"Funky Claude" refers to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreaux Jazz Festival who helped people to escape the blaze,* which was started, as rumor has it, by a Swiss fan firing a flare gun into the ceiling during a Mothers of Invention concert. The fire, which could be seen from across Lake Geneva, destroyed the entire Montreaux Casino complex, 
"Funky Claude" refers to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreaux Jazz Festival who helped people to escape the blaze,* which was started, as rumor has it, by a Swiss fan firing a flare gun into the ceiling during a Mothers of Invention concert. The fire, which could be seen from across Lake Geneva, destroyed the entire Montreaux Casino complex, to which "the gambling house" refers. So goes the story behind, FTP, what song from the album Machine Head which immortalized Deep Purple?
"Funky Claude" refers to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreaux Jazz Festival who helped people to escape the blaze,* which was started, as rumor has it, by a Swiss fan firing a flare gun into the ceiling during a Mothers of Invention concert.
“Smoke on the Water”