Soldier of Fortune

Soldier of Fortune closes Stormbringer, released in November 1974, and was written by David Coverdale with Ritchie Blackmore during the guitarist's last months in the band. It is an acoustic ballad in a catalogue dominated by amplification, and Coverdale has said the melody arrived almost complete. Blackmore never recorded it again; Coverdale kept it in the Whitesnake repertoire for decades. Its afterlife has been unusual, since the song is far better known in Eastern Europe and Russia than in Britain or the United States.