| Artist: | Deep Purple |
| Type: | single |
| Album: | Perfect Strangers |
| B-Side: | "Wasted Sunsets" (US) "Perfect Strangers" (UK) |
| Released: | (US) 7 June 1985 (UK)[1] |
| Recorded: | July–August 1984 |
| Genre: | Hard rock |
| Label: |
|
| Producer: |
|
| Prev Title: | Perfect Strangers |
| Prev Year: | 1984 |
| Next Title: | Call of the Wild |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
"Knocking at Your Back Door" is a song by the English hard rock band Deep Purple, the first track of the album Perfect Strangers, which was released in October 1984. The song was written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. The track received heavy airplay at the time, playing on heavy rotation. It was used by the Seattle SuperSonics in their lineup intro during home games.
The song is lyrically about anal sex, as it uses various sexual innuendos throughout the song. Ian Gillan commented:
After receiving considerable airplay,[2] the song was released commercially in the US in December 1984, while in the UK, it was released as the second single from the Perfect Strangers album in June 1985.[3]
"Knocking at Your Back Door" was a permanent part of the band's live set until 1994 and sporadically since then. Live albums that include the track are: Nobody's Perfect (1988), In the Absence of Pink (1991), Come Hell or High Water (DVD, 1994), Live in Europe 1993 (2007), and Live at Montreux 2011 (2011)
| Year | Nation | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | US | Top Rock Tracks[4] | 7 |
| Billboard Hot 100 | 61 | ||
| UK | Official Singles chart[5] | 68 |