
You took her innocence
And for this crime you must pay, ha-ha!
I am the mountain king
Are you not afraid?
I am the king!
We're lost to the world
Never seen the sun
Never seen the moon
Give in to me, give in to me
I want your dignity!
We're lost to the world, lost to the world
Take you down
The lyrics of Rainbow's "Hall of the Mountain King" tell the story of a person who enters the mountain king's domain, seeking to uncover the ancient tales of witches' lore that lie hidden within its walls. As they make their way through the darkened corridors and passages, they hear the witches playing their tunes and singing their songs to the moon. The smoke begins to rise, and they become lost in a midnight fantasy beyond their control. Meanwhile, the mountain king observes from afar, watching as the person is caught up in the mystic tales of old.
The wild child who initially entered this world is now lost to the mountain king, having lost their innocence somewhere within the darkened halls. The king emerges as an ominous figure, warning that those who seek to escape will pay the price for taking away the innocence of others. As the person tries to flee, they discover that they are lost to the world, unable to see the sun or the moon. In the end, the mountain king takes their dignity, leaving them to face the consequences of their actions.
Line by Line Meaning
Mysteries of ages told
Ancient secrets and stories passed down through generations
Stories now will unfold
These secrets will finally be revealed
Tales of mystic days of old are hidden in these walls
Legends and myths of the past are contained within the walls of this place
Hear the witches play their tunes
Listen to the music of the witches
Sing their songs to the moon
Performing their magical ritual under the watchful eye of the moon
As they play the night will move, in the hall of the mountain king
Their songs will move the night along in the place where the mountain king resides
Wild child so innocent
An innocent child, full of wonder and curiosity
You took that away
Her innocence was taken away from her
Thoughts of wonder and surprise hide themselves in your eyes
Your eyes are filled with thoughts of amazement and surprise
As the smoke begins to rise inside the mountain halls
Smoke emanates from the halls within the mountain
Ancient tales of witches' lore
Stories of witchcraft passed down over generations
Answers lie through that door
The secrets they seek can be found behind the door
All you'd ever want and more, is calling for you now
Everything they want is right behind that door, ready for them to discover
Through darkened corridors
Passages shrouded in darkness
Try but you cannot break free
You are trapped and cannot escape
You took her innocence
You stole her purity
Now you will answer to me
You must face the consequences of your actions
I am the mountain king
The ruler of this mountainous domain
Are you not afraid?
Are you not scared of what I can do?
Listen to the bells
Pay attention to the warning bells
In a midnight fantasy
In a dream of the night
More than any eye can see
Beyond what the eyes can perceive
Hear them laughing crazily, It's out of your control
Hear the maniacal laughter and realize that you have no power over it
Through darkened passages
Traveling through dim, winding tunnels
Run but you cannot escape
Flee, but you will not be able to get away
And for this crime you must pay, ha-ha!
You will be punished for your wrongdoing
We're lost to the world
We are cut off from the rest of society
Never seen the sun
We are confined to a place where the sun does not reach
Never seen the moon
We only know the darkness of night, not the light of the moon
Give in to me, give in to me
Submit yourself to me
I want your dignity!
I want you to be stripped of your pride and self-respect
Take you down
Defeat you, make you fall
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Ritchie Blackmore, Candice Night
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind