Songfacts®:

• This track originated with guitarist Steve Morse. Bassist Roger Glover told TeamRock:
  
  "Steve started played this pretty chord sequence, and it sounded great. We all joined in and we jammed around it. I gave it the working title of 'The Surprising Mr Morse' because it was a surprising thing he played."
• Glover said the song's meaning is open to each listener's interpretation:
  
  "They're Ian Gillan's words, and I suppose it's about temptation, but they're ambiguous, and I like ambiguous words," he explained. "People can read want they want into it. People will anyway, even when you spell it out. 'Smoke on the Water' is completely literal, and yet a DJ once asked me if we really set fire to an island. You can't stop people putting their own meaning to a lyric."
• The song's music video takes the viewer on an animated journey through the 50-year history of the band. The clip was directed and illustrated by Matt Rooke, alongside director Peter Rogers.